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2021-03-31-accounts

Annual report and accounts 2020-21 aa green alliance

Green Alliance

Senior management team

Shaun Spiers Executive director

Dustin Benton Policy director

Jo Rogers Operations director

Belinda Gordon Strategy director

Roz Bulleid Deputy policy director

Policy and politics team Sarah Williams Head of Greener UK unit

Chris Venables Head of politics

Gwen Buck Senior policy adviser

Joe Tetlow Senior political adviser (from April 2021) Ruth Chambers Senior parliamentary affairs associate

Robbie McPherson APPG co-ordinator

(from June 2021) Jo Furtado Policy adviser (to April 2021)

Sam Alvis Head of green renewal (from Jan 2020)

Chaitanya Kumar Head of climate policy (to May 2020) Caterina Brandmayr Head of climate policy

Libby Peake Head of resources policy

James Elliott Senior policy adviser Helena Bennett Senior policy adviser (from May 2021)

Philippa Borrowman Policy adviser (to September 2021)

Zoe Avison Policy analyst (from September 2020)

Heather Plumpton Policy analyst (from May 2021)

James Fotherby Policy adviser (from September 2021)

Holly Rowden Policy adviser (from September 2021)

Development team

Karen Crane Head of communications

Frieda Metternich Programme manager

Liz Potts Office manager and EA to the executive director

Olly Mount Events and engagement manager

Marta Silva Finance manager

Ben Halfpenny Media and communications manager

Joe Dodd Communications officer (from September 2020)

Leslene Powell HR and admin officer (from March 2021)

Graduate scheme

September 2019-September 2020 Agathe de Canson Policy assistant

Emma Pollitt Policy assistant

Emma Sutton-Smith Communications assistant

Imogen Cripps Policy assistant

Ravina Singh Policy assistant

September 2020September 2021 Aradhna Tandon Policy assistant

Holly Rowden Policy assistant

James Fotherby Policy assistant

Tom Booker Policy assistant

Ryan Leung Policy assistant (to April 2021)

Board

Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE Chair (to 10 December 2020) Sir Graham Wynne Chair (from 10 December 2020) Paul Lambert FCA Honorary Treasurer

Rosemary Boot Ben Caldecott

Alison Austin OBE

Dr Claire Craig CBE (to July 2021)

David Baldock Rita Clifton CBE Benet Northcote

Craig Bennett (from May 2020)

Company registered number 03037633

Charity registered number 1045395

Registered Office Green Alliance, 40 Broadway, London, SW1H 0BU

Secretary Jo Rogers Operations director

Auditors Buzzacott LLP, 130 Wood Street, London, EC2V 6DL

Bankers Unity Trust Bank plc, Nine Brindley Place, Birmingham, B1 2HB

Solicitors Bates Wells, 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE

The charity and company The Green Alliance Trust operates under the working name Green Alliance.

Agathe de Canson Policy adviser (from September 2020)

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Contents

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Chair’s introduction by Sir Graham Wynne 2
Trustees report
1. Our vision and strategy 3
Highlights of the year 8
2. Progress report 2020-21 10
3. Our plans for 2021-22 27
4 Equity, diversity and inclusion 30
5. Fundraising and fnances 32
6. Structure, governance and risk management 36
Accounts
7. In~~de~~pendent auditor’s report to the trustees of
T~~he G~~reen Alliance Trust 42
8. Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 48

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Sir Graham Wynne Chair

This was a year of huge disruption, jeopardy and anxiety for the whole country as Covid-19 struck. In fact, we entered the first of several lockdowns right at the beginning of the period covered by this report.

As an organisation that prides itself on its flexibility and deftness at navigating change, we adapted fast, with effective online systems and a strong virtual working culture. In our

communications, we pivoted to hosting podcasts and running popular online events, often at short notice. These attracted larger audiences than we have ever achieved for in person events.

Notwithstanding the unequal impact of the pandemic across society, we were also quick to see that the changes wrought by the pandemic were a rare window of opportunity to accelerate the country towards a fairer, stronger and greener economy in future. By July, we had proposed our Blueprint for a green recovery and gained new support for a major new Green Renewal project to promote it.

