"Plastic waste has practically doubled because of Covid-19,” cautions Laurence Lien who has built a community of progressive philanthropists to tackle urgent global concerns and discusses strategic philanthropy and climate change
Where governments, private enterprises and civil society may fall short in resolving complex social challenges, the Asia Philanthropy Circle (APC) aims to step in and step up efforts to catalyse change.
Led by Laurence Lien, the membership-based platform brings together Asian philanthropists to accelerate private action for the public good by addressing systemic challenges through a collaborative approach to strategic philanthropy.
(Related: Introducing Asia's Most Influential: The Impact List 2020)
Take climate change, for instance.
“There’s not enough philanthropy in the region that’s going towards addressing climate change. We can already see what happens when humankind has to confront an existentialist threat like the pandemic—the impact of climate change could be even worse,” cautions Lien, who is also chairman of the Lien Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic work primarily on improving the lives of the elderly and children with special needs as well as those from low-income households.