Race Equality Foundation Chief Executive, Jabeer Butt, recently featured on the Third Sector podcast. He was invited on to talk about how the voluntary sector can best respond to environmental and climate issues.
Jabeer explains how some interventions to tackle environmental issues risk harming minority ethnic groups, citing the economic impact of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone on minicab drivers.
He draws on NPC’s Everyone’s Environment programme, which examines how minority ethnic groups, younger and older populations and people living with a disability are impacted by the climate crisis.
He suggests ways in which voluntary sector leaders can address the issue and calls for greater representation of minority groups in climate-related leadership and activism.
Jabeer said:
“Since the murder of George Floyd, one of the things that’s emerged is a debate about who provides leadership around issues to do with racial inequality, and also addressing inequality as a whole.
And it’s been important to recognise that many of the charities involved in the environmental movement, both internationally but also locally, have been white-led. Haven’t necessarily engaged with communities, particularly minority ethnic communities.
Some are clearly doing something about it. Some are clearly trying to address those issues. Whether it’s being done as quickly as possible or as systematically as possible is open to debate.
But what’s clear is that in the future we need to ensure that minority ethnic communities’ voices are part of that leadership, are part of that programme of activism.”
Listen to the podcast here.
Read the transcript here.
