In 2017 a Policy Exchange report showed that the occupation of ‘environmental professional’ was the second-least racially diverse in the UK, after farming. NUS followed this up with their own study in 2018 which further quantified the lack of racial diversity in the sector.

The RACE Report aims to address race diversity within the environmental, climate and sustainability charitable sector, and hold organisations accountable for their initiatives towards a safe and diverse workplace. We aim to create a positive learning and progressive environment, in which organisations embrace social change instead of shying away from the systemic realities of racism.

There have been a number of collaborative groups and initiatives set up within parts of the sector, such as, the Race for Nature Recovery, IEMA’s Diverse Sustainability Initiative, Wildlife and Countryside Link’s work with Full Colour, and some internal task groups in larger organisations like the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts.  

Despite this action, it seems that only incremental progress has been made on increasing the racial diversity across the sector, and that remains very patchy.

We believe that now is the time to work with the sector to agree a standardised reporting protocol for race data and to collect and publish the data on an annual basis. This should serve as a catalyst for meaningful action to tackle the barriers that are preventing more people of colour from working and thriving in the sector.  

• To get most of the environmental, climate and sustainability charitable sector collecting comparable data on racial diversity.  
• To publish the data for individual organisations so they can be scrutinised on their progress to becoming more racially diverse and just organisations.
• To get the sector into a position where it better represents the diverse communities that it supposedly serves. This will be for the betterment of the sector and wider society and will help us to deliver climate and wider environmental justice.

‍Green 2.0 is an annual league table of staff racial diversity in the top 40 environmental not-for-profits and top 40 environmental foundations in the USA. Following the success and impact of the campaign in the USA, we plan to develop our own version, called the RACE Report, in the UK in 2022.

The four founding partners of the RACE Report are Hindu Climate Action, Nature Youth Connection Education, South Asians for Sustainability and Students Organising for Sustainability UK.

‍

Contact

Please send any queries to racereport@sos-uk.org.