Just 4.5% of workers across green charities are from global majority groups, down on the previous year’s proportion of 6%.

Global majority representation is particularly low among larger charities, while smaller organisations are reporting far more diversity in their workforces.

Those with between 10 and 29 staff are reporting that 14.1% of staff are from global majority groups and people of colour, compared to just 1.8% among those with workforces between 500 and 1,000 employees.

The findings have been revealed in the third annual RACE Report, which analyses racial diversity among green charities and funders.

“Despite an increase in data submissions in 2024 and a rise in the number of larger organisations (250+ employees) sharing their data, racial diversity in the environmental charity sector remains substantially below the UK workforce average,” said researchers.

For this latest report, 161 environmental charities, representing a workforce of 28,600, submitted data, compared to 142 charities the previous year and only 91 in 2022.

‘Environmental organisations are still very white’

Commenting on the findings Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director Areeba Hamid warned that “environmental organisations are still very white, especially at the top”.

“I find myself in CEO meetings where I'm the only person of colour in the room, and it just doesn’t feel right in 21st-century Britain,” said Hamid.

“Since measuring a problem is the first step towards solving it, it’s good to see more and more organisations publishing data about their staff’s ethnic diversity.

“But, as a sector, we now need to move swiftly from talking about the issue to actually doing something about it.”

Researchers point out that this year has a larger sample size of organisations taking part which makes it difficult to compare with previous years. It also says the differences between small and larger charities progress with diversity means “the picture is more nuanced”.

“In just two years we’ve almost quadrupled the number of staff represented in The RACE Report,” said the Race Report’s Manu Maunganidze.

“That’s a huge achievement. Each year we’re building a more complete picture of the state of play in our sector. We’re learning how diversity varies across organisations of different sizes, identifying the steps organisations are taking to improve inclusion, and uncovering areas where progress is still too slow.”

“The more we uncover, the more we realise there’s still much work to do – but that’s not a setback, as long as we stay committed and grounded in why racial diversity matters in the first place.”

Maunganidze adds that diversity in green charities is particularly important as people of colour globally are “on the frontlines of climate change”.

“Those most affected by environmental disasters – floods, wildfires, rising tides – are too often those who aren’t given a seat at the table. This is why representation is so critical,”he said.

“Each organisation that submitted data this year did so with the understanding that representation isn’t just a box to tick; it’s a fundamental part of making the environmental sector truly effective and just.”

Charities with three years’ worth of EDI data

A total of 57 organisations have submitted data for all three of the years the Report has been running, “providing a valuable and consistent baseline for tracking racial diversity progress”.

However, improving diversity has been slow among these charities, rising just one percentage point in the last three years, to 7% in 2024.

One in four of those who have submitted data for the last three years have now fully implemented a policy to ensure racial diversity in their recruitment. This is substantially up on the 4% who were at this staff last year and in 2022.

Research published last week by consultancy Eastside People and membership body ACEVO found that one in four charities have no one from Black, Asian or other global majority communities represented on either their senior executive leadership team or board.

See Also:

Why are charities so poor at tackling racism?

The charity sector ‘has an issue with class and privilege and is inherently ableist'

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