Going green in the north east
07/03/2022
We spoke to Carol Botten, CEO of VONNE, about a project aiming to inspire and motivate voluntary sector organisations in her region to make positive changes. Through the project, many have taken first steps in reducing carbon emissions and have embedded sustainability within their work.
A climate action movement
Three years ago we agreed that we should do something to move on from talk, to action. VONNE is an infrastructure and membership body for the sector, not an environmental charity, but we recognised that we could bring people together. We wanted to support charities in our network with the challenges they faced. And so, the VONNE Climate Action Alliance, made up of 17 founder organisations in the North East, was created.
The group is a mix of environmental charities, network organisations who want to represent their groups, and others who are active in their local communities. We all have a passion to tackle the climate emergency, ecological collapse and transition to a low or no carbon economy. We all wanted to make changes within our own organisations and support the wider sector too.
Our research found that there is a lot of information available but the group found this very overwhelming. People wanted to make changes but didn’t know where to start. The feeling that they had to get their own houses in order before lobbying or inspiring others to do the same, was holding them back. Our research helped us work out where to start and the pace to go at. We got some funding and launched a campaign and website aimed at the sector: Going Green Together.
Now, six months since the launch, over 100 local organisations are part of a movement, learning from and supporting each other. Collectively they feel like they are making a bigger difference. We have monthly meet up events where they can check in with each other and discuss challenges.
The motivations of members are quite different – some can see that climate breakdown will affect their members directly. Others attend because their funders and commissioners ask for evidence about how they have reduced their impact on the planet. They want more than just to see an environmental policy.
The people who come to the meet ups include CEOs, trustees and members of staff with a particular interest in environmental sustainability. Everyone acknowledges the need for wider engagement with staff, volunteers and trustees to bring about significant and long-term change.
Member Martin Conway of Northumberland CVA said, “It’s about embedding environmental sustainability at all levels and in everything we do – operations, finance, project and services development and delivery and then into our work with beneficiaries.”
Another member, Richard Haigh, CEO of The Key said, “We love the Going Green Together webtool because taking climate action has been on our to do list for a while. We didn’t know where to start but we’re looking forward to working with other organisations to support each other on our climate action journey."
The website
The website is a useful resource for everyone. When we set it up, there was nothing else out there for the sector on this scale. We had funding through the Catalyst and National Lottery Community Fund Covid-19 Digital Programme. We launched it in September 2021 and promoted it in the North East and to other infrastructure organisations through NAVCA, NCVO and ACEVO. It enables and encourages anyone to take their first steps in a range of ways. It shares simple actions under the following headings: office, travel, energy, food, engagement and waste. People add in changes they have made, to help inspire others – anything from putting signs up next to the recycling bins to installing solar panels.
Since the site launched, we’ve had conversations with groups in Liverpool, Cornwall and Suffolk who are interested in doing something similar, using the transferable information.
What’s next
Having been awarded some money from the National Lottery Community Fund, we have big exciting plans! We’ll be running events, giving training, developing resources and toolkits so that we can support even more organisations to get started. We’ll be building groups so that similar organisations can connect with each other and drive more impact. We will be working intensely with around 110 organisations across the North East and Cumbria. They will have subsidised access to training, a comprehensive carbon footprinting platform SmartCarbon and Investors in the Environment Bronze accreditation, to enable them to truly embed this into their work.
We have additional project development funding for 14 organisations to advance climate action projects with their beneficiaries and in new partnerships with environmental organisations.
In the second stage of the Going Green Together campaign we’ll test and learn how we can support VCSE organisations. We hope that much of this work will pay off, but we also expect to learn from what doesn’t work and then we’ll share the learning as a region with other areas.
We’ve seen the organisations taking part make big progress. They’ve discovered that getting started isn’t as hard as they thought and now they’ve started, they want to do more to encourage others.
Our ultimate goal is to create a VCSE sector in the North East and Cumbria with zero-carbon emissions. This means embedding within their mission and core purpose the need for action to address the climate emergency, support nature and biodiversity and ensure a just transition for people and communities. We’ve got a way to go, but our passion and commitment will get us there.
Get involved
Whether you are in the North East or not, take a look at Going Green Together for lots of actions you can adopt. Follow Going Green Together on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and keep up to date with our latest news on Medium.
If you are local, please sign up to receive our newsletter and join our MeetUp group.
Now is the time to take your first steps in climate action. We have a saying ‘start by starting’. You might be surprised with how much you can do for little time and effort. Small changes lead to bigger ones and sharing your actions will inspire others in the sector and in your community. What are you waiting for?
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