In this series of case studies, sector leaders outline some of the steps they have taken to drive climate action in their organisations. This doesn’t mean they have completed everything, but that they have picked a place to start, which unblocks fear and drives action in other areas. We hope this series gives you lots of ideas for climate action in your own organisation. If you would like to submit a case study to keep this series going, please email heloisa.righetto@acevo.org.uk.
This week, we hear from Nicci Russell, managing director of Waterwise, an independent, not-for-profit campaigning organisation with the vision that water is used wisely every day, everywhere.
Area of focus: team culture and behaviour, digital footprint measurement and target, easy wins, procurement, policies.
Can you describe the actions you have taken? How did you identify the problem and implement a process?
As an environmental not-for-profit, people might expect us to have our own house fully in order on the climate crisis! We have long had sustainability measures in place such as using water-free printing, a travel hierarchy, team and board sustainability commitments, requesting tap water and vegetarian/vegan food at events, and an environmental policy. But a need to focus on our wider resilience as an organisation – financially and in terms of wellbeing and workload – had meant that we hadn’t had a chance to build on this, for example with measurement and targets of our environmental footprint. All charities and not-for-profits are dealing with competing priorities, and it can be really hard to find space for this work – but it is so important. Signing up to the ACEVO leadership principles – and me joining ACEVO’s climate crisis members working group – has helped to direct our thinking on where we can start, to build on our existing work.
We have a small staff team – eight people – and for the first time this year we have included acting on the climate crisis in our business plan, to ensure we provide some resource to this area in future. I’m really delighted that we also now have a sustainability champion within the team, and over the last year have started thinking about some of the lower-hanging fruit where we can create change quickly. In the medium-term, we would like to monitor and measure our carbon emissions and water usage, including thinking about how we can accredit a water-efficient home – we all work from home. We have also committed to developing detailed policies and targets in this space, thinking about procurement and our annual conference, which we are again carrying out digitally in 2022. We will be regularly updating our board on our progress in this area.
When we started looking into it, we found it could get really complex really quickly! Some questions we are asking include:
- What actually is the digital footprint of an event, or a day working from home?
- Does this tie into whether the home itself is powered by renewable energy?
- Is a digital conference with, say, 800 delegates actually more carbon-friendly than an in-person conference which people take the train to?
- How and what do we measure – and what targets do we set?
What has been successful? What would you most like to celebrate from the action you took?
Moving our events online felt like a really good way of cutting some of our travel impacts, when we were previously travelling frequently, for example from England to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – and indeed to London from all over England. We are also able to work more equitably with all our funders and stakeholders through remote engagement – they get equal time from us when we don’t have to factor in travel time. I am also proud that we use waterless printing and really pleased that our board approved some budget for this sustainability work, and adding it to our business plan. Getting Jo on board as our team sustainability champion will really make a difference – she has a passion for this work and also a small amount of time dedicated to it. We didn’t have that in a role before! Our team has for a long time made personal sustainability commitments, which has brought us together around our shared goals. We’ve published our personal commitments on our website. We also realised that we could cut down our email traffic by not sending ‘thank you’ emails all the time – we’re working on this, as it also has impacts on people feeling valued.
What has been most challenging? Have you had to change your approach in any areas?
We have found procurement and service providers much harder to tackle. Understanding our pensions, in particular, has felt confusing, and thinking about balancing ethical and environmental concerns can feel overwhelming if you’re not an expert – plus, the providers often do not seem to make this information readily available, which surprised me. Some of these are big players – it really should be easier to find out their environmental footprint and actions!
What did you learn from starting work in this area? What learning points would you most like to share with other leaders?
Being in the ACEVO working group and chatting with colleagues has helped me realise that we can’t do everything at once, but that starting somewhere and doing what we can is still important. The links between the importance of our natural world and green spaces and our wellbeing have felt so pronounced during the pandemic, and it feels even more important than ever to preserve them and value them. I would like to share that, with a little bit of personal commitment, a board can be found to be really happy to start to develop targets and allocate budget to sustainability and the climate crisis – and that starting somewhere, not everywhere, is OK. It all helps.
Photo by Jong Marshes on Unsplash
