1. Introduction and Background:

The Climate Action Accelerator and Joint Initiative for Sustainable Humanitarian Assistance Packaging Waste Management (JI)have identified opportunities to accelerate the climate and environmental transformation of the humanitarian sector, through two bodies of work.

Firstly, in “Operationalizing and Scaling-up Donors’ Climate and Environmental Commitments: an analysis of progress, gaps, and opportunities” they analyze donors’ approaches to climate and environmental transformation and some key areas for collective improvement.

Secondly, in 2023 the Climate Action Accelerator facilitated a multi-stakeholder dialogue bringing together humanitarian donors, INGOs, and UN organizations to collectively identify ways to increase funding and support for emissions reduction across the sector. This led to a Policy Brief containing recommendations for organizations and donors alike.

One of the recommendations pertains to the role of local NGOs: it highlights their knowledge of localand national environmental contexts and regulations; their practical experience of climate and environmental action and their ability to ensure a more localized humanitarian response.As such, local organizations have the potential to contribute to the climate and environmental transformation of the humanitarian sector, whilst also helping it to achieve its localization targets.Furthermore, locally-led climate and environmental initiatives help to put equity and human rights at the core of decision-making, ensuring a more just climate transition.

However, while some have pioneered integrated low-carbon, resilient approaches, local NGOs struggle to deploy these at scale.Many still face difficulty in accessing funding, and in particular the type of flexible funding that can be mobilized to support climate and environmental transformation efforts.They require capacity-strengtheningto be able to comply with increasing requirements and requests from donors to take climate and the environment into consideration in humanitarian response, coupled with technical support to better measure and mitigate their own emissions.

The objective of this session is to explore how humanitarian donors and international organizations can better support their local partners to transition towards sustainable, low carbon, and resilient operating models, thereby helping to reduce the sector’s climate and environmental footprint, whilst also promoting a more localized response.

Two main topics will be discussed, as below

1. Operational Policies for More Effective Climate and Environmental Transformation at the Local Level

Both the Humanitarian aid donors’ declaration on climate and environment and theClimate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations recognize the role of local NGOs in the fight against climate change and the adoption of moreenvironmentally friendly practices within the humanitarian sector. Furthermore, donor policies increasingly acknowledge the mutual benefits of linking both localization and greening agendas (e.g. USAID’s climate strategy and Localization Vision, ECHO’s localisation guidance note)

This section will explore how to ensure that greening and localization policies areoperationalizedandmutually reinforcingat the field level, and how these can support concrete changes in local NGOs’ operating models.

2. Increased Funding and Support to Facilitate the Climate and Environmental Transformation of Local NGOs

This section will explore how donors and international organizations can mobilize support for their local partners to transition to low-carbon, sustainable, resilient operating modes. Some examples include:

• Enabling local NGOs to access more flexible, long-term, and predictable fundingso that they can measure and mitigate their emissions and adjust their operating models in response

• Including local NGOs in existing training on climate and environmental issues or organizing specific training for them

• Providing them with specific resources to promote their understanding of concepts and political commitments related to the climate emergency and their consequences for humanitarian assistance

• Working with local NGOs to co-develop adapted roadmaps and simplified methodologies

• Working with donors to ensure that they adapt their climate and environmental requirements to suit the capacities and resources of local NGOs

  Moderator:Béatrice Godefroy - Director, Public Policy Engagement, Climate Action Accelerator

  Panelists:

  • Carina Rolly- Advocacy and Policy Advisor, Adventist Development and Relief Agency /ADRA

  • Erika Clesceri- Bureau Environmental Officer and Climate Integration Lead, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance

  • Eva Mach,Head of Environmental Sustainability, International Organization for Migration /IOM

  • Jérome Oberreit,Executive Director, BRAC Global

  • Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director, Friendship NGO