Rihanna donates $15M to climate justice movement in US, Caribbean

Through her philanthropic organization, the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), Barbadian singing superstar and entrepreneur Rihanna has donated US$15 million to the climate justice movement.

CLF said in a statement that it supports and funds climate resilience and justice projects in the US and the Caribbean.

“We advocate for policy and systems change to improve the quality of life for communities across the globe,” it said. “We’re bridging the humanitarian and climate sectors to alleviate poverty and support communities of resilience.

“Climate change is resulting in an increase in natural disasters globally,” CLF added. “That means more people, particularly those in vulnerable communities, are at risk, and economic damage in the hundreds of billions of dollars. We believe there is a better way.”

CLF said its Climate Resilience Initiative is focused on addressing multiple dimensions of emergency preparedness, while scaling solutions to the problems of climate change.

“These projects, which range from school and health clinic infrastructure hardening projects to gender-integrated emergency response planning and local capacity building in the Caribbean, serve as models of preparedness that can be replicated and scaled to enable other high-risk regions around the world to be better prepared to withstand extreme weather events,” it said.

“Ultimately, our goal is that the Caribbean becomes the world’s first climate resilient zone,” it added.

Rihanna said: “We have used and abused our natural environment to the point where our planet is acting out and sending us warning signs that we are in danger at an alarmingly accelerated rate.”

According to Musicfeeds, the donations are split between 18 organizations across the US and the Caribbean.

Rihanna started the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012 in honor of her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, Musicfeeds said on Sunday.

Over the last decade, it said the foundation has donated many millions of dollars to disaster relief, medical institutions, HIV/AIDS support and child education.

Musicfeeds said the CLF’s $15 million climate justice funding is directed at entities focused on and led by women, youth, Black, indigenous, people of color and LGBTQIA+ communities.