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ARCHIVE: Creating a framework for greater environmental leadership in the third sector

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Every Action Counts - environmental leadership and organisational change in the third sector

Defra is supporting Every Action Counts, a consortium of 29 third sector organisations, with £4m over three years. Every Action Counts  provides advice and support to third sector organisations  which are looking to reduce their impact on the environment, tackle climate change and improve their local area.
The Every Action Counts programme has provided a range of support and information to help national and local voluntary sector organisations to improve their environmental performance.
Each of the 29 national partner organisations has developed their own Sustainable Development Action Plan outlining how they will take steps to save energy, travel wisely, save resources, shop ethically and care for their local area. They have also taken steps to promote good practice and the resources available through the programme to their members at a local and regional level.
Every Action Counts provides a range of resources for voluntary organisations of all sizes including a community pack containing action planning tools, and publications providing information on good environmental practice in offices and community buildings. A website provides a large selection of supporting information including fact sheets, toolkits, guides and web links produced and supported by Bassac. Programme partners BTCV have trained a cohort of over 800 Community Champions to provide face to face support for local community groups who want to take action. Over 2000 groups have registered on the Every Action Counts website and over 180 organisations have signed the Third Sector Declaration on Climate Change.
The programme partners worked with Defra and the Office of the Third Sector to develop the Third Sector Declaration on Climate Change. The Declaration is a statement of intent for third sector organisations which explicitly links the need to tackle climate change with the need for social and environmental justice. Signatories pledge to work with central and local government and others to advocate for, and support environmental and social justice policies that will assist the UK to reach or exceed national targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Over 2000 community organisations have registered on the Every Action Count website and over 180 third sector organisations have signed the Declaration on Climate Change.

Defra leading by example -  Defra’s Sustainable Development Action plan (SDAP)

The UK Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy required all central Government departments and their executive agencies to produce, and regularly update, sustainable development action plans (SDAPs).

Defra’s 2nd SDAP was published in November 2007 and concentrates on actions with target dates to March 2009.It details the high-level, priority actions that Defra will take to deliver Sustainable Development (SD) in Defra, champion SD across all levels of Government, and address longer-term commitments in the UK SD Strategy Securing the Future. Our approach is to ensure that SD is embedded into the heart of Defra’s working practices. This means making sure that SD is a key component of everything we do, for example from making policy, to running our estates, to engaging with staff and customers. Defra, along with other Government Departments and Agencies report progress made under their plans to the Sustainable Development Commission. This takes the form of a self-assessment that is analysed by the SDC and formally published. Defra will report at the end of the life of this SDAP in March 2009.Defra’s SDAP is available on the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/defra/action-plan.htm

Performance against the SOGE targets:
In 2006, the Government launched a set of sustainable operations targets for the Government estate, which include targets to reduce carbon emissions, water consumption, and waste. The Sustainable Development Commission report on performance across government as well as individual assessments for each department. The last Sustainable Development in Government Report was published in March 2008 and reported on 06/07 data. A report on 07/08 data is due to be published in November 2008. The reports are available on the SDC’s website at: www.sd-commission.org.uk/

 

Page last modified: 3 November 2008
Page published: 3 November 2008

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