Climate change

We just started a new energy team: here's why it’s important

Extract, Exploit, Consume, Continue.

We all (mostly) universally accept that our relationship with how we all extract, use, and devour energy is fundamentally flawed and significantly problematic for the future of humanity. No longer are we in a time of hyperbolic language that starts with if, maybes and buts – we have already altered our planetary ecosystem beyond repair. As a result, themes of energy access, sustainability and transition dominate international, national, regional and local humanitarian (and wider international development) programmatic dialogues. Yet, there are significant flaws in the systems we all use to create modern, reliable and sustainable energy systems and services for forcibly displaced groups around the globe.

The specific niche the Outsight Energy Team has chosen to focus on is the integration of the lived experience of marginalized groups into actual humanitarian programmatic objectives, through the creation of socio-technical energy ecosystems. By directly connecting the conceptual and practical, the strategic and programmatic, the technical, social and everyday drivers of energy ecosystems, the Energy Team at Outsight International blends humanitarian and development approaches to provide bespoke energy ecosystem support to organizations and individuals around the globe.

Ultimately, we feel that co-design, participatory research, human centered-design, co-creation, co-design (and the multitude of other names for it) is fundamentally the right pathway to enable marginalized groups to be the protagonists of their own energy futures. Right now, focus groups and surveys seem to be infiltrating into bigger humanitarian energy systems and services but how can we all ensure that this process does not reinforce post-colonial and neo-liberal power structures that are fundamentally extractive? How can we make this process transformative for all involved?

It’s a question that does not currently have an answer - but we are working on it (and helping others work on it too).

So whilst we work on persuading institutions, founded long before we all came into this world, that the fundamental methods that they use need to change, we wanted to start building a community of clients, collaborators and team members from all over the world. Let’s bring together local, regional and global leaders to transform the sector we all inhabit. Let’s challenge ourselves and the way we work. Let’s amplify the voices of people we are trying to support. Let’s break down these power structures and be transformative rather than extractive.

Before this becomes a monologue rather than a quick read and I share our secrets with you about how we are going to create easy to use practitioner toolboxes, develop case studies and systematic evidence that can show you how we add value etc. - I will leave you with this.

Maybe thinking like this makes us at Outsight the disruptors of our sector, the ones who at the end of every meeting says, “yes, but…”. We are pushing for a sector where the voices of the forcibly displaced are embedded in every part of the discussion, and these dictate the strategic priorities to funders; not the other way round. The forcibly displaced need to be given the power to shape their own lives.

If you would like to be a part of this (just like Energypedia and others are) then reach out, send an email, post a letter, or give us a call.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND OUTSIGHT INTERNATIONAL

Dr Ben Robinson — Outsight Energy Team lead:
Ben is an energy expert engaged with critical elements of the energy transition across Asia and Africa in the Humanitarian and wider International Development sectors. He champions innovative and disruptive socio-technological ecosystems to enable the forcibly displaced, and other marginalised communities, to be the protagonists of their own energy futures. See his most recent publications here.

Outsight International
Outsight International provides services to the humanitarian and development sector in an efficient and agile way. Outsight International builds on the range of expertise offered by a network of Associates in order to deliver quality results adapted to the specific tasks at hand. If you’d like to discuss working with the Outsight team, please get in touch or follow us on
LinkedIn for regular updates.

Environmental and Social Governance: A guided approach to creating shared value and partnerships to create impact

Introduction to ESG

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance is rapidly becoming a necessary focus for organisations internationally. Increased awareness of the reputational and financial risks associated with negative environmental and social impact has meant increased responsibility on organisations to develop strategies, as well as strengthen their reporting and governance systems. Beyond this, there is ever-growing evidence that companies with good ESG performance improve their financial bottom line in the current social climate, and that socially or environmentally purposed agencies optimise their impact when improving ESG performance.

However there is a disconnect of knowledge between those tasked with developing and implementing ESG strategies and an understanding of how to create true impact through environmental, social and governance strategies. This means that many organisational ESG strategies can be perceived as a marketing exercise, rather than creating genuine value for their stakeholders or for the environment. Considering the increasing directives, standards and regulations around ESG and sustainability performance, this could mean failing to meet ESG obligations sufficiently, which could mean a host of various legal, financial, reputational, social and sustainability risks. 

