IMPACT Initiatives adopts the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations

IMPACT Initiatives has signed the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations at a time when our planet is in a period of accelerating climate and environmental crises, the effects of which are being felt by all of us.  

As humanitarian organisations, we see this crisis reflected every day in our work. Climate-related disasters have  nearly doubled in the past 20 years and weather-related hazards are now the number one driver of internal displacement, affecting, most notably, the poorest and most vulnerable people. 

According to the head of the United Nations climate agency in early April 2024, “humanity has only two years left to save the world” by making dramatic changes in the way it “spews heat-trapping emissions and it has even less time to act to get the finances behind such a massive shift.” 

As we sign this Charter, we commit to scaling up action, reducing risks and vulnerability, and supporting those most at risk from the climate crisis. The Charter intends to galvanise and steer collective action in response to the dramatic impact of the climate and environmental crises, in particular, for those who will feel its impact the most.

The Charter includes seven high-level commitments to guide the sector’s response to the climate and environmental crises. First among them is a commitment to step up the humanitarian response to growing needs and help people adapt to the growing impact of these crises. Second, the Charter makes a commitment to maximise the environmental sustainability of humanitarian programmes and operations and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining the ability to provide timely and principled assistance. These commitments will only be possible by embracing local leadership, increasing the capacity to understand climate and environmental risks, and working together across and beyond the sector to mobilise even more ambitious climate action.

As such IMPACT commits to addressing the climate and environment crises, both through our programmes and the way in which we work. To do so, IMPACT has translated the commitments in the Charter into time-bound organisational targets for 2024 and a roadmap for their implementation:

• Strengthen our technical expertise in house to develop climate change, risk analysis and environment as priority areas of focus and expertise in IMPACT’s research;
• Optimise the carbon and environmental footprint of IMPACT’s operations by abiding to global standards; and
• Generate and disseminate actionable evidence about the humanitarian consequences of climate change and environmental degradation to support enhanced risk-informed decision-making in the humanitarian sector. Use this data to showcase the best practices to inform the design of climate change adaptation programmes / humanitarian policies for environmental protection.

We know that radical transformation is needed. We are determined to act, urgently and intentionally. The climate and environmental crises are humanitarian crises. They affect all of us — but they do not affect all of us equally. The Charter is IMPACT’s commitment to do our part to respond to these crises, meet rising needs, and work together to prevent further death and suffering. 

The Charter itself is really only the beginning of the journey. It is by turning it into reality, through setting concrete and ambitious targets and successfully achieving them, that we will make a difference for the people we serve. The true test is indeed how this changes the way we work and how our commitments make a difference for the people we are working with and for.