How can charities tackle climate injustice?

We reached out to some of the charities and non-profits fighting against the climate crisis in the US and Europe to find out how they see the role of charities with relation to climate justice. 

The facts 

In a powerful speech at this year’s COP27 conference, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for wealthy countries to “make a definable difference in the lives of the people who we have a responsibility to serve.” 

The speech addressed the uneven impact of the climate crisis. The wealthiest countries have caused the most damage to the climate, and now it is most impacting those least equipped to cope with it. 

Mottley stated: “This world looks still too much like it did when it was part of an imperialistic empire.” 

The opportunities and limits of non-profit organisations 

There are a few ways that the not-for-profit sector can help to tackle climate injustice. 

Rachel Cleetus from the Union of Concerned Scientists told us: “Philanthropic entities and charities can play an important role in contributing to much-needed funding and technical assistance for low-income climate vulnerable nations to transition to clean energy and cope with climate impacts.” 

Charities and non-profits can also help with adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. For example, The Rainforest Alliance told us how they help build climate resilience in local and forest communities. 

In Ghana, their Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation initiative tackles biodiversity, reducing emissions from land-use changes, and helping local farmers to improve their livelihoods. Their deforestation project in Guatemala helps protect part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve by helping those living there to build businesses based on local resources. In Cameroon, the alliance is helping rural communities and protecting biodiversity by seeking legal protection status for Key Biodiversity Areas, supporting the development of local enterprises, and promoting gender equality. 

Charities can do a lot to address the causes and impacts of climate change in less wealthy countries, particularly with community-led approaches such as these. However there is a strong need for other actors to step up, too.  

Leila Yassine, the Global Nature Advocacy Manager at the Rainforest Alliance, has emphasised that the interconnected issues of climate change, deforestation, human rights, and poverty are “too great and complex to face alone.” 

She told us: “We urgently need more Integrated Landscape Management approaches that bring together all land users – farmers, forest enterprises, rural communities, local leaders, companies, and governments – to scale nature-based solutions and tackle these challenges together.” 

Dr Cleetus echoes the same sentiment: “It’s vitally important that richer countries and every sector of the economy engage in moving forward climate solutions. The climate crisis is so dire now that we need an all-hands-on-deck approach.” 

Humanitarian aid 

As climate change is a humanitarian crisis, charities and non-profits are also well placed to address its impacts. Some of these include CARE, Islamic Relief USA, The British Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, and Unicef. 

But humanitarian aid alone is increasingly seen as insufficient to address the scope of the problem. Dr Cleetus comments: “It’s important to recognise that the toll of climate loss and damage is mounting rapidly, and episodic humanitarian or disaster assistance from countries or non-profit agencies is far from sufficient.” 

“The world needs a more effective and well-funded mechanism and that’s what we’re fighting for here at COP27: a finance facility for loss and damage with new and additional grants-based public funding.  

“Richer nations also need to significantly scale climate finance to help countries make a clean energy transition rapidly and address energy poverty.” 

Collaboration and pressure 

Charities cannot face the issue alone: it has been repeatedly emphasised that change must take place on a much larger scale. Yeb Saño, Greenpeace’s COP27 Head of Delegation and Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, has described the extent and type of change that should occur: “It is absolutely crucial that world leaders agree on a new finance facility that can collect and distribute money to compensate the worst-hit countries coping with the unavoidable impacts of the climate crisis.”  

He says that governments of wealthy countries have “dragged their feet on tackling this injustice for far too long, putting the whole enterprise at risk”. 

To push for the type of structural change required, charities can fulfil an advocacy role, as well as take other appropriate political action depending on their organisation type. Non-profits campaigning for climate justice include the Environmental Justice Foundation, Global Greengrants Fund UK, Practical Action, and Christian Aid. 

Dr Cleetus states: “At COP, civil society groups from all over the world collaborate, learn from each other and work together to push their nations’ leaders to do more to address climate change. 

“Working in solidarity, NGOs from the Global North and the Global South can put pressure on their leaders to centre science and justice in the outcomes of these negotiations and hold them accountable for delivering ambitious solutions.  

“We are also putting pressure to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the harm they are causing and their decades of deception and obstruction of climate action.” 

So, although charities cannot directly affect the type of structural change that is needed for true climate justice, they can use their voice to collaborate and apply pressure to those who can. 

COP27 Key Issue: Loss and Damage 

At COP27, many seeking climate justice are emphasising the issue of loss and damage: for wealthier countries to add a third pillar of funding to existing mitigation and adaptation efforts to address the impacts of climate change that cannot be – or have not been – avoided through mitigation and adaptation efforts.  

This includes economic impacts such as crop losses and structural damage, but also non-economic impacts such as lost livelihoods where adaptation is no longer possible, cultural losses, and the loss and damage to ecosystems. 

Greenpeace state: “Action on loss and damage is central to achieving climate justice. For 30 years, wealthier nations have blocked discussions on this issue. 

“Richer economies and fossil fuel companies have contributed most to the climate crisis and have a moral responsibility to support less developed and climate vulnerable countries who are suffering the worst climate impacts through very little fault of their own. 

“Creation of a dedicated Loss and Damage Finance Facility is the fairest and most effective way to deliver proper financial support to countries in urgent need.” 

Here are some resources to learn more about Loss and Damage: 

• The Loss and Damage Collaboration: ‘The Cost of Delay’ 
• E3G: ‘The Bridgetown Initiative, A climate and development plan for COP27’ 
• Greenpeace: ‘Group of Blockers: Developed countries choking urgent Loss and Damage demands’ 
• Union of Concerned Scientists: ‘It’s (Past) Time for Rich Countries Like the US to Pay Up for Climate Loss and Damage’