Common sustainable reporting standards include indicators for environmental, social and governance performance, although these currently focus on managing risks, rather than creating a positive impact. Moreover, these indicators do not cover all of the areas where negative impacts — including reputational damage — could occur. Standards are generally set as a minimum (at the moment for risk management) rather than an optimum (managing risks holistically and moving towards genuine sustainability while creating shared value). It means a missed opportunity: to improve the triple bottom line; increase investment in the organisation; and make a positive social and environmental impact overall. 

Opportunities for genuine impact 

Going beyond simple compliance, we see the huge unrealised potential for organisations to leverage their social, environmental and governance imperatives in a truly transformative manner that creates opportunities, for instance, by:

  • Maintaining and strengthening the brand and its reputation where customers will pay more for socially or environmentally sustainable products and services.

  • Attracting and retaining talent through consistent messaging that is aligned with company action, and by keeping the workforce engaged.

  • Better management of risks as the application of a robust framework leads to proactive management of risks.

  • Accurate valuations through better measuring of performance and consistent collection of data.

  • Increased efficiency through more strategic use of resources, optimization of supply chain enabled by better data, and improved worker performance due to increased commitment and satisfaction.

  • Create new opportunities for partnerships and innovation as the NGO and public sector (development cooperation, international governmental organisations) is actively shifting towards identifying long-term private sector partnerships with companies that are aligned to the sustainable development goals in order to optimise impact. And companies are looking to partner strategically with NGO and public sector agencies that can help them improve their ESG performance, for example, through social programming to combat child labour or other rights violations in the supply chain.

  • Increased sustainability through stronger stakeholder engagement and a net positive impact on wider society and the environment

These opportunities can be harnessed by strengthening the following domains:

  • Environmental: only monitoring environmental impact to a ‘net zero’ emissions standard. As this means balancing greenhouse gas emissions with greenhouse gas reduction, this does not include any other environmental impacts the organisation may have, such as pollution, biodiversity, natural resources and circular economy. There is a missed opportunity for a positive impact overall.

  • Social: many companies have fundraising targets for charities, and engage their staff around fundraising activities for staff engagement. Whilst this is good for both charities and the staff who engage, many organisations (companies, NGOs and public sector) do not turn their eye internally, to their own social impact on staff. Many organisations do not have, for example, a Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team that reports to executive leadership. In addition, many companies do not have a comprehensive supply chain audit that uncovers issues of exploitation or human rights concerns at the bottom rungs of nested supply chains. There are opportunities for organisations to improve work culture, retention of talent, productivity and efficiency internally and externally, to have stronger stakeholder engagement and support to proactively mitigate risks.

  • Governance: many organisations monitor and manage their financial and legal risks, but may not ensure that their board has a strong understanding of issues related to sustainability or ESG. The EU Commission has proposed a new Directive for mandatory human rights and climate change due diligence down the supply chain. If accepted by the EU Parliament, member states will have two years to incorporate into national law. This law would affect around 16,800 companies of larger size (500+ employees) and turnover (EUR 150m), and may require changes to their governance system in relation to improved ESG performance, including board composition, and would require leadership from organisational directors. There is an opportunity (which could soon be a legal requirement in many nations) for organisations to improve their governance towards better ESG performance and positive environmental and social impact.

Many organisations do not have a dedicated ESG team at an operational level. Even though some do, those positioned in these roles may not have the background required, or the mandate from leadership, to develop strategies towards creating positive impact, rather than monitoring risks or collecting reporting data. 

The solution: Impact-focused ESG strategies

ESG performance relates to many different functions of an organisation and will look different from one organisation to another, depending on their value proposition and operations. This means that an ESG strategy must be tailored to an organisation based on many factors including: their risk appetite; a double-materiality assessment of what environmental and social impact they have; and what impact the environment and society may have on them, and how their strategy could tie into their ESG goals.

As implied by the new EU Directive proposal, it is important for ESG capacity to be present at the board level, and for organisational leadership to feel comfortable weaving ESG into their organisational strategy. For this strategy to be implemented, an ESG team may be required. To be effective in achieving the opportunities to build sustainability, this team should be mandated and qualified to: identify ESG gaps; coordinate improvements; and monitor progress. It is helpful for this team to have high visibility from executive leadership (ideally a direct reporting line), as they will be working strategically, across departments, and may need to lead organisational change processes. A strong ESG strategy will normally span across multiple functions including auditing, legal and compliance, HR, operations, programmes and communications.

