Report on Environmental Footprint of humanitarian assistance for DG ECHO

The increasing gravity of environmental and climate-related challenges coupled with the dependency of affected people on natural resources, calls for “collective responsibility” for humanitarian actors to reduce their programs’ environmental footprint. Donors have a critical role to play to make change happen. Aware of this, DG ECHO is launching a detailed analysis of its practices and areas for improvement to better support its partners in this collective effort

The objective of this review is to take stock of DG ECHO’s position and practices on this issue in view of identifying areas for progress. This review aims to map out existing environmental mainstreaming initiatives in the humanitarian sector (DG ECHO, other donors) as well as the existing practical tools used by the humanitarian community, which will serve as evidence on which DG ECHO can base its internal reflection in order to identify how it can support its partners in this complex endeavour to reduce their environmental footprint.