We were mindful too of the need to avoid the pandemic derailing the progress of two upcoming landmark moments for the UK: the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow and the passing of major post-Brexit environmental legislation. On climate, our Cutting Carbon Now project periodically audited the government’s progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. On post-Brexit legislation, the Greener UK coalition, led by Green Alliance, worked very effectively to improve the government’s Environment Bill.

We are acutely aware that, although this time of change presents opportunities, there is also great jeopardy, not least because of the difficulty of advancing crucial international negotiations in a virtual world.

There is precious little time left to tackle the intertwined climate and nature crises and, while we know that our economy depends on a healthy, stable environment, this message is only fitfully understood and acted upon by those in power. Over the coming year, working with our network of allies, we will redouble our efforts to persuade the UK government to take the far reaching measures needed to restore the environment. We look forward to working with all our supporters in this critical endeavour.

Finally, I would like to record my gratitude to our team. I am immensely proud of the way they have come through this year, not just managing but taking us forward as a thriving growing organisation.

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Our vision and strategy

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Our vision

Our vision is for a green and prosperous UK for all.

We want a country where people and nature can thrive together. Where the economy is built on strong environmental principles to ensure long term wellbeing and a healthy environment. We believe that everyone, wherever they live, should have affordable, sustainable, high quality homes, food and transport, and access to green spaces.

The UK should be a place where nature’s value is recognised and where a carbon neutral and zero waste economy enables green businesses to provide good jobs across the country. We want the country’s scientific excellence, capacity for innovation and diplomatic talent to set the global standard for environmental protection.

We believe that ambitious political leadership is at the core of achieving this.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Our values

We are optimists

We believe that a green and prosperous UK is achievable.

We are change makers

We are flexible and agile, focusing on where the power is, and on whatever we think will have the greatest impact.

We are collaborative

We are pluralists and believe that collaboration and seeking to understand others’ viewpoints is the only way to make progress; this is reflected in how we operate both internally and externally.

We embrace complexity

We will never ignore the fact that environmental issues are inherently complex and inseparable from other important issues, including social impacts, and we do our best to address this in all our work.

We are inclusive

In all aspects of our work we seek to include, involve and listen to diverse voices and communities, as a necessary component of success.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Our strategy 2018-21

This was the final year of our strategy covering 2018-21.

Our strategy for this period was to:

Build political support for a vision of a green and

prosperous UK , based on the highest environmental and social standards. One in which clean growth and environmental leadership contribute to the UK’s competitive advantage.

Secure new laws and governance arrangements to ensure strong environmental protections after Brexit, including campaigning for a new Environment Act to underpin investment in the environment and people’s wellbeing.

Generate new ideas for world class environmental policy.

While these strategic objectives remained relevant in 2020-21, from March 2020 much of our policy and political work, as well as our operations, pivoted quickly in response to the pandemic. In particular, we responded to the postponement of the COP26 climate summit, to be hosted by the UK, which was moved to November 2021, and the economic impact and opportunity for change caused by Covid-19.

Strategic objectives

Political engagement

Increase the number of MPs and peers across all parties who support enhanced environmental protections.

Strategic direction for the environment sector Working with our partners, to ensure well co-ordinated communication of priorities to government.

Grow our network of progressive businesses and city leaders

Build support for ambitious international environmental leadership by the UK.

Targeted communications

Keep the environment in the news, clarify evidence and maintain intelligent commentary on environmental issues.

Expert analysis and thought leadership

Inform robust environmental policy for the UK to take forward into the post-Brexit era.

Our new three year strategy, published in June 2021, reflects this shift, with a focus on translating cross party commitment to a greener UK into concrete action, through economic recovery plans, the UK’s response to the nature and climate emergencies and the post-Brexit domestic legislative landscape.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

In 2020-21 our work was organised under the following themes:

Political leadership

Greening the economy

Low carbon future

Resources

Natural environment

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Highlights of the year

April 2020

We called for a new Office for Carbon Removal and a farm and soil carbon code, to strengthen the oversight of carbon offsetting. Other influential voices have since recommended a body to oversee carbon removals, and the government is supporting the development of a new UK Soil and Farm Carbon Code Page 25