Considering that improving ESG performance is relatively new to the majority of organisations, there are pioneering organisations and those that will follow. To reduce any competitive disadvantage that comes from investing in improvements (in the short term) it may be useful to incorporate advocacy and communication with trade associations and standard-setting agencies into the organisation’s ESG strategy. This can act as a platform for organisational recognition, as well as encouraging more organisations — with good practice examples and healthy competition — to catalyse the movement. It is already becoming common for trade platforms and associations to recognise or even award organisations based on ESG performance.

Considering the complex conversation around ESG at the moment, it can be hard to work out where to start, and what to do, practically, as an organisation to improve performance and sustainability — especially for organisations without current internal ESG capacity. Outsight offers a distilled, evidence-based, consultative offer to organisations wishing to take the next step.

Our proposal: A holistic approach, at the level you require

Possessing 65+ years of experience in the humanitarian and development space, working on social and environmental issues, Outsight International is extremely well placed to help organisations assess, develop and implement ESG approaches that deliver genuine impact to themselves and the communities they serve.

Our subject matter experts cover all aspects of the ESG process and we offer a comprehensive menu of services: from targeted coaching on specific issues to complete strategy development and implementation. 

For ESG to provide genuine impact, we have developed a five step process which is based on our experience in the sector. We can help organisations follow the complete process or help with the specific activities of each step.

  1. Understand ESG: By their nature, environmental, social and governance performance are extremely complex topics which can take years to understand and even longer to master. As a first step to assist organisations, we offer a standalone resource package that can help ESG implementers and key stakeholders get to grips with the topic, appropriate frameworks and critical issues. This can be run as a coaching program with ESG focal points, or as a training toolbox. 

  2. Simplify complexity and identify the gaps: ESG strategies need to embrace the complexity of their organisations and distil the most meaningful action. From leadership buy-in to supply chains, the cross-cutting nature of ESG means the process should start by engaging experts and key stakeholders to capture the complexity of real-world choices, dependencies, and tradeoffs in visual system maps that show how the parts fit together. Our system innovation experts help organisations do this in an efficient way, bringing with them years of experience in making sense of complex ecosystems and identifying the key gaps and priority areas to leverage change. 

  3. Identify the most appropriate framework: There are a range of ESG frameworks that can be chosen to apply ESG principles to your operations — there may be regulatory requirements also, depending on the sector. We help you identify the best fit for your existing systems and impact goals.  

  4. Put in place a reporting system and establish a baseline: With an understanding of your organisation's existing ESG systems and reach, and with an appropriate framework selected, the next step is to put in place the right reporting systems and audit methods to collect baseline data, on which your ESG progress can be tracked. Outsight’s reporting expertise can help set up these systems easily and efficiently. 

  5. Create a strategy and roadmap: The final and most important stage of the process is to create an impact-focused ESG strategy and roadmap. This should be built on the foundational work of the previous steps and is the point at which theory is put into practice. Strategies will vary in size depending on the goals and objectives of each organisation. They can (and should) include the following:

    1. Engagement with your stakeholders: Engage stakeholders with discussions and analysis of complex challenges that build on visual maps to co-create desired future states and a shared roadmap to get there. Co-creation enables solutions to be adapted to their specific context but also ensures legitimacy and relevance of strategies so that performance may be meaningfully improved through an efficient process. If stakeholders feel they share ownership of a plan of action, implementation becomes much easier. 

    2. Identify the right support: Depending on the organisation, Outsight can identify specialist agencies that can help them implement their ESG strategies. There is a range of outsourcing options to support the ESG implementers i.e. human rights in the supply chain, environmental impact, and good governance experts. Partnerships with organisations working in these spaces are essential to moving beyond just the box-ticking exercise that ESG can fall into. 

    3. Strategy formation: Once the right stakeholder and support have been identified, Outsight helps harmonise this with the chosen regulatory and reporting frameworks to create a strategy that can be put into practice. 

    4. Building staff capacity: Outsight can provide supporting instruction on the basics of ESG thinking and support the development of staff to engage on the topic through the use of self-assessment tools and change initiatives. Utilising this approach will enable better top-to-bottom engagement in the topic. 

