In this series of case studies, civil society organisations outline some of the steps they have taken to drive climate action – internally or externally. 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 many ideas for climate action in your organisation. If you would like to submit a case study to keep this series going, please email heloisa.righetto@acevo.org.uk.
This time, we hear from The Felix Project. The organisation redistributes over 12,500 tonnes of surplus food per year and gives the food to charities, schools and other community organisations across London that use the food to prepare meals, and snacks, or make it available for their local communities.
Can you describe the actions you have taken? How did you identify the problem and implement a process?
We measured our ‘corporate carbon footprint (CCF)’ for the first time in 2021 and we will now repeat the process on an annual basis. This involved gathering data to understand our activity in a range of areas, from our electricity, gas and water usage to our printing, from our staff travel to measuring our own waste streams (general waste, recycling and food). After we get the results of our 2022 CCF we will put targets in place to reduce our footprint, and measure them on an annual basis.
We also have a Sustainability Working Group that brings together ideas about how we can improve our activities across the organisation, with the environment in mind.
We have already made some decisions such as using renewable energy providers. Some of our fleet is electric already, and we are looking in to expanding this.
What has been successful? What would you most like to celebrate from the action you took?
As a charity whose work is very much aligned with environmental goals, and as an organisation that enjoys the support of 1000s of volunteers every year, we are proud to be measuring our CCF and committing to improving wherever we can. We are also hoping to carry out energy audits at each of our sites.
What has been most challenging?
What will become challenging in the future is balancing potential positive environmental switches with the financial impact on the organisation.
What did you learn from starting work in this area? What learning points would you most like to share with other leaders?
We learnt a lot from measuring our carbon footprint for the first time. It requires gathering a log of paperwork, however, we can now put measures in place that are helping us track these areas more effectively and efficiently. We were also surprised by the results and learned that there are areas of our everyday operation that have a significant impact on the environment.
How could the sector more effectively collaborate or share knowledge in this space? Can ACEVO or other membership bodies support this work in ways which would have helped you?
Sharing knowledge is key, as is sharing best practice about how barriers were overcome, sharing experiences in terms of mitigations put in place, how problems were solved, ultimately how footprints have been reduced. Membership bodies such as ACEVO could negotiate reductions in rates for organisations going through this process.
Photo by Johnny McClung on Unsplash
