Consolata, with her daughter Elizabeth, 7, carrying jerry cans from the watering hole back to their home in Kenya.

Reducing our carbon footprint

Climate change is a driver of poverty, inequality, and affects human rights. Women and girls are among those leading efforts to tackle climate change – but they are also among the hardest hit.

ActionAid UK acknowledges that our own operations, especially the use of renewable and non-renewable resources, the use of goods and services, and our international and domestic travel, directly and indirectly, impact the environment.

We are therefore committed to being an environmentally-responsible organisation and to becoming sustainable in our operations. 

Given we know first hand the devastating effect climate change has on the women and girls we support, we can't stand aside from playing our part in reducing our own carbon footprint.

We are committing to making future choices based on strong sustainability – for example, when we next look for office space, environmental considerations will be a strong driver for our choice of space.

Download our 2023 environmental policy

Our carbon reduction plan

In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to adopt a legal commitment to achieve ‘Net Zero’ carbon emissions by 2050. To support this, the UK Government developed a new policy for all central government departments and related bodies.

The new policy requires organisations to commit to achieving Net Zero by 2050 at the latest, and publish a specific Carbon Reduction Plan.1  This means that anyone applying for UK aid from the UK Government, for example, is also required to comply with the new policy.

At ActionAid UK, we have measured our carbon footprint and completed the Carbon Reduction Plan according to requirements in the government’s Procurement Policy Note.

Download our carbon reduction plan

Our 'do-no-harm' tools

At ActionAid we have been working on preparedness, climate change adaptation, agroecology, and disaster risk reduction for years.

We have developed tools and risk assessments to ensure we are not harming the environment through our work programmes, by including considerations around environmentally-friendly procurement, transport and partnerships options in our project design process.

Green Champions Network

ActionAid UK is part of an ActionAid Federation-wide Green Champions Network.

To date, the Network has focused on advocating for and promoting sustainable practices across the organisation and raising awareness among staff on the environmental crisis.

The network also holds ActionAid to account for its objectives on minimising the environmental impact of the Federation.
 

Climate and Environmental Charter for Humanitarian Organisations

ActionAid UK is in the process of signing up to the Climate and Environmental Charter for Humanitarian Organisations.

Signing up to the Charter would mean strengthening our environmental sustainability programmes; reviewing our environmental policy in line with it, and moving forward with its implementation through measurable targets and action plans.

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Footnotes

  • 1https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0621-taking-account-of-carbon-reduction-plans-in-the-procurement-of-major-government-contracts
Top image: Consolata, with her daughter Elizabeth, 7, carrying jerry cans from the watering hole back to their home in Kenya. Alice Oldenburg/ActionAid

Page updated 20 January 2023