The climate emergency is one of the greatest challenges of our time and is recognised as an ‘existential threat’¹ to human society. More frequent extreme weather events, such as droughts, flooding, tropical storms and heatwaves are causing conflict, displacement, migration, damage to essential infrastructure, disruption to food and water supplies, and public health emergencies.²

Humanity is dangerously close to breaching multiple tipping points. But there is still a window of opportunity for action.

Faced with the unprecedented challenges posed by climate-related disasters, humanitarian organisations have committed to being part of the solution. Over the last 4 years, major commitments have been made to improve how the climate and the environment are integrated into humanitarian action; over 450 organisations have signed the Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organisations,³ which is supported by 13 donors. The donor community has also come together under the ‘Humanitarian Aid Donors’ Declaration on Climate and Environment’.⁴

Most recently, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) produced a guidance document on ‘Environmental Responsibility in Humanitarian Operations’,⁵ one of the first sector-wide policy frameworks. These different developments send a strong signal that the humanitarian community has grasped the importance of making climate a priority.

The scientific consensus is clear that only a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions global temperature +1.5°C, the Paris Agreement emissions by 20306 adopt and implement ambitious emissions reduction strategies

But how do we get from where we are now to where we need to be in 2030?

More and more humanitarian organisations are looking to operationalise their commitments and reduce their climate and environmental impact, but most humanitarian actors still report a technical operational gap slowing down their efforts. They are looking for relevant climate solutions and approaches.

The Climate Action Accelerator has developed a consistent, systematic, quantified, evidenced-based and principled approach to effective emissions reduction.⁷ To help organisations find ways to operationalise their climate commitments while guiding the sector towards effective emissions reduction, that can contribute to the Paris Agreement goal of halving GHG emissions by 2030.

This ‘Playbook’ summarises key steps towards building a roadmap for effective emissions reduction, solutions, methodological tips, co-benefit of climate solutions, and the findings from financial impact assessments. It also includes good practices from across the sector and beyond.

Navigating through the practical elements in this Playbook will also help highlight co-benefits, or areas where climate action can also contribute to humanitarian goals:

• By reducing dependency on fossil fuels, organisations increase their resilience and ability to adapt when availability and prices become more volatile, to avoid the negative impact of rising fuel prices on operational budgets.
• By integrating environmental sustainability into programmes, they improve the quality of the assistance they provide, without restricting their capacity to act.

This Playbook will continue to evolve as knowledge and experience in effective emissions reduction in the humanitarian sector deepen.

Radical transformation is needed. This is where to get started.