Climate Change Evidence: Driving Value-Added Use for Better Decisions

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This article examines the evolving ecosystem of climate solution evidence tools and distinguishes the different functions they serve, including evidence aggregation, assessment of evidence strength, comparison of solution options, spatial targeting, policy benchmarking, and adaptive management. Drawing from research on evidence-informed policymaking and climate decision science, the authors identify persistent barriers to evidence use, including misalignment with decision needs, deep uncertainty, institutional incentives, and limited capacity for collective sensemaking. The article argues philanthropy’s greatest leverage lies not in increasing the supply of evidence alone, but in strengthening the systems through which evidence is interpreted, governed, and embedded in decision processes. Practical recommendations emphasize investing in decision-relevant evidence architectures, supporting brokering and facilitation capacity, explicitly addressing uncertainty, and building learning systems that connect implementation experience to evidence platforms.