Race to Carbon Neutrality: NGO’s and Charities Falling Behind
The COP26 has brought support and criticism to current initiatives to tackle Climate Change. As governments and policymakers take center stage in this crisis, it is important to remember that all sectors and organisations must take action. Unfortunately, the voluntary sector is already falling behind.
Charities and Climate Change
In 2012, the Carbon Trust worked together with The Guardian newspaper to survey how the three sectors, public, private and voluntary, were preparing to reduce carbon emissions. It had found 58% of public sector agencies planned to make “tangible investments” in carbon reduction during that year. The percentage dropped to less than a half for businesses, 46.4%, and a third for the voluntary sector with 33%. Furthermore, only 26% of charity employees believed their organisation had clear carbon reduction targets and only 18% where incentivised by their employers to reduce their own carbon footprint.
As the United Kingdom has pledged a Net Zero Target for 2050, taking a “major step forward” and creating the conditions for growing commitments from businesses and government, the Voluntary Sector needs to follow suit.
The latest report from the Climate Change Committee reiterates that all sectors and organisations need to be part of the solution to climate change. Just like in 2012, the public and private sectors are leading in this objective. Seven out of ten businesses in the UK have made, or are considering, a commitment to net zero and three quarters of councils have declared a climate emergency. While environment and international development NGOs are at the forefront of the climate response, the rest of the voluntary sector has been slow to respond and risks being left behind.
Why are Charities needed to tackle Climate Change?
A survey commissioned by People’s Postcode Lottery has found environmental charities and organisations hold the power to motivate people to act and change their ways when it comes to their own impact on the environment. Respondents across Britain rated charities as a trustworthy source of information comparatively to the media and deemed them a leading motivator in encouraging climate friendly behaviour.
As a reliable source of motivation and information, the research highlights the third sector has a vital role to play in communicating to the public the importance of reducing their environmental impact, and how they can achieve them.
Two Leading initiatives for Charities
Despite the current setback in the third sector, there are some positive signs. Amongst them are two promising initiatives: the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) Climate and Environmental Leadership Principles and the International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change.
Climate and Environmental Leadership Principles
ACEVO’s climate-crisis member working group has launched seven sustainability principles for civil society leaders and urged other leaders to respond to the climate emergency. The seven principles fall into three categories: Acknowledgement, Ambition and Action. The aim is to provide leaders with a framework to help them understand the scale of the crisis, become ambitious about the changes they make, become proactive and seek to progress towards their goals at every step. So far fifteen leaders, including ACEVO’s CEO Vicky Browning, have signed the pledge.
ACEVO is a membership body for the leaders of the third sector organisation in England and Wales. The body has sister organisations in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change
The International Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change is a new initiative by WINGS calling on all foundations, regardless of mission, status or geographic location, to come together and signal their commitment towards climate action. It mirrors national commitments in the UK, France and Spain. This International Commitment aims to offer a framework to third sectors organisation in countries that do not currently have a national commitment or operate in an international context.
The Funder Commitment on Climate Change is the UK’s national commitment and is hosted by the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF). So far, over 80 organisations, including Comic Relief, have signed the pledge.
Charities and NGO’s play in important role in addressing the Climate Crisis, not only through their social impact but also by motivating individuals and encouraging climate conscious behaviour. While the response from the voluntary sector has been slow, new promising initiatives are leading the sector towards net zero. As going green can be a costly behaviour, the voluntary sector has much to overcome to reach a carbon neutral future.
