Reducing our carbon footprint to net zero

Climate change is making extreme weather events more common. In the UK and across the world, the humanitarian impact of this is huge. People’s homes, livelihoods and lives are at risk. 

Our Refreshed Strategy 2030 puts an emphasis on addressing the climate crisis. The strategy explains our commitment to responding to climate change by: 

• Working with other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies on locally led community climate resilience. 
• Supporting UK communities in preparing for, responding to, recovering from and adapting to extreme weather events.  

Our strategy includes a specific goal to reduce the British Red Cross’s carbon footprint, showing our commitment to limiting our contribution to climate change. 

We’ve set an important goal to help tackle climate change - we want to reduce the amount of carbon emissions we produce to net zero. That means we’ll stop adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than we take away.  

To guide us, we’re following a trusted international approach called the Science Based Targets initiative.  

In the short term, we’re aiming to cut the emissions from our own buildings, vehicles and energy use by 70% by 2030, compared to what we produced in 2019.  

We’re also working on longer-term plans to make sure we reach net zero by 2045.

Focusing our efforts  

In 2024 we introduced processes that are helping us to measure our progress in reducing our carbon footprint.  

We have focused our efforts on ‘scope one’ and ‘scope two’ emissions, which are areas where we have direct control. We have now gathered a complete picture of those emissions which will allow us to measure them accurately and report on our findings transparently.  

This data has shown a 60% reduction against our baseline year 2019. We are on track to achieve our near-term goal of a 70% reduction. 

We will expand reporting of ‘scope three’ emissions beyond business travel in the next two years and set ambitious targets for further carbon emissions reductions. 

• Scope one emissions are those we generate directly by, for example, running our vehicles. 
• Scope two emissions are those caused by the energy produced for us, like the electricity we use. 
• Scope three emissions are indirect emissions. These include employees’ commuting, waste disposal and the production of purchased goods and services. 

The story so far 

Since 2019, we have been working to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint.  

Key initiatives include: 

• Bringing carbon accounting and reporting in-house to improve transparency, consistency and understanding across the organisation. We are using Power BI-based Carbon Dashboard for performance tracking.  
• Moving to 100% renewable electricity and green gas contracts for our owned buildings to show a market-based reduction for energy.  
• Installing LED lighting across our retail and increasing smart meter installations. 
• Introducing electric vehicles to our fleet with uptake increasing across the organisation. 
• Launching the Green Responders network to empower staff and volunteers to take everyday action and advocate for sustainable behaviours. 
• Achieving ISO 20121 certification for sustainable event management. 

Our shops play an important role in reducing textile waste across the UK. The British Red Cross is committed to using resources more efficiently by prioritising the reuse, repair and repurposing of our new and donated goods.  

By selling and reusing second-hand clothes, and recycling unsold stock through third parties, we helped reduce landfill waste. These third parties work in line with our goals and values to keep as few materials as possible from ending up in landfill. 

Our policies 

Environmental sustainability policy

Download our Environmental sustainability policy (PDF)

This policy outlines our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint and embedding sustainability in everything we do. 

It sets out how we will lower our carbon emissions, promote greener practices, and ensure that environmental considerations are part of our daily decisions, services, and operations.

Carbon Reduction Plan

Under review

We have set a goal to reduce our carbon footprint to net zero, aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative methodology. We are developing plans to help us achieve our long-term target to be Net Zero by 2050. 

Climate and Environment Charter 

Visit the Climate Charter website

The Climate and Environment Charter provides a framework for action. It sets out commitments to guide the humanitarian sector and sends a clear signal that organisations like the British Red Cross have a key role to play in addressing the climate crisis. It highlights our responsibility to help communities adapt to the realities of a changing climate and environment while improving the sustainability of our own operations.