Earth Fund · Method & detail

How the ranking works

One transparent metric — cost per ton of CO₂ avoided. Here are the weights and assumptions, shown openly.

The calculation

For each grant we divide the dollars committed by the tons of CO₂ the grant is projected to avoid. Lower cost per ton means more planet per dollar, so the lowest figure ranks first.

cost per ton = grant dollars ÷ tons of CO₂ avoided

Dollars are entered in $M and CO₂ in megatons; the shared million-scale cancels, so the result is plain dollars per ton.

Assumptions & weights

Cost per ton
Grant dollars divided by projected tons of CO₂ avoided. Lower is higher leverage.
Projections as given
We use the CO₂ figure you enter. Earth Fund does not re-estimate it; garbage in, garbage out.
No discounting
Tons avoided this year and in year ten are counted equally. A discount rate would change the ranking.
Whole-grant view
We compare total dollars to total avoided over the stated horizon, not annualized flows.
Illustrative
Sample figures for comparison only. Not investment, tax, or grant-making advice.

Per-grant breakdown

#1 Clean cookstoves$6.67/t #2 Methane capture (landfill)$6.92/t #3 Grid decarbonization$13.33/t #4 Tropical reforestation$15.00/t #5 Direct air capture pilot$200.00/t

Method audit

earthfund · method.log

$ earthfund explain
metric: cost_per_ton = dollars / tons_avoided
discounting: none (tons counted equally)
projections: used as entered (not re-estimated)
portfolio: $295M / 20.9 Mt = $14.11/t
data: illustrative · no live feeds · no secrets