Understanding your organisation

Consider ways the environment and environmental action can impact on health. This may be negative impacts of air quality from heavy traffic or inadequate access to urban nature. Or conversely, the positive benefits that can be gained from exposure to green space and choosing active travel, such as improved mental and physical health.

The effects of our changing climate have disproportionately harmful social, health and economic impacts on economically disadvantaged communities. Often those on low incomes live in very poor environmental conditions, e.g. in close proximity to polluting industrial buildings; with limited access to green space or in housing that has poor energy efficiency. Consider the ways environmental solutions can incorporate the priorities and daily realities of people living in poverty.

Our changing climate disproportionately affects the social, health and economic outcomes of marginalised communities, including women and children. By recognising how environmental problems are intrinsically linked with social injustices, solutions can be found that address both simultaneously. For example, think about how your organisation can provide solutions to higher food costs whilst reducing food waste; advocating for energy efficient housing or providing support for accessing government climate initiatives.

Local buildings and community gardens provide places for your community to connect, celebrate and grow. Consider ways your organisation can reduce the impact your space has on the environment, in turn providing accessible environmentally positive choices for your community's events and groups. This might be through reviewing your building's heating systems; planting wild flowers and reducing mowing in your gardens or changing your lighting to LED lightbulbs.

When you have an environmental commitment, there’s a strong motivation to make sure your processes are as sustainable as possible. You can use this drive to push climate action forward. Be careful that your focus on being seen to be a ‘green’ organisation isn’t greater than the action you take to become environmentally sustainable, or there’s a risk of ‘greenwashing’. What steps could you take within your operations to lower your environmental impact?

Education is vital to tackling climate change. It holds the key to understanding the challenge, raising awareness at a wider level and finding new solutions. Worldwide, the impacts of climate change will mean millions of children will have their education cut short. How can your organisation explore environmental topics within your curriculum? You may also want to set examples with the use of recycled and second hand equipment, looking at ways to reduce food waste in the canteen or supporting active travel to your building.

Consider the ways climate change is affecting wild animals and global ecosystems. In what ways can your organisation contribute to reducing carbon and increasing biodiversity both locally and for climate threatened species across the globe? This could include planting pollinator friendly flowers outside your building, removing single use plastic from your offices or providing meat free catering at your fundraising events.

Creativity, social conversation and inspiration are needed to start public conversations and raise awareness around our changing climate. In what ways can you incorporate this within your work? And as an organisation - how can you limit your environmental impact? Try using discarded materials, procuring equipment both second hand and locally or reducing energy use in your workspace.

Encouraging active lifestyles can have great environmental benefits. When people choose to walk, cycle or play sport, they engage in lower carbon-emitting hobbies and modes of transport. However, there are many ways that sports facilities and organisations can reduce their climate impact. Think about the source of energy used to run your building, the durability and materials of your equipment and the public transport links available to access facilities.

In an office, your team uses the same heating and lighting, so in some ways it can be more energy efficient than working remotely. However, commuting to the office can cause emissions from transport. To reduce this impact, encourage commuting via public transport where appropriate. You may want to set up carpooling, cycle to work schemes, or electrical vehicle salary sacrifice schemes to encourage more environmentally friendly forms of travel.

Remote staff often travel less, which means you won’t rely as much on carbon emitting transport. However, online activities still have a carbon footprint due to relying on data centres, which require energy. You can reduce your digital carbon footprint by only storing what you need on the cloud. Heating and lighting multiple home offices, rather than a single office, can also be energy inefficient. Make sure you share tips with your team so they can save energy at home.

Having a hybrid workforce strikes a great balance of reducing unnecessary travel while having the option for a shared workspace, which can be more lighting and heating efficient than separate home offices and reduces reliance on energy-consuming digital communication tools. Keep your digital carbon footprint low by only storing what you need on the cloud, and share public transport options with your colleagues. You can also set up carpooling, cycle to work schemes, or electrical vehicle salary sacrifice schemes to encourage more environmentally friendly forms of travel.

Owning your own workspace or community building means you have a great opportunity to make it more energy efficient, and even to explore ways to generate energy, for instance through installing solar panels. With energy efficiency, it’s best to start small: think about where you can reduce energy consumption like turning off lights and only heating the building when it’s in use. Then consider how to retain heat in cold months, by excluding drafts and improving window fittings.

If you’re renting your space, this can limit your sustainability journey. It can be difficult to get bills which accurately report your water and energy usage, let alone agree energy-saving improvements with your landlord. If you’re renting with other tenants, you might want to explore setting up an eco-council to give you collective bargaining power within your building. Landlords also stand to benefit from having more energy efficient buildings, so it’s worth starting a conversation with them once you’ve done some research.

Urban areas often have better public transport access. This makes it easier for your team to travel where needed, and for beneficiaries to join events and sessions you hold. Make sure to signpost public transport options for your in-person meetings.

Rural areas can be harder to access through public transport. You might want to consider carpooling and van hire, both to bring your team to rural locations, and to bring beneficiaries to events. In some cases rural communities can be easier to engage in climate action and supporting biodiversity, due to their close proximity to nature.

When you’re working with beneficiaries across a wide geography, it can feel like there’s an imbalance whenever you’re trying to reach rural and remote communities, if there’s less accessible public transport. Consider carpooling and similar options to help reduce the impact of transport-based emissions. You may also have a positive opportunity to increase access to nature for urban communities by building relationships between urban and rural groups.

Delivering services remotely is a great way to reach a wide geography without causing emissions-based transport. The online hosting of services will have a digital carbon footprint, so it’s worth speaking to your web developer to see how you can reduce your reliance on cloud-based storage.