June 2020

Over 14,000 local constituents signed up to ‘The time is now’ virtual lobby, organised by Green Alliance and The Climate Coalition, to ask their MPs to put people, climate and nature at the heart of the Covid-19 recovery. Page 11

July 2020

Our advocacy contributed to green investment headlining Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s emergency Summer Economic Statement in July 2020, which included £3 billion for decarbonising housing and public buildings. Page 20

Following Green Alliance’s recommendations, the government announced it would adopt the 65 per cent recycling target of the EU’s Circular Economy Package. It has since announced plans for binding resource productivity and waste minimisation targets to complement this, which we have advocated since 2017. Page 23

September 2020

October 2020

Green Alliance’s executive director Shaun Spiers was appointed to the government’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group. Page 16

Kwasi Kwarteng, then clean growth minister, responded directly to our Tech Task Force recommendations on digitalisation and the low carbon economy, saying that forthcoming government strategies would seek to join up the two agendas. Page 19

November 2020

The Labour Party backed our Environment Bill amendment on single use products and our stance on the need to do more to tackle the problem. Page 22 The Environmental Audit Committee’s report into e-waste and the circular economy contained 50 references to Green Alliance’s work and adopted many of the policies that we have advocated, including cutting VAT on repairs. Page 23

We took over the secretariat of the Environment All Party Parliamentary Group, hosting ten events in the first seven months, setting up new social channels for MPs and significantly increasing MP engagement on climate and nature issues. Page 12

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

March 2021

Our budget commentary featured in all the major broadsheets, and on the BBC and Sky News. Page 20

Our first animation, calling for the UK to halve its resource use, received over 8,500 views in its first week of broadcast. Page 26

November 2020 and May 2021

Pressure from the Greener UK coalition, led by Green Alliance, succeeded in bringing the delayed Environment Bill back to parliament twice, avoiding the derailing of vital new protections and standards. Page 15

November 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the government would bring forward phase out of the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by ten years, from 2040 to 2030, a move first proposed by Green Alliance in 2017. Page 21

December 2020

Following our work with leading academics at the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products and the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, the Climate Change Committee acknowledged the importance of resource efficiency in climate policy. It incorporated our recommendations, including ecodesign standards, into its sixth carbon budget advice to government. Page 23

Our report The local climate challenge was our most read publication of the year, downloaded nearly 12,000 times in four months. Page 20

The local climate challenge, December 2020

After we presented the conclusions of our trial of how to use private payments for nature restoration in Cumbria to Defra, the department is developing plans to integrate private funding across all its new Environmental Land Management schemes. Page 24

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Petteril
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Progress report 2020-21 io

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Political leadership

Blueprint for a resilient economy

The extraordinary disruption of Covid-19, early in 2020, led to a swift change to our Cutting Carbon Now political strategy to focus on the need for a green economic recovery. In Blueprint for a resilient economy (June 2020), and a series of detailed briefings, we emphasised that the economic rescue package in the wake of the crisis should set a new direction for the UK.

This advocacy, which was then echoed by other influential voices beyond the environment sector, led to Chancellor Rishi Sunak saying he wanted a “green recovery with concern for our environment at its heart”. He made green investment one of the headlines of his emergency Summer Economic Statement in July 2020, including £3 billion for decarbonising housing and public buildings. However, there is still much to do to secure a green recovery and put the environment at the heart of the Treasury’s thinking.

Shaun Spiers, Green Alliance’s executive director, providing comment in The Times ‘Red Box’ following the release of the prime minister’s Ten point plan for a green industrial revolution in November 2020

‘The time is now’ lobby goes digital

In 2019, we co-organised the biggest ever mass lobby of parliament. ‘The time is now’ saw 12,000 constituents travel to Westminster to speak to their MPs about the need for urgency in taking climate and nature action. Undaunted by the restrictions of the pandemic, we once again worked with The Climate Coalition to organise an even larger virtual lobby of MPs in June 2020. Over 14,000 people signed up to ask their MPs to put people, climate and nature at the heart of Covid-19 recovery. More than 200 meetings were held with MPs over 24 hours.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Climate Leadership Programme for MPs

Our Climate Leadership Programme for MPs, has run since 2009. It has significantly increased the number of parliamentarians engaged on climate change. Following the 2019 general election, we worked to inform the large new intake of Conservative MPs about environmental issues, and particularly, on priorities for a green recovery. Our private briefings on topics such as public opinion on climate change and the economics of net zero have helped to sustain the climate consensus in parliament. During the year, MPs involved in the programme regularly tabled questions in parliament, organised debates and asked ministers oral questions on climate.

