In the face of climate disaster, how can charities like PLP create public commitment and accountability? Over the past year at PLP, we have been examining our environmental impact and producing a plan of action to reduce our carbon emissions and environmental harms. This blog will look at this project: why we started it, the obstacles to completing this work, and the key findings and actions that PLP will be taking forwards. We encourage any organisations looking to do similar work to get in touch. We believe that, as the worsening effects of the climate emergency disproportionately impact the most marginalised, we would fail as an organisation that exists to serve these communities if we did not address this. As an organisation committed to fighting discrimination and inequality, we have a responsibility to minimise our climate impact. However, in a world where only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions, it’s important to question how much impact an organisation like PLP reaching net zero would really have on the climate crisis as a whole. The popularisation of tracking individual emissions as a ‘carbon footprint’ was a deliberate tactic by British Petroleum to promote the idea that global heating is the consequence of everyday individual activities rather than fossil fuel exploitation by large corporations. Carbon accounting (the practice of tracking these emissions) has also been criticised for distracting from other environmental issues such as biodiversity and habitat loss. However, PLP has social power that we can use in the fight against climate change. Visible action on the climate crisis catches on – our hope is this work will bring us together with peer organisations in similar positions to us. Having conversations about the climate crisis is hugely important, so we’re grateful to With Many Roots for facilitating a staff workshop that kickstarted these conversations for us. Obstacles Having committed to action, there were three major obstacles to this work: Poor data: Few resources for calculating environmental impact are targeted at organisations of our size, and even fewer at the charity sector. Because of this, we have higher margins of uncertainty than we would prefer – but we’ve chosen to work with imperfect information to avoid paralysis. Reliance on external actors: Many changes we want to make involve third parties – our landlords, pension providers, and other suppliers. Affecting real change lies within our influence, but not our control. We’re keen to explore using our influence collectively with other organisations. Greenwashing: It is difficult to make sustainable purchasing choices, when they require significant research to avoid making decisions based on misleading claims. We are tackling this by continuously reviewing our purchasing choices. Findings Starting in 2023, we are now conducting basic carbon accounting on an annual basis, using greenhouse gas conversion factors produced by the UK government. The initial project also looked at the impact of our financial providers, waste disposal in our office, and providing climate education to staff. Our data from 2023 estimates PLP is responsible for 15,420kg of annual carbon emissions. Our initial findings in 2023 were mixed. In some areas, for example purchasing and our use of renewable energy, PLP already acts in a relatively sustainable manner; in others there are basic first steps to take, such as in electricity-saving measures and monitoring business travel. Actions Below are some changes we’ve put into place following the start of this project: Better data collection: A major obstacle in getting this project off the ground was the lack of pre-existing data in most areas. We have begun to track key areas we can target for offsetting, such as business travel conducted on behalf of PLP. Reducing energy use and waste in the office: We have taken basic measures such as raising staff awareness of energy use and our local recycling guidelines, and providing reusable coffee cups and bags in the office for staff use. Purchasing and finance: We have implemented purchasing guidelines to ensure products in our office are made sustainably and made to last. We have also closed accounts with banks that invest in fossil fuels. Governance: Our Board has approved a climate emergency statement, which includes a commitment to consider the climate crisis in our ongoing strategy development process. Offsetting: We have committed to offsetting our carbon emissions annually, though our focus is on reducing emissions overall rather than simply reducing our guilt for them. We have opted to fund a tree planting scheme rather than buy carbon credits. This is due to the lack of regulation in the carbon credit market, with the risk of greenwashing considered too high to rely on this system. As this project is ongoing, here are some future actions being worked on at the moment: Homeworking and staff education: PLP wants to encourage staff to switch to renewable energy, and provide sustainably produced office supplies to take home. Reducing energy use in the office: We want to implement energy-saving equipment in our office, and to improve our draft insulation. We aim to work with our landlord to move away from gas heating. How do we keep momentum? Our current aim is to put systems in place that allow consistent action without exhausting capacity or enthusiasm. We are maintaining accountability by sharing updates with the whole staff body, and now externally. We are also documenting the processes we put in place, such as offsetting, to avoid reliance on any one member of staff. It’s important to recognise there’s still much more progress to make on this – and that it is not something that PLP can or should do entirely independently. As we approach climate breakdown, we should acknowledge our own impact and seek to mitigate it. But this is also a time in which we need to see action from the Government and from larger organisations responsible for huge emissions.