2024 updates: sharing policy, strategy and action

The RACE Report collects data and information on three main areas:

Section A - Administration and organisation characteristics

Section B – Race and ethnicity

Section C – Policy, strategy and action

The data points for The RACE Report were developed in 2022 following consultation with an EDI specialist, comparative review to our sister initiative Green 2.0 in the U.S., and input from The RACE Report Advisory Group. It’s important for The RACE Report to act as a tool for sharing practices and driving meaningful culture change to deliver on aspirations for it to support sector-wide transformation.

In 2022 and 2023 we had a number of questions and comments related to section C of our data points, this article aims to explain how we see this section as an enabler for positive change and the changes we’ve made for 2024.

Why we collect section C data?

Section A tells us what types of organisation are represented in the data and section B helps us track both whole sector and organisational diversity and representation. The quantitative data on diversity and representation only tells one part of the story, it important to also understand the work that is underway in the sector to deliver on climate and environmental justice through proactive policies, strategies and action. This is where section C of our data collection form comes in.

Section C gives participating organisations the potential to create genuine sector wide change by contributing towards shared learning and practices for embedding inclusion in organisations’ policies, strategies and actions. Whilst participation in this section is optional, we strongly encourage organisations to complete it for this very reason.

Section C is designed to be action oriented. It covers a breadth of areas and incorporates commonly recommended actions to support progression of equality, diversity and inclusion, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Neither is one action intended to be prioritised over another, and actions may not be applicable to all organisations. Data and information submitted under section C will be used to help shape case studies and resources that will be made publicly available to support the sector on its EDI journey.

What we’ve changed and why?

Following feedback and discussion with participating organisations and people from racially and ethnically minoritised identities, we have revised some of the section C data points to ensure inclusion and culture change are at their core. We know that meaningful culture change takes time, therefore it is the implementation of actions, based on informed strategies and policies that is key. We have also made some amendments to acknowledge that there are organisations participating in The RACE Report that are majority people of colour or other ethnically minoritised identities, therefore we want to ensure our criteria are clearly applicable to all environment charities in the UK.

Summary of changes and updates:

- We have added more suggestions in terms of other initiatives that organisations could be taking part in and resources they can access, to ensure The RACE Report continues to be an up to date tool for organisations (i.e. C1, B).

- We have added ‘if applicable’ in relation to some actions in acknowledgement that we do have a small number of majority people of colour or other ethnically minoritised background organisations participating in The RACE Report.  

- We have changed data point C2, Cfrom “Published target to increase racial diversity by a given amount by astated date” to “Published target to increase race equality and inclusion by agiven amount by a stated date, based on organisation’s context”. This is to ensure organisations are prioritising staff experience of inclusion for retentionand progression, opposed to risking any sense of tokenistic hiring practices.

- C2, D has been revised from “Improvement in racial diversity in the performance targets for managers / directors”, to “Improvement in racial equality and inclusion in the performance targets for managers /directors”. This is for similar reasons of ensuring equality and inclusion are centred as priorities when progressing work on racial and ethnic justice.

- C3, has been revised from “Guaranteed interview scheme for people of colour or those from other ethnicallyminoritised groups that meet essential criteria for all new recruitments”, toinclude “where there is underrepresentation” – this acknowledges that not all organisations will be underrepresented in terms of race and ethnicity.

For oranisations participating in The RACE Report 2024, we strongly encourage you to share your work in this area, as part of your data submission, so we can use this as a resource for progressing positive change for a more inclusive environment sector. Although many aspects of section C relate to internal diversity and inclusion work for organisational staff, please also consider where these efforts can be applied to working with key stakeholders, clients and your organisation’s wider networks.

The list above is not exhaustive, there are someother changes, which should be noticeable when completing submissions to The RACE Report. For any further questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.