Green Footsteps Guide
Watch this online introduction to the Green Footsteps Guide
What is the Green Footsteps Guide?
The Green Footsteps Guide is a practical toolkit designed to help voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations embed climate friendly practices in their every-day operations and take their first steps toward sustainability. It offers guidance on building resilience to current and future climate change impacts while fostering long-term environmental responsibility.
This toolkit is designed for everyone in your organisation — from volunteers to chief executives — regardless of background, role, or level of expertise. Whether your organisation is deeply involved in climate activism or not, this guide will empower you to take meaningful steps toward sustainability. It is a valuable resource that will strengthen both your organisation and the communities you serve, giving you the confidence to move forward on this journey.
While the Guide includes information tailored to Cornwall and the VCSE sector, it also offers valuable insights and resources applicable to individuals and community organisations everywhere. It compiles a wealth of collective knowledge held by climate and environmental professionals and makes it available to all.
Who developed the Green Footsteps Guide?
The Guide was pulled together by the team at Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum, with contributions from organisations within the Climate and Environment Alliance. We are incredibly fortunate to have a passionate and collaborative VCSE sector in Cornwall, dedicated to working together for better environmental and human health.
Online sessions introducing the Green Footsteps Guide
In tandem with the publication of the Guide, there is a series of recorded talks to introduce each chapter and they feature guest speakers. These are compiled in a playlist on Cornwall VSF's YouTube channel and are saved on the right hand side of this page.
Downloadable files
Green Footsteps Guide (pdf) - complete document for download.
Not everything in this guide will be relevant to your organisation...Feel free to pick and choose where and when to start, and what to focus on.
Download individual chapters of the Green Footsteps Guide based on your current interests and circumstances:
Chapter 2: Audits - focusing on how you can measure sustainability within your organisation and identify areas where a reduction in your organisation’s environmental costs and carbon footprint may be possible.
Chapter 3: Energy - presenting four key actions to apply to energy use and a step-by-step guide on how organisations might go about reducing their energy consumption.
Chapter 4: Transport - proposing a range of actions for reducing transport emissions that may be suitable for different organisations, while also recognising the challenges that living in a rural area like Cornwall poses.
Chapter 5: Food - giving an overview of the emissions from food production and key points to consider when making decisions about food, as an organisation.
Chapter 6: Waste - introducing the Zero Waste Hierarchy and offering tips for reducing and disposing of waste.
Chapter 7: Buildings - advising organisations on how to improve energy efficiency and reduce negative impacts associated with construction, use, and maintenance of buildings.
Chapter 8: Greenspaces - offering advice on managing greenspaces for optimum benefits and signposting to organisations and funding opportunities that can help.
Chapter 9: Resilience - exploring what might affect the resilience of an organisation and its people and signposting to useful resources.
Chapter 10: Digital - advising on approaches that you can implement as an organisation to reduce energy use and emissions when working digitally.
Chapter 11: Working from Home - giving an overview of what to consider when home working is an option for staff - this includes energy efficiencies and financial savings, as well as general sustainability practices to apply in a home working environment.
Chapter 12: Money - emphasising the importance of carefully selecting financial institutions for everyday banking, investments, pensions, car insurance, etc, based on their environmental and ethical credibility, and signposting to those that are well regarded.
Chapter 13: Policies - introducing different policies that an organisation can develop to improve its sustainability practices and environmental credentials.
Chapter 14: Glossary - listing terms used in the Guide that users may be unfamiliar with or need a reminder of their definitions.
The Green Footsteps Guide is also hosted on Cornwall Voluntary Sector Forum's website here.
Funding from Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, Cornwall Council and Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Resilience Forum enabled the Green Footsteps Guide to come to fruition.
Green Footsteps Guide Lunch & Learns
-
Watch this 17 minute online introduction to ‘The Green Footsteps Guide’ with Climate & Environment Alliance Engagement Manager, Kirstie Edwards.
-
Watch this 29 minute session and listen to Kirstie Edwards and Charmian Larke of Atlantic Energy Ltd discuss energy usage, zero carbon energy, and how to make steps towards reducing consumption.
-
In this 28 minute session, Kirstie welcomes Holly Whitelaw of Gleaning Cornwall and Cornwall Climate Action Network (CCAN) to discuss what sustainable food is, how land is used for food production globally, and why the way we farm our food matters for both our planet and for our health.
-
In this 26 minute session, Kirstie Edwards discusses circular economy and routes to redistributing used items in Cornwall. Chair of the Climate and Environment Alliance, and Climate Resilience Project Officer, Annette Eatock, joins Kirstie to discuss waste within the primary care network, simpler recycling, and Medicines Amnesty.
-
In this 16 minute session, Kirstie welcomes Manda Brookman from Volunteer Cornwall to discuss why resilience is important, how extreme weather events can impact our services, our health and how VCSE organisations can respond to the impacts of climate change.
-
In this 57 minute session, Kirstie is joined by Wildanet's Health & Safety Officer, Andy, to discuss how by encouraging, supporting and potentially monitoring energy efficiencies by those working from home, an organisation can spread sustainable practices further, aid energy and associated financial savings and even improve staff wellbeing.
-
In this 46 minute session, Kirstie is joined by the CEO of MotherTree, Dan, to discuss how where we bank, get a mortgage, buy insurance, invest our pensions and save our money can impact the environment.
-
In this 58 minute session, Kirstie Edwards is joined by Simon Evans from Truro & Penwith College to talk about climate literacy, green skills, and applying these skills at an individual and an organisational level.