‘Climate Assembly UK: results briefing for the NGO and environment sector’, online event, September 2020

“As the secretariat for the Environment APPG, Green Alliance impresses with its wealth of experience and expertise across politics and the environmental sector.” Anthony Browne MP, chair of the Environment APPG

A new role running the Environment APPG

In September 2020, we took over the secretariat of the Environment All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). Working closely with its chair, Anthony Browne MP, we organised its relaunch at a major event in parliament, with guest speaker Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor and UN special envoy on climate action and finance. Intending to quickly increase the impact of the APPG at a pivotal time for environment policy, we set up new social channels for the group and organised a full programme of events with senior parliamentary speakers and experts, including Sajid Javid, Professor Partha Dasgupta, Anneliese Dodds, the NFU chair Minette Batters and the COP26 President Alok Sharma. Over the year, we significantly increased the number of MPs actively involved in the APPG.

Making 2021 count

In association with partner organisations (Wildlife and Countryside Link, the Aldersgate Group, The Climate Coalition, the Coalition for Global Prosperity and the Environment APPG) we hosted a full day of online panels and interviews in November 2020 to discuss the crucial year ahead for action to avert the climate and nature crises, as the UK geared up to host the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Over 600 online attendees took part and heard from expert speakers and senior politicians, including COP26 President Alok Sharma, Labour leader Keir Starmer and Scotland’s environment and climate change minister Roseanne Cunningham.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Political strategy for the environment sector

We convened environmental representatives around the deal the UK would be taking to the Glasgow climate summit in November 2021. This included running high level meetings between the COP26 President Alok Sharma and the CEOs of major environmental charities.

The first meeting between environmental organisations and the Labour leader Keir Starmer was organised by Green Alliance in January 2021.

To maintain momentum on climate and nature advocacy throughout the Covid-19 lockdowns, we hosted weekly calls between sector representatives, Wildlife and Countryside Link and The Climate Coalition, and other leading environmental NGOs. This regular strategic collaboration helped to align thinking and public messaging across the sector.

COP26 President Alok Sharma delivering an address online during the ‘Making it count’ day of events, November 2020

Tracking UK climate action

In the run up to the UK hosting the COP26 UN climate summit in 2021, we tracked government progress towards its own domestic target of a net zero carbon economy by 2050. We analysed the impact of new policies announced since the start of 2020. The update of our Net zero policy tracker in December 2020 found the government to be significantly off track, despite new announcements on housing and transport. This was reported across the media, including on Radio 4’s Today programme.

We kept up regular communications with Number 10 and HM Treasury about these findings and our recommendations, including four tests for the COP26 summit:

_ delivery of real progress towards the global commitment to keep warming to 1.5°C;

_ having a credible domestic net zero carbon strategy;

_ ensuring justice for those on the frontline of the climate crisis;

_ highlighting the connections between the nature and climate crises.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Greener UK

In 2016, Green Alliance convened Greener UK, an unprecedented coalition of 12 leading environmental organisations, supported by over 50 other networks and groups, to unify the environment movement’s response to Brexit. After the UK left the EU in January 2020, the coalition continued to influence significant post-Brexit legislation, on fisheries, trade and agriculture, as well as the landmark Environment Bill.

Keeping vital legislation on track

Drawing on the expertise of all the organisations involved, we succeeded in persuading the government to bring forward new legislation, through an Environment Bill. When the pandemic struck in March 2020, the bill’s progress was paused, leaving protections hanging by a thread. Greener UK focused on urging the return of the legislation as soon as possible and raising the government’s ambitions in the bill.

With the help of experts across many disciplines, we tracked and analysed gaps in environmental governance and policy across the UK. We focused on issues between England and Northern Ireland, interim arrangements, