Concern signs up to Climate and Environment Charter

Concern is proud to have signed up to the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations, following its adoption by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 

The Charter was developed with the guidance of an Advisory Committee, including humanitarian networks, UN agencies and climate and environment experts. It includes seven high-level commitments to guide humanitarian action in the face of climate and environmental crises.  

Two core commitments are at the heart of the Charter. The first is to step up humanitarian response to growing needs and help people to adapt to the growing impacts of climate and environmental crises. Secondly, the Charter makes a commitment to maximise the environmental sustainability of humanitarian programmes and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining the ability to provide timely and principled humanitarian assistance. 

The threat of climate change is an existential one. Through our work, we see the negative impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on the poorest people in the world. Climate change affects everyone but it’s the poorest and most vulnerable countries that are affected most severely. It is the people that contributed least to climate change who are currently paying the penalty. 

Addressing extreme poverty, inequalities and vulnerability requires the essential natural resources and ecosystem services provided by the environment to be protected. Caring for our environment is one key aspect in our work with the poorest members of society to achieve lasting improvement in their lives. Concern’s Environment Policy and its implementation strategy set out how we will ensure environmental stewardship alongside social and economic development, making sure that no one is left behind. 

Concern is committed to: 

• Building programmes that contribute positively to sustaining and restoring the natural environment. 
• Minimising unintended negative impacts on the natural environment arising from our programmes and support operations, including our supply chain.
• Ensuring that environmental protection activities do not increase inequalities, especially those that would further marginalise the poorest and women.
• Advocating for improved environmental governance and management, in both policy and practice. 

We conducted a global carbon footprint audit in 2019 and this provides the organisation with a baseline from which progress to reduce our carbon footprint can be measured. We will be setting ambitious targets in line with climate science, taking account of the specific circumstances of our staff, the organisation’s overall mission and the underlying principles of climate justice. 

We are proud to sign up to the Charter today to express our commitment to working together to tackle this global challenge.  

Learn more about how Concern is working on climate change below.