Cool Earth

Cool Earth is a United Kingdom-based environmental organisation focused on protecting endangered tropical rainforest by supporting the people who live in and depend on it. Rather than treating conservation as a primarily top-down process, the organisation argues that Indigenous and other long-established rainforest communities are among the most effective custodians of forests because they have strong cultural, economic and intergenerational ties to the land and bear the greatest costs when it is destroyed. The organisation was founded in 2007 by Johan Eliasch and Frank Field. Its creation reflected concern that tropical deforestation was a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions but was not receiving an adequately rapid or direct response through international climate policy. Cool Earth was publicly launched on 5 June 2007 in The Sun newspaper as part of a campaign to protect the Amazon rainforest, with Sir David Attenborough introducing the initiative. Cool Earth's operating model combines rainforest protection with community development. Its work is generally organised around three connected areas: direct cash transfers, support for local economies, and forest data. Cash transfers give partner communities flexible resources and are associated with the organisation's advocacy of unconditional support and basic-income approaches to conservation. Local economic initiatives are intended to reduce pressure to sell, clear or log forest by helping communities develop sustainable livelihoods and improve access to services such as schools and clinics. Forest data and monitoring help local people document changes, identify threats and strengthen their ability to respond to illegal logging and other forms of encroachment. The organisation has worked through long-term partnerships with communities in several tropical-forest regions. Reference material identifies current or recent work in Papua New Guinea, Peru, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon, while projects in Brazil and Ecuador are described as completed. In Peru, Cool Earth has worked with Asháninka and Awajún communities facing deforestation pressure. Its partnerships have also been connected with broader debates about direct giving, basic income and evidence-based climate philanthropy, with methods and values sharing similarities with organisations such as GiveDirectly and networks including the Basic Income Earth Network. Cool Earth is funded by individual donors, foundations and businesses, particularly in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe. Reference material says that more than 70,000 individuals have supported it, although the applicable date is not specified. The organisation has received positive assessments from charity evaluators and was described in a 2016 external evaluation by Giving What We Can as a highly cost-effective climate charity using direct action to reduce emissions without identified material risk. It has also received recognition including Charity of the Year in its category at the 2015 Civil Society Media Charity Awards and Best International NGO at the PEA Awards. The organisation's public profile has been strengthened by support from environmental scientists, campaigners and entertainers. Associated supporters and ambassadors have included Sir David Attenborough, Professor James Lovelock, Professor Johan Rockström, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Pamela Anderson and Ricky Gervais, among others. In 2019, Cool Earth and its work with Asháninka communities in the Peruvian Amazon appeared in the Apple TV+ travel series Long Way Up, when Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman visited the region during their journey. Cool Earth has also participated in or supported wider forest-protection initiatives, including the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy, launched in 2015. Its present identity is therefore built around community-led conservation, flexible financial support, rainforest monitoring and climate-focused philanthropy rather tha…

Cool Earth emerged from the view that tropical deforestation required faster and more direct intervention than conventional political and regulatory processes could provide. Johan Eliasch and Frank Field founded the organisation in 2007, arguing that rainforest loss represented a significant climate problem and that the people living in forests should be central to protecting them. The organisation was launched publicly on 5 June 2007 through The Sun newspaper's Amazon rainforest campaign, with Sir David Attenborough presenting the initiative to a mass audience. From its early work, Cool Earth developed a partnership-based model. Instead of purchasing or centrally managing large forest areas, it sought to work with Indigenous and rainforest-based communities that could protect forests through local authority, knowledge and economic incentives. The organisation's approach came to emphasise three related forms of support: cash transfers, local economies and forest data. Flexible financial assistance can help communities meet immediate needs and reduce dependence on activities that threaten forest cover. Economic support is intended to strengthen sustainable livelihoods and community services, while data and monitoring enable local partners to identify deforestation, document forest conditions and respond to illegal logging or other incursions. This model also led Cool Earth to promote unconditional cash support and basic-income ideas as tools for conservation. Its position is that conservation outcomes can improve when communities have the resources and autonomy to make decisions about their land, rather than being constrained by narrowly defined project budgets. The organisation's methods have been compared with direct-giving organisations such as GiveDirectly and with the Basic Income Earth Network, although Cool Earth applies the approach specifically within rainforest-protection partnerships. Over time, Cool Earth expanded its work across several tropical regions. Reference material identifies projects or partnerships in Papua New Guinea, Peru, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon, while earlier work in Brazil and Ecuador is described as complete. In Peru, the organisation has worked with Asháninka and Awajún communities exposed to deforestation pressure. Its programme descriptions connect forest protection with practical community priorities, including livelihoods, education, healthcare and locally controlled monitoring. The organisation has attracted support from conservationists, climate scientists, public figures and philanthropists. Supporters and ambassadors mentioned in reference material include David Attenborough, James Lovelock, Johan Rockström, Vivienne Westwood, Pamela Anderson, Ricky Gervais and other environmental and cultural figures. Rockström, who has served as a Cool Earth trustee, has presented the organisation's model as an example of conservation linked to community development. The organisation has also been publicly associated with the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy, a forest initiative launched in 2015 to promote and protect forested areas across the Commonwealth. Cool Earth's external recognition increased during the 2010s. In 2015 it received Charity of the Year recognition in its category at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards and was named Best International NGO at the PEA Awards. A 2016 external evaluation by Giving What We Can concluded that Cool Earth was among the most cost-effective climate charities assessed for reliable emissions reduction through direct action. The organisation has also been described as highly effective by multiple charity evaluators. Its public visibility broadened in 2019 when the Apple TV+ series Long Way Up featured a visit by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman to Asháninka communities in the Peruvian Amazon connected to Cool Earth's work. Today, Cool Earth remains an active international NGO whose identity is centred on protecting rainforest through long-term relationships with Indigenous communities, flexible funding, sustainable local economies and community-owned forest information.

