Progressio is committed to environmentally sustainable development both in our international development work and our office working practices.
We believe that it is important to see the connection between the choices we make as an organisation and the environmental impact of those choices for the planet as a whole, and particularly for people in the global South. Many of the communities we work with are telling us that they are being affected by climate change.
Damage to the environment threatens livelihoods and increases people's vulnerability to natural disasters. Invariably the poor are worst affected. We believe that communities have a right to a better quality of life through safeguarding the environment. Promoting development without also responding to climate change will undermine any progress we make towards poverty reduction.
In our international development work, we therefore promote the sustainable use and local management of natural resources in order to help improve the lives of poor urban and rural communities. For example, we work alongside small-scale farmers to help them reduce both their poverty and their environmental vulnerability by farming in a way that protects and conserves natural resources. We also work to raise awareness and understanding of how policy and practice in the global North can contribute to environmental degradation and poverty in developing countries.
But sustainability is not just an aim of our development work. It is also a value embodied in the activities and practices of the organisation, such as reducing office energy use; promoting office recycling; and only using 100% recycled paper for our office supplies and for printing our publications.
As a charity, Progressio must ensure cost-effectiveness in order to maximise the use of our resources to achieve our charitable objectives. Similarly, as an international organisation, some overseas travel is unavoidable for the effective management and implementation of our programmes. However, wherever possible within the terms of our charitable objectives, Progressio will seek to minimise the environmental impact of all our activities.
Environmental assessments
Since 2009 Progressio has produced an annual Environmental Assessment. These assessments itemise the environmental impacts of activities at the London office and all of Progressio’s flights.
In 2012-13 we moved to different offices. The year also saw a rise in flight emissions due to an increase in activities under the ICS programme, and to flights booked to and from Somaliland for a team of international election observers. Download a summary of the 2012-13 emissions figures here.
2011-12 saw a reduction in our head office energy use (due largely to a reduction in our office space), and a reduction in emissions from flights by UK staff. However, there was a significant increase in overall flight emissions due to the international flights taken by young adult volunteers under the pilot year of the new International Citizen Service (ICS) programme. Download a summary of the 2011-12 emissions figures here.
To download the reports for previous years in full (in PDF format), please click on the links below:
Progressio Environmental Assessment 2010-11
Progressio Environmental Assessment 2009-10
Progressio Environmental Assessment 2008-09
Our 2008-09 environmental assessment was verified in accordance with Part 3 of ISO14064 Standard - click here to see the verification statement.
