Sustainability specialists encouraging organisations towards a ‘Net Zero North East & Cumbria’

A newly launched organisation, Going Green Together, is hoping to encourage community organisations, charities and social enterprise organisations in the North East and Cumbria to go greener.

Environmental sustainability specialist, Genee, is also set to be a part of the new initiative alongside a partnership of the VONNE Climate Action Alliance (VCAA), VONNE, Cumbria CVS, Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS), SmartCarbon and SIDE Labs.

The Going Green Together partners won more than £300k of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and County Durham Community Foundation earlier this year to deliver the Going Green Together campaign over the next 15 months.

The project will look to “establish an effective climate-focused strategy” within community organisations, charities and social enterprises, introducing conversation and action around carbon reduction.

Genee will be delivering training and putting participating organisations through the Investors in the Environment (iiE), a nationally recognised environmental accreditation programme.

Jo Holmes, managing director at Genee, said: “We are excited to work with voluntary sector organisations across the North East and Cumbria to identify and reduce their environmental impact.

“This is such an important sector as its influence throughout the communities it works with can be significant. We hope that any work we do with the sector will have a greater reach throughout organisations and communities they work with”.

This is the first regional-level programme of practical support for charity sector organisations in the country. By signing up for Become Green Together, VCSE organisations can lead by example and “establish effective environmental policies, taking advantage of the expertise of Genee and the Investors in the Environment programme”.