In this first of a series of five Climate Emergency articles, which looks at the opportunities to declare a Climate Emergency and highlights a sample of the available resources.
As an environmental consultancy, I am keenly aware of the environmental and climate impact of the delivery of my services to my clients & the support to my clients to help them realise improved environmental performance.
Over the past nine years of environmental consultancy through onePlanet Solutions Limited, I have striven to provide our services in the most environmentally and climate-friendly manner possible.
Few will doubt that serious action is needed to address the climate emergency, it requires all organisations to contribute and, in many cases, to transition their own operations to a low-carbon and climate-friendly.
Given that a number of organisations have declared a climate emergency, I was led in the similar direction and wanted to share the resources that I considered in the preparation of my declaration.
Business Declares
This not-for-profit which wants to accelerate action on the climate emergency through the running of a campaign until the end 2020.
They ask for a full plan within 6 months of declaring or the steps you are planning to take which will result in a comprehensive plan before adding your organisations details to its website.
You can access their website at Business Declares
B-Corporation
The B-Corporation website, which promotes businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, has a resource on their UK B-Lab microsite with an opportunity to download a playbook on “How to Declare a Climate Emergency” in exchange for your name and e-mail address.
You can access the playbook here
Climate Neutral Now
Climate Neutral Now is an initiative launched by UN Climate Change in 2015 to encourage everyone in society to take action to help achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century, as enshrined in the Paris Agreement.
It invites organizations, governments and citizens to work towards global climate neutrality by addressing their own climate footprint through a 3-step method to measure their GHG emissions, reduce them and compensate using carbon credits, where they can not be avoided.
You can access their website at Climate Neutral Now
Climate Emergency Declaration
An Australian campaign site with information on current organisations who have declare a Climate Emergency & plenty of resources for citizens to take action and encourage petitions within Government bodies.
You can access their website at Climate Emergency Declaration
Campaign against Climate Change
The website is campaigns on climate change and related issues, such as fracking. It provides a listing of UK Councils, who have declared a climate emergency.
You can access their website at Campaign against Climate Change
UK Architects Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency
A specialised website for UK -based Architects to declare their Climate Emergency with 716 practices, who have declared as at 1 November 2019.
You can access their website at UK Architects Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency
Declare a Climate Emergency
This website is a useful resource for identifying Governmental organisations, such as the NHS, Universities and Local Councils, who have declared their Climate Emergency with additional resources and commentary on News items and political policies from the major Political Parties.
You can access their website at Declare a Climate Emergency
Pledge to Net Zero
This website has been opened after this article was first published (7 November 2019) & has been established to commit organisations from the environmental sector to take a leadership role in the transition to a Net Zero carbon economy.
It has been co-founded by the Society for the Environment (SocEnv), the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC), together with leading environmental consultancies WSP and AECOM.
You can access their website at Pledge to Net Zero
In my next article in this series, I will look at the practical steps that I have taken to declare the Climate Emergency on behalf of my business, onePlanet Solutions Limited.
Look out for the next article at EMSmastery & I welcome your comments and thoughts about declaring a climate emergency.