Our commitment to climate change

Right now, people are feeling the impacts of the changing climate, whether they’re here in the UK or overseas, and humanitarian needs are increasing day by day. 

 

For people across the world, it’s leaving their home and job behind when a hurricane, flood, or wildfire claims it. It’s skipping meals and going hungry, with droughts leaving farmers’ land thirstier than ever.

And it’s happening on our doorstep, too. For people across the UK, it’s experiencing and watching the news as people’s homes become flooded and worrying about family members coping with more frequent and dangerous heatwaves.

The poorest, most exposed and those in fragile contexts are, and will continue to be, hardest hit unless they are prioritised, especially with the compounding risks from Covid-19, conflict and the effects of climate change.

At the British Red Cross, we’ve been supporting people in crisis for the last 150 years, whoever and wherever they are – including those caught up in climate-related emergencies. And these emergencies are on the rise, getting stronger than ever.

As part of our Strategy 2030, we want every community to be able to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of the changing climate – but not in five years’, or ten years’, or even fifty years’ time. They need the tools to be able to cope now.

AS THE CLIMATE CHANGES, SO MUST WE.

 

We’re working with communities to act early. By pre-agreeing funding to act early based on weather forecasts, they can put action plans in place to anticipate and reduce the humanitarian impacts of extreme weather events. People’s ability to face such events is reduced more and more when they’re repeatedly faced with these extremes.

We’re working on climate-smart farming techniques with local communities, like growing drought resilient crops and supporting people with alternative income sources so they are less reliant on increasingly changing rainfall patterns. With more frequent droughts and climate variability threatening small-holder farmers’ livelihoods, these tools ensure people have enough to eat and continue to earn an income.

We’re supporting people immediately after a disaster to get access to emergency support and rebuild their lives. Where the trauma of losing a home leaves communities reeling, we take the time to listen to what they’re going through and help them move forward. When families get displaced after a disaster, we help them to be safe along the journey.

We’re asking governments and policy makers to follow through on major climate commitments. We want to use our voice, experience and knowledge as a global movement to influence positive change. We are working with policy and decision makers to integrate climate risk in laws and policies - internationally and across the UK - to build resilience and reduce the human impact of climate change.

Red Cross teams are on the ground, working side by side with communities, listening to what people need right now. While doing so, we are committing to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint.

The British Red Cross was one of the first organisations to sign the Climate and Environment Charter launched by the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescents and the International Committee of the Red Cross, aiming to increase collective action around climate.

As the climate changes, so must we.