LEAD Pakistan – Taking the Initiative
In a country where awareness of climate change and environmental issues is minimal, LEAD Pakistan (LP) is an exception for it has closely linked these with its mandate and programmatic focus. Moreover, over the years, LEAD Pakistan on the basis of cross-sectoral nature of its work: historic strengths in networking and partnering for public policy engagement; and success in convening a range of stakeholders from the public and private arenas to promote discussion for informing policies and strategies, has landed at the very hub of developmental discourse and decision making in the country. All these factors have placed the organization at the ideal position for taking a lead in this respect.
Moreover, to demonstrate the application and utility of the calculator in determining the functions that contribute most to EF and see where eco-friendly measures can have the greatest influence in terms of reducing environmental and optimizing financial costs, the organization used the tool to measure the EF of its Head Office in Islamabad. Based on the analysis, LEAD selected areas of office function ideal for introducing measures aimed at reducing the overall organizational EF, took the planned measures and then evaluated the effect of those on footprint size, emissions amount and business costs.
Envisioned Outcome
Using weights and factors specific to our national context, LEAD Pakistan introduced a customized EF calculator which would help in measuring the level of ecological damage and the amount of planetary resources required to maintain current office practices in different organisations. EF calculator would not only provide a local technological device to measure ecological footprint, but it would also be instrumental in gaining insights into the environmental impacts of organizational consumption patterns by providing a breakdown of all the factors contributing in an organisational EF. This breakdown would facilitate managers/decision makers of these organisations in adopting measures to reduce environmental and financial impacts.
In addition, the planned training workshops would help in raising awareness of the participating organisations on the need for resource conservation. These trainings would also sensitize different organisations on the environmental impacts of their business activities. Introduction of EF calculator would guide respective offices to conserve and manage their resources within their own work spaces. An exemplary case study based on Lead Pakistan’s resource conservation through this calculator can serve as a guide to this accountable and resource management tool.