Climate risks to large charities

Charities need to adapt to changes of many different types: changes in the needs of their service users, changes in the habits of their donors, and changes in technology, to name but a few.

And as it turns out, charities also need to adapt to climate change, and the resulting changes in weather patterns, temperature ranges, and regulations designed to help reduce climate change and its impact. In this article we are going to take a closer look at some of the key risks that charities face because of climate change.

Evidence for climate change

The evidence for a rapidly changing global climate is overwhelming. According to NASA, two of the last six years are the joint warmest years on record. And there’s plenty more evidence besides: the oceans have warmed by more than 0.3 degrees Celsius since 1969, and Antarctica is losing about 148 billion tons of ice per year. In the mountains all over the world glaciers are retreating, snow cover is decreasing, and as a result sea levels are rising.

Finally, and perhaps most obviously to those directly affected by them, extreme weather events such as cyclones and widespread flooding are becoming much more frequent. These events have affected millions of people around the world over the last few years, from the UK to Pakistan to Australia.

How are charities affected?

At this point, you may very well be wondering what all this has to do with charities? The answer is that these changes introduce various different types of risks to charities and their operations, and – like all risks – these climate change risks need to be assessed and managed. This may be by taking action to mitigate the risks to some extent, or simply by accepting the risks and understanding and preparing for their possible consequences.

What kind of climate change risks are there?

Location risks

Suppose your charity offers its services to people in a specific area. As climate change progresses, it may be that the number of people needing your services increases or decreases dramatically or the types of services they require could change.

Or it may be that you are no longer supplying your services in the right place. Climate change could mean that your services will no longer be needed where you are currently providing them, and that they will be in far greater demand on the other side of the country – or perhaps the other side of the world.

Staff risks

Charities can only offer their services if they have the staff they need, in the places where they are needed. Climate changes can make this difficult or even impossible. For example you may have local staff overseas living or working in facilities which can no longer be used safely or reliably because of extreme heat events, or because of increased risk of flooding.

Operational risks

Climate change has prompted governments around the world to introduce new regulations to help reduce harmful emissions and the environmental impact of many different activities. Some charities have also imposed rules on themselves to help reduce their own carbon footprints.

The problem for charities is that unless they are fully aware of these regulations and their impacts, there is a risk that they will either fall foul of them, potentially incurring fines or other penalties. Or they will struggle to carry out their activities while complying with them – perhaps because they are unable to find local suppliers for suitably “green” products or services.

There are also numerous local initiatives which charities need to be aware of, wherever they operate, in order to avoid being caught by surprise. These could include local green taxation policies or end-of-life recycling requirements.

Public perception risks

With climate change gaining an increasingly high profile in the public’s awareness, charities that fail to prove their “green credentials” put many of their activities at risk. That’s because potential donors are increasingly checking that organisations are acting sustainably and in an environmentally friendly manner before considering making a donation or continuing to provide support.

A Charity Commission report found that just under half of the charities surveyed either had, or were developing, a written statement that covered environmental issues. Some charities are carrying out environmental audits, but only a few charities appear to be carrying out energy efficiency tests, according to the report.

Spending resources on sustainable practices

To complicate matters slightly,  some charity trustees are reluctant for their charity to carry out any environmental audits, as they are concerned that it may not be a legitimate use of the charity’s resources, the Charity Commission says.

However, while charity law does not require charities with non-environmental charitable purposes to engage in environmental activity, the Charity Commission supports and encourages all charities considering the development of environmentally sustainable practices wherever possible as a way of maximising their effectiveness.

Next steps

For each of the climate change risks identified above, your charity needs to consider how this might impact your charity.

Once you have assessed these risks, it becomes a matter of risk management: your charity needs to decide what mitigation actions (if any) need to be put in place to manage the risks to an acceptable level.