How to write an environmental strategy

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In 2023, climate change is threatening every aspect of human life, as well as other life on land and in our oceans. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that the UK and Europe will be vulnerable to flooding caused by extreme rainfall if global temperature rise exceeds 1.5C.

Our current ways of operating are causing harm, even if as charities we only aim to do good. What’s more, the changing environment has relevance to each of us, including those who use charity services. It is also increasingly important to charity staff, individual donors, supporters, and funders. 

So how do we, as charities, take environmental action? Here, we explore how charities can write an environmental strategy suited to their specific purpose, impact, and limitations. 

Understand how the environment relates to your impact 

Start with the big picture: considering how your charity’s purpose relates to our changing environment. This can help you identify the most impactful actions you can take for your specific charity.

It works best to take a holistic approach, remembering that there is always a human component to environmental processes – so you may be able to approach your environmental impact in ways that also support your main purpose and objectives.

At this stage, it’s important to listen to the people who use your services. For example, the end of life charity Marie Curie listened to their service users who expressed the importance of enjoying nature at the end of life and leaving behind a healthy planet. The charity responded by committing to reducing its carbon emissions to zero by 2050, monitoring its emissions, and setting other ambitious environmental goals.

In this way, the charity’s improvement of its environmental impact is also helping to deliver its (people-centred) purpose.

Learn more about how charities are approaching people, planet, and purpose in our interview with Charlotte Walshe, Partnerships and Impact Director at In Kind Direct.

Conduct an audit 

To get an idea of your charity’s existing sustainability, you can ask an external consultant to carry out an audit, or you can conduct one yourself. Each environmental audit will look different depending on the organisation, and you can choose between a strictly environmental audit and an Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) audit, which also takes into consideration how the environment relates to the social impact and governance of the charity. 

An ESG audit may help you see how different areas of your operations connect and could simultaneously be improved. On the other hand, an environmental audit can reveal areas where the organisation is causing unnecessary environmental damage, as well as identifying “quick wins” where you can maximise existing strengths and increase confidence internally.  

These can also help you to separate short-and long-term goals, based on overcoming limitations over time.

Ideally, your strategy would be based on an understanding of your charity’s current environmental impact as well as its connections with other problems your charity is trying to solve. 

Set realistic but impactful goals, paired with actions 

If you have followed the steps above, you should have an idea of what the most impactful actions will be for your service users and for the planet. Set goals relating to your findings by using the SMART method, making sure goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Now you can look at the practicalities of carrying out these goals. 

Speakers on ESG at our 2023 #BeMoreDigital Conference highlighted the fact that while it can be helpful to have someone in charge of ESG or sustainability in an organisation, it’s important to integrate actions into the charity’s existing work and collaborate across teams: one person can’t do it all alone. 

Identify who these different tasks would naturally sit with based on existing team structures. Then talk to the teams involved to understand their capacity and agree how they will take on this action among their existing workload – for example, by establishing a reasonable time frame. 

Keep a record of what these goals are from the outset and remember to monitor their progress as you go. In writing your environmental strategy, the style should be concise and simple, so your plans are clear to all readers. 

A great example to follow is WWF-UK’s 2019-2030 Environmental Strategy. The charity has aligned their goals to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to demonstrate how its own goals fit into global sustainability efforts. 

Write an environmental policy 

Finally, write an environmental or ESG policy to provide internal and external transparency on what your charity is doing to improve its environmental impact. This can be updated as your strategy progresses.  

To see what environmental action other charities are taking, have a look at example environmental policies from Community First Yorkshire, In Kind Direct, Voluntary Action Harrow Co-op, WWF-UK, and Edinburgh Science. 

For more sector knowledge about writing an environmental policy, check out our podcast about how to write an environmental policy, where we spoke to Amy Moore, the Sustainability Manager of Marie Curie, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, and Katherine McAlpine, Director of the Brunel Museum.