Over the past several years, our team has been diving deeper into learning about the climate crisis and our role as evaluators in restoring good relationships with the Earth.
At the conclusion of our 2024 summer reading circle, which focused on the book of essays All We Can Save, our team convened to share some reflections on where we’ve arrived in our learning and how we want to take action, individually and collectively.
After that meeting our team got to work on a major initiative to update our company’s environmental policy. We’ve now got a modernized environmental policy that includes more than idle encouragement to recycle and print double-sided. Our policy now includes a four-pillared approach that emphasizes: 1) reducing our waste and emissions; 2) offsetting the emissions we can’t reduce; 3) monitoring our environmental impact (including not only our emissions but also our positive influence); 4) continuous education for our team and advocacy on environmental sustainability and climate justice.
We’re sharing about our progress in this journey because we hope it inspires other evaluators and evaluation firms wondering how they can be part of climate solutions. This week we’re sharing about our journey at a session during the 2025 Canadian Evaluation Society National Conference.
If you want to deepen your own learning, here are some resources we recommend:
- The Week: a group-based program of three 1.5-hour video and discussion sessions designed to help participants understand the climate crisis and explore actionable solutions.
- Talk Climate to Me:an online climate education program centred around the stories and expertise of women.
- All We Can Save: in addition to the anthology book by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, there is a terrific website filled with resources to take your reading further.
- Project Neutral’s Carbon Footprint Calculator: online tool that helps you quickly estimate your household’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.
- Emissions Impact Dashboard for Microsoft: Power BI application that visualizes the estimated carbon emissions associated with the use of Microsoft 365 services. Limited to business and enterprise accounts.
- BOMA Building Certification: see if your office building is a BOMA Sustainable Building. Other building certifications include LEED and ZCB.
- Project Drawdown: a practical guide designed to help employees integrate climate action into their professional roles, transforming every job into a climate-focused position.
- BCorp: Climate Collective and B Lab UK: business playbook for the climate emergency.
- Artists for Climate: a repository of open licensed illustrations to continue to inspire you in your climate-focused work.
Also check out our blog posts from our 2024 summer reading circle and a recent episode of The Evaluation Couch.