I recently held a seminar with numerous housing associations (all of whom are, of course, charitable organisations) exploring what charities', and the trustees' of those charities, obligations are to address the climate and biodiversity crisis.

Trustees, perfectly correctly, are highly focused on their charitable purposes. But this focus can lead to a myopia in vision, such that i.e. charity trustees whose charity's purposes are ‘the alleviation of poverty’, consider that any trustee activity which is not, on the clear face of it, related to poverty or the running of the poverty charity, is not any business of theirs. 

The common misconception seems to be that spending time or resources on environmental matters is:

1. something that does not relate in any way to their legitimate guiding purpose of the charity (i.e. poverty alleviation) and is therefore an improper focus for the trustees' attention; 

2. not something that has any relevant impact or influence on the crisis; and/or

3. is not a matter which trustees are permitted to spend charity resources or weight of consideration to, as it is not relevant to best interest considerations.

All of the above would be misguided concerns, however. The Charity Commission (CC), in a very established 2018 guidance has made clear:

‘While charity law does not require charities with non-environmental charitable purposes to engage in environmental activity, the Charity Commission supports and encourages all charities considering the development of environmentally sustainable practices wherever possible as a way of maximising their effectiveness.'

Not only this small step but the Commission states;

‘It is clear that many charities can make a difference through their activities. Many are already taking action to be more environmentally responsible and for incorporated charities, the Companies Act 2006 provides a direct remit for them to do so.'

No matter what the CC guidance says, the fact is, it is clear that no matter what charitable purposes a charity has, the environmental crisis will impact it. There is no strata of society or human activity that is not being, or going to be affected by it. There is simply no charitable purpose that can exist that the environment is not a relevant influencing factor on. And any influencing factor on a charity's purposes and activities should be and must be, assessed and addressed by trustees if they are working in the best interests of their charity.

Let's take a poverty alleviation charity. It is those with the least money who are going to suffer increasing energy costs the most keenly. It is those with the least means who are going to feel the most challenging effects of inflating basic food prices (due to crop failures and scarcity of basic resources such as grain etc).

Let's take a women's equality charity. It is well established now that the climate crisis is not ‘gender neutral’. Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of climate change.

Let's take a charity with property assets. The change in weather is going to impact the security of your buildings. Flooding is more likely. Storms are. Flash floods. Increased temperatures warping materials. It is and will continue to impact your insurance premiums, or even insurability per se.

Let's take a service-providing charity. Your commissioners are only going in one direction on this matter, the % of your bid attributable to ‘sustainability and the environment’ will take incremental bigger shares of your assessment, as regulation continues to increase. 

The environmental crisis is not a discrete concern that sits ‘over there’, unconnected to charities. It's relevant to all charities' purposes as it's relevant to all human and animal kind. 

And there is no charitable purpose which isn't for the ultimate benefit of human (or non-human) kind.