1. 2019Featured in Long Way Up

   Cool Earth's work with Asháninka communities in Peru is shown during a visit by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman for Long Way Up.

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2. 2016External cost-effectiveness evaluation

   Giving What We Can conducts an external evaluation that rates Cool Earth's direct-action climate work as highly cost-effective.

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3. 2015Recognition at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards

   Cool Earth is named Charity of the Year in its category at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards.

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4. 2015Association with the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy

   Cool Earth supports or participates in the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy, a Commonwealth forest-protection initiative launched during the year.

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5. 2007Cool Earth is founded

   Johan Eliasch and Frank Field establish Cool Earth to support urgent, direct action against tropical deforestation and its climate effects.

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6. 2007Public launch in The Sun

   The organisation is launched on 5 June as part of The Sun's campaign to protect the Amazon rainforest, with Sir David Attenborough introducing the initiative.

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A community-led rainforest conservation organisation that links climate action with Indigenous rights, local economic resilience, direct cash support and locally controlled forest monitoring.

• Community rainforest partnershipsConservation programme2007

  Long-term partnerships with Indigenous and rainforest-based communities to protect threatened forest. Support can include flexible funding, livelihood development, community services and assistance with local governance and protection efforts.

• Cash-transfer programmesDirect community support

  Flexible or unconditional cash support designed to give partner communities resources and autonomy to address local needs while reducing economic pressure that can contribute to forest loss. The approach is part of Cool Earth's wider advocacy for basic income as a conservation tool.

• Local economy supportCommunity development

  Programmes intended to strengthen sustainable livelihoods and local economies in rainforest communities. The work is linked with improved access to services such as schools and clinics and with reducing dependence on forest-clearing activities.

• Forest data and monitoringEnvironmental monitoring

  Support for communities to collect and use information about their forests. Monitoring helps local partners identify threats, document deforestation and strengthen responses to illegal logging and other forms of encroachment.

• 2015Queen's Commonwealth Canopy

  Commonwealth countries

  Cool Earth supported the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy, an initiative intended to preserve and promote forested areas across the Commonwealth.

  Outcome. The initiative broadened the organisation's association with international forest-protection efforts.

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• 2007The Sun Amazon rainforest campaign

  United Kingdom · Brazilian Amazon

  Cool Earth was introduced to the public through The Sun's campaign to save the Amazon rainforest, with Sir David Attenborough serving as the launch voice.

  Outcome. The campaign established Cool Earth as a public-facing rainforest conservation organisation.

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• 2007Adopt a community-led conservation modelStrategy

  The founders argued that tropical deforestation required urgent direct action and that rainforest communities were the most effective custodians of the forests where they lived.

  What changed. Cool Earth built its operating model around long-term partnerships with Indigenous and rainforest-based communities rather than relying exclusively on centralised conservation management.

  Aftermath. The model developed into a combination of cash transfers, local-economy support and community forest monitoring.

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• Use flexible cash support as a conservation instrumentStrategy

  Cool Earth connected rainforest protection with the economic autonomy of communities living in and around threatened forests.

  What changed. The organisation adopted cash transfers and promoted unconditional support and basic-income ideas as ways to help communities protect forests while meeting local needs.

  Aftermath. The approach became a distinctive part of Cool Earth's conservation and philanthropy positioning and was discussed alongside direct-giving and basic-income networks.

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• 2019Cool Earth work appears in Long Way Up

  Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman visited Asháninka communities in the Peruvian Amazon that work with Cool Earth during the Apple TV+ series Long Way Up.

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• 2016Cool Earth is assessed as a highly cost-effective climate charity

  An external evaluation by Giving What We Can assessed Cool Earth's direct-action approach as highly cost-effective for climate mitigation and reported that it could reduce emissions without identified material risk.

  Other
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• 2015Cool Earth receives Civil Society Media Charity Award recognition

  The organisation was named Charity of the Year in its category at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards.

  Other
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• 2007Cool Earth is launched as an Amazon rainforest protection initiative

  Cool Earth was publicly launched in The Sun newspaper on 5 June 2007 as part of a campaign to protect the Amazon rainforest. Sir David Attenborough introduced the initiative and encouraged public participation in rainforest protection.

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1. Cool Earth
2. Cool Earth official website