Shining a light on climate-forward organisations
With the recent release of the United Nation’s latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, it has never been clearer that, as global citizens, we have an urgent imperative to radically transform our lifestyles and work collaboratively to dramatically reduce climate change. EHF Fellow (Cohort 8) and Managing Director of The Lever Room, Rebecca Mills, has channelled her passion for optimising and measuring impact into Aotearoa’s very first Climate Solutions Directory. By showcasing and connecting the integral work that New Zealand’s climate-forward organisations are already doing, she believes that the Directory can facilitate coordinated climate action at scale.
“Over recent months, I’ve had conversations with a growing number of distressed people who are anxious that governments alone can’t get us where we need to be: with our emissions roughly halved by 2030. There is real concern that we are simply not moving fast enough,” she says. By shining a light on all of the existing solutions, she hopes to showcase the great work already being done, and to provide inspiration and exposure for early-stage, indigenous and grassroots initiatives who need greater access to resources. “One of the key drivers behind this was to help investors and philanthropists know who’s leading the charge and to provide this tool for them to find values-aligned organisations they can support, financially. But, over time, it has the potential to hold real value for everyday people who are considering which organisations to support with their dollars. At a wider scale, having this snapshot view might also enable government, NGOs and researchers to more easily identify critical gaps in Aotearoa’s climate change response.”
Using her deep knowledge of the sector and her commitment to clear and compelling data, Rebecca has structured the Directory into nine overarching categories: Media & Creatives, Research, Indigenous, Activists/Not for Profits, Business Solutions, Government & Regulators, Financial Economy, Philanthropic and Intermediaries, all of which sit within the wider lens of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge). “This first version is quite a straight-forward solution that will be fully updated annually with feedback from advocates in the climate space. I want to be guided by what is helpful for others; it needs to be dynamic and fit for purpose.”
In its first iteration, Rebecca has been excited by the number and variety of Fellow-led businesses she was able to include. “It’s really exciting to see that there are Fellows across many areas and to learn more about what they’re doing. A few Fellow highlights in the Directory are Kirsty Reynolds (Cohort 8) and the amazing work she’s doing with award-winning nature sanctuary, Tahi, as well as solar specialists Tim Derrick (Cohort 4) and Jeff Schlichting (Cohort 7) of Helios, but there are dozens of others, particularly in the Business Solutions and Philanthropic categories. I was also really grateful to have the support of Hana Maihi (Cohort 5) to showcase the hard mahi (work) of indigenous contributors who are working in the environmental space.”
The pressing need for creative and collaborative climate solutions has been exacerbated in the last couple of years by COVID fatigue, but the consensus among climate experts is that we can’t allow the pandemic to distract from other chronic global challenges. “Climate change is the number one health risk globally according to the World Health Organisation, and it has the potential to impact us all at a scale much greater than COVID-19. We need to be multi-solving; taking on the problems of today but also continuing to address our ongoing systemic issues.”
Lever Room public workshop ’Sweet Talks’ series
The Climate Solutions Directory has been informed and supported by Rebecca’s role as Founder of Aotearoa’s longest-standing impact and sustainability consulting firm, The Lever Room. In her capacity as Managing Director, Rebecca and her team are working tirelessly to quantify and multiply impact by transforming meaningful data into real-world outcomes. One of their latest undertakings is an initiative called Measuring What Matters, a global effort to advance our collective ability to measure meaningful, systems-level change across both the environmental and the social impact spaces. “The current systems for how and what we measure often don’t align with our vision and values. No matter how well-intentioned, many organisations measure the impact of their initiatives in ways that are quite selective and variable. It’s imperative that we construct a standardised, holistic system of measurement to better inform decision-making and investment.” Drawing on expertise from those advancing solutions in the impact measurement space, Rebecca and her Lever Room team have brought several Global Advisors and Fellows together to get the Measuring what Matters initiative to the starting line. She is currently exploring with EHF how they could work with a wider group of Fellows on a pilot. “Our aim is to join the race against time to support our collective vision of a future that is vibrant, prosperous and sustainable for everyone. What we know so far is that our frames of reference, our processes for making decisions and our ability to assess the impact of those decisions will need to change.”
Rebecca is excited about having multiple opportunities to connect with EHF and its Fellows to scale impact, and is eager to use both Measuring What Matters and the Climate Solutions Directory to highlight the great work of others in the Fellowship. The next challenge, she says, will be getting people to see and use the Directory, even with their newsfeeds clouded by a constant wave of global pandemic updates. “Biodiversity loss, climate change, massive inequalities - we can’t take our eye off any of that. We can’t get despondent. What’s been great about the Directory is that people are finding it really inspirational just to see that the resource exists and to discover others in Aotearoa who are working on these big environmental challenges. There’s maybe 100 organisations listed in this first version and the response so far has already been quite overwhelming. I suspect that, as the New Zealand ecosystem matures and I gather feedback for the next iterations, this resource will only become more valuable in connecting the sector and offering some needed hope that there’s important work being done to shift those climate dials in the right direction.”
For other aspiring impact leaders and measurers, Rebecca’s best advice is to refrain from making assumptions. “Yes, map out the data and research, but also have a meaningful kōrero (conversation) with those who are impacted by those problems and really work to understand the root causes before you start designing solutions.”
To learn more about Rebecca’s work, visit https://www.theleverroom.com/ download Aotearoa’s first Climate Solutions Directory here and learn more about Measuring What Matters here.