Although scholarship on non-state climate action has expanded in recent years, it still leans heavily toward cases from Western countries and a handful of well-studied Asian economies. This geographic bias leaves large swaths of the world—where voluntary, non-profit organisations are equally active—largely unexplored. The imbalance creates two mutually reinforcing problems. First, it prevents us from developing a complete, nuanced understanding of the diversity and complexity of the global non-profit sector. Second, it limits the external validity of existing theories and empirical findings; insights derived from one context may not translate to different socio-economic or political settings.

A particular priority is the Global South, where socio-economic conditions, governance arrangements, and cultural norms differ markedly from those in the North. Rigorous studies of non-profit climate initiatives in these settings would illuminate how resource constraints and institutional contexts shape organisational effectiveness. Finally, researchers are encouraged to devote greater attention to adaptation. Compared with mitigation, adaptation remains understudied despite its critical importance for climate-vulnerable communities. Investigating how non-profit organisations build and sustain local adaptive capacity—what works, where, and why—will round out the evidence base and help practitioners tailor strategies to diverse real-world conditions.

Below, we feature a selection of outputs originating from this project.