    5. Communications: It’s important to encourage sustained use of system descriptions and visuals in communications, using these tools to help expand the conversation. Interactive tools, courses, and communications materials can be built for the organisation’s customers and partners, and provide an aligned strategy for understanding and addressing the effects of complex challenges. Many companies and NGOs are striving toward sustainability, beyond simply mitigating ESG risks. Considering these organisations are the pioneers, it can be useful to put pressure on the national Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC), trade associations, relevant Ministries or task-force groups surrounding operations, to recognise good practices and raise standards for other organisations. Outsight can support by mapping the system, communications and strategies for this advocacy as well. 

This approach can be widely applied to diverse challenge areas in climate action and widely shared in different educational, corporate, and community environments.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND OUTSIGHT INTERNATIONAL

Harriet Milsted
Harriet is a Research, M&E and Reporting Consultant specialising in measuring and improving social impact, and with experience in measuring and improving environmental impact and governance systems. She is a member of the ESG Special Interest Group of the Institute of Risk Management where she was invited to speak in their first publicly broadcast panel discussion around the opportunities for improving ESG performance of private companies and NGOs respectively, through strategic partnerships. She coordinated sustainability reporting for Save the Children against the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Grand Bargain and Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and was also the Accountability representative in the corporate Risk Assurance Network. Recently she was working on an EU Spotlight initiative around improving ESG performance, with UNICEF and Baan Dek Foundation, a Thai NGO, where she facilitated the development of the corporate engagement strategy and tools for the construction sector in Thailand including property developers, contractors and subcontractors at the bottom rungs of the supply chain. She is currently consulting around ESG-related initiatives, including child labour remediation in the supply chain, combatting trafficking in persons and rights violations of migrant workers, and improving organisational sustainability for CSOs.

Outsight International
Beyond the complex systems design and communication strategy which we have outlined above,
Outsight International builds teams based on the specific needs of an innovation initiative. Much like a Hollywood movie builds its production teams to match the right talent with a particular movie, Outsight compiles the right expertise to tackle the unique challenges of a particular initiative. In the case of ESG, we are well placed to provide assistance to organisations looking to break down, solve and communicate problems. If you’d like to discuss working with the Outsight team, please get in touch or follow us on LinkedIn for regular updates.

Why health needs to be at the centre of climate change discussions

I have worked in the environmental sector since graduating from university in 2011. In 2016, I transitioned over into health and climate change, bringing my expertise on climate change to health professionals. With climate records being continually broken, climate-related disasters on the rise, and limited action being taken to meaningfully reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, the need to understand the role of health in climate change discussions has never been more critical.

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No one is immune to the health impacts of climate change

Every impact of climate change will affect human health to some degree and no one - no matter where in the world they live - is immune. Yet capturing the health impacts of climate change can be very complicated. Direct health impacts are simpler to identify: for example, death and injury following a storm; heat stroke during a heatwave; or spread of infectious diseases as vectors’ ranges alter in a warming world. However, the indirect health impacts of climate change are much harder to capture and understand. Indeed, there can be seemingly endless trickle-down effects of climate change, which can affect human health and wellbeing to greater or lesser degrees all around the world. Just one example - forced migration. While forced migration in itself can be a direct impact of climate change (for example, from sea level rise), the consequences of this forced migration are numerous and complex, from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety to economic insecurity and low access to health care. These in turn can have further trickle-down effects for health and wellbeing. Capturing all of these nuances is an almighty challenge, but one that needs to be met. Only by understanding the full scale of the direct and indirect health impacts of climate change can we incentivise action and also put in place measures to increase resilience to these impacts.

 

Health systems are not prepared for climate change

Essential to reducing the health impacts of climate change are robust and well-functioning healthcare systems. To be resilient to climate change, a health system must have early-warning systems, disaster-response systems, disease-specific responses, and nutrition-focussed responses in place. The ability of health systems to do this will be significantly undermined — or indeed made impossible — if they are unable to deliver basic healthcare; use meteorological information to project climate-related health risks; or continue functioning if hit by a natural disaster. Many healthcare systems are not able to meet these criteria, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, which are often the most vulnerable to climate change. The 2019 WHO Health and Climate Change Survey Report tracks global progress of actions by national governments to address health and climate risks. It found that only half of countries (50 out of 101 surveyed) have a national health and climate change strategy or plan. Furthermore, early-warning systems and health sector response plans were not in place for the majority of climate related disasters. Specifically, for flooding 60 out of 99 countries had an early-warning systems and health sector response plan in place; for storms this was 50 out of 90 countries; for heatwaves it was 42 out of 98 countries; for drought it was 38 out of 97 countries; and finally for air quality it was 31 out of 98 countries.

 

Climate change is a human rights issue

Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) health is a human right for all. The health impacts of climate change are in direct violation of this human right, in governments continuing to allow unmitigated climate change, which is already having, and will have increasingly severe and widespread, health impacts. Thus, the health impacts of climate change make it a human rights issue. The formal global recognition of climate change as a human rights violation is an essential step in protecting human health. In January 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee issued its first ruling supporting asylum for climate change refugees from Kiribati, forced to move as a result of rising sea levels. This is a promising step, but more needs to be done: more ambitious mitigation targets are needed; the UNFCCC needs to formally recognise the links between climate change and human rights; climate financing mechanisms must be equitable; greater financial and technical support is needed for low income countries; and loss and damage must be addressed to understand the scale of impacts in affected countries.

 

Co-benefits in the health and climate space are enormous

The scale of actions needed to tackle climate change can seem rather overwhelming. Indeed, a fundamental shift in the way society functions and is powered is needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We know how to do this - we just need the will. Furthermore, we need to recognise that many of these actions have huge health co-benefits, which can make plans much for economically efficient and broadly beneficial. Air pollution is a great example of this. Many of the sources of local air pollution are also emitting greenhouse gases (and so contributing to climate change) — such as petrol and diesel cars and coal-fired power plants. By taking petrol and diesel cars off our roads and shutting down coal power plants, not only do we reduce the significant contribution of these greenhouse gas emitters, but we also quickly improve local air quality. This is a big win-win. Ambient air pollution is estimated to cause 4.2 million deaths every year due to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. By identifying and maximising these win-wins and reaping the health and climate co-benefits available, we can make significant and relatively immediate improvements in people’s health and wellbeing.

 

People inherently care about health

We’ve known for decades that greenhouse gases are causing our planet to warm. I will not go into the unforgivable reasons for this being buried, ignored and denied, but it is important to recognise and then to understand why the health angle could be a game changer. People care about health. They care about their own health, they care about the health of their loved ones, and they generally care about the health of strangers around the world. The same sadly cannot be said for the environment, which has traditionally been the lens through which climate change has been discussed. Furthermore, climate change has historically been presented as a long-term problem - this can make it difficult to engage with it as it seemingly doesn’t affect people’s day to day lives. However, it is becoming increasingly clear to the public that this is not the case. It is also becoming increasingly clear that not only is climate change having impacts now, but that these impacts are affecting people’s health and wellbeing. Talking about climate change through the lens of human health can be a powerfully persuasive tool for action.

 

There is a long way to go

Sadly, we’re not on the right path. We’re currently heading towards 2.8°C - 3.2°C global temperature rise. A conservative safe limit is 2°C, as set under the Paris Agreement. Incentivising further action is essential and health might just be the angle through which to achieve increased action. It must be understood and recognised that no one is immune to the health impacts of climate change and that health systems are generally not prepared for climate change. Then it can be formally accepted that climate change is a human rights issue. To further incentivise action and make climate action more broadly beneficial for all, health co-benefits must be captured for these are enormous. Beyond this, the fact that people inherently care about health makes for a more compelling and easier “sell”. So the time has come to stop treating issues associated with climate change and those with health as separate entities. They are intricately and inherently linked. Only by mainstreaming health in climate policies, and vice versa, can we truly begin to make tackling the enormousness of the climate crisis a viable possibility.


About Nicola Outsight International

Nicola is an environmental health specialist, with expertise in climate change and health and environmental determinants of health. Previous projects she has worked on include health impacts of climate change, population vulnerability to climate change, health co-benefits of climate mitigation, health adaptation and resilience, ecosystem services and air quality. Nicola works with both health professionals and environmental professionals (across governments, UN agencies, NGOs and academia) to help them better understand the links between climate change, the environment and human health, and also works with professionals to enable them to better account for and address the human health effects of climate change and other environmental changes through targeted policies and plans.

Outsight International is an organisation specialising in providing services to the humanitarian and development sector in an efficient and agile way. We build on the range of expertise offered by our network of Associates in order to deliver quality results adapted to the specific tasks at hand. If you’d like to discuss working Nicola and the Outsight team, please get in touch or follow us on LinkedIn for regular updates.