A Welcome from the Founders
The Askehave Climate Foundation was created by Johan and Ajla Askehave in June 2022.
Why we created the Askehave Climate Foundation
Luck has granted me a life free of any real concerns. The things that have had the greatest impact on my life have all been completely out of my control: where in the world I was born, the genes I’ve got and the upbringing I received. To some extent this can be said about my professional career too: Yes, I’ve worked hard at times and taken risks where others didn’t, but replay the last 10 years of my life a million times and I doubt there would be many instances where I end up as well off as I am today. Looking back on this sequence of random, and for me very fortunate, events makes me feel obliged to do more to help those that haven’t been as lucky. That’s one of the reasons why we have created and donate funds to the Askehave Climate Foundation.
I believe anyone in my position should pay a huge thanks to Fortuna, perhaps not for everything, but for most things. And if there was one thing to be particular grateful for then it should probably be to have been born in a country that has benefitted hugely from burning fossil fuels and emitting green house gases. These are typically the very same countries that are impacted the least by climate change whilst poorer and less emitting countries are affected the most. That doesn’t really seem fair… Furthermore, the richer you become the higher your carbon footprint tends to be thereby making those who haven’t been struck by the same amount of luck even worse off. Again, it just doesn’t seem fair. What I’m describing here is pretty much what has been coined climate justice: that the benefits gained from emitting green house gases and the burdens of the impacts from climate change should be fairly distributed. That’s another reason why we have created and donate funds to the Askehave Climate Foundation.
What we hope to achieve
- help those in developing countries who are suffering from extreme weather, drought, flooding, forest fires and the like which are reasonably attributable to climate change.
- bring about ambitious action serving to slow down climate change and accelerate the work on climate change adaptation.
- support research and development of technologies, methods and theories which can help ensure that humanity is able to live within the Earth’s planetary boundary related to climate change.
That’s quite a mouthful, which is why I’m thankful to have such a component board to help achieve these goals, see more here.
The first grant of 10,000,000 DKK will be given to one of four applicants who will use the funds to provide humanitarian relief to developing countries in the event of a climate change related disaster. You can read more about how we work here.
Thank you for visiting the site and we look forward to continuing to share the work of the Foundation and our grantees.
Johan Askehave
