Who is this playbook for?

The devastating consequences of global warming on humanity and the planet are accelerating at a worrying pace, but the Climate Action Accelerator firmly believes that everyone has both the ability to make a difference, and a responsibility to do what they can.

This playbook is primarily aimed at international humanitarian organisations, and especially senior management, sustainability managers, and technical experts. It is a simple, practical handbook to help organisations in their initial efforts to halve carbon emissions. This guidance is not suitable for local actors, for which there is a variety of materials elsewhere.

Though local and national actors (LNAs), including local NGOs,⁸ have a crucial role to play in transforming the humanitarian sector in relation to the climate, content of the Playbook primarily concerns international NGOs (INGOs) whose GHG emissions are much higher due to international travel, international freight and large-scale international supply chains.

UN humanitarian agencies and large international organisations are also strongly encouraged to use the Playbook’s approach, principles and priority solutions.

It will help improve emissions reduction efforts for their own operations and make the transition towards climate- and nature-smart portfolios, thereby contributing to accelerate the transformation of their sub-grantees and partners. As 50% of international humanitarian funds are channelled through UN agencies, they have an essential role to play in transforming the sector.

Donors and policymakers will also be able to use the Playbook as a reference to identify the climate solutions they should deploy, fund and support as a priority, and the principles they should adopt to guide effective emissions reduction strategies.

The solutions and approaches in the Playbook were developed collectively by the Climate Action Accelerator and its partner organisations and have been specifically tailored for humanitarian actors. However, several can be used generically. Local/ host governments and private sector companies working with the humanitarian sector and/or in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may also find it inspiring.

By openly sharing lessons from pilot projects developed with humanitarian partners, the objective of the Climate Action Accelerator is to amplify change within the humanitarian sector and beyond, initiating a snowball effect into a radical transformation of collective practice.

Adopting a principles-based approach
Pillar 1

Guiding Principles
Approach to roadmap development
Carbon footprint measurement

Focusing on top solutions
Pillar 2

Top 8 solutions 
Energy
Travel
Supply chain
Other solutions 
Waste
Biodiversity
Digital

Being a driver of change
Pillar 3

Enablers
Implementation principles
Monitoring & reporting

Assessing the financial impact
Pillar 4

Methodological approach
Financial impact assessment

Programme highlights
Reshaping programs

Health
Food aid

About the Climate Action Accelerator

The Climate Action Accelerator (CAA) is a Geneva-based not-for-profit initiative created in 2020 with the aim of leveraging a critical mass of high human impact organisations in order to scale up climate solutions, contribute to greater resilience, and ultimately limit global warming to well below 2°C, and avoid adverse impact on communities around the world. The overall goal is to help shift the aid, health and higher education sectors towards a radical transformation of their practices, halving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 on a “net zero” trajectory in line with the Paris Agreement, and transitioning to low-carbon, resilient, sustainable models.

This Playbook was developed thanks to the generous support of the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Crisis Centre of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (CDCS), and DG ECHO.

Acknowledgements

This Playbook was authored and coordinated by Beatrice Godefroy and developed under the direction of Bruno Jochum. Climate Action Accelerator is thankful for inputs from Blerim Arslani, Valérie Bellino, Samantha Brangeon, Pascal Carré, Jean Colrat, Hichem Demortier, Kiran Jobanputra, Dominique Legros, Cédric Martin, Zaninka Ntagungira, Sonja Schmid, Paolo Sevegnes, Bastienne Tiberghien, Tania Chauvin, Paul Jansens, Cyril Pierrot, and Frédéric Vallat.

This playbook capitalises on the work piloted by Climate Action Accelerator, with its humanitarian partners between 2020 and 2024. We are grateful for their commitment and the wealth of knowledge and experience that was developed with their collaboration: ALIMA, Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland, Médecins Sans Frontières France, Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Non Violent Peace Force (NP), Terre des Hommes Foundation, Terre des Hommes Suisse, Terre des Hommes Schweiz, Epicentre, MSF Supply, MSF Logistique. We are also extremely thankful to all other Climate Action Accelerator’s partners, as cross-sectoral learnings considerably enriched the content of this playbook.

It was edited by Etienne Sutherland (external editor) with support from Macarena Castro (Communications Officer) and Renee Russo (Solutions intern).

Operational Playbook
for Organisations

Who is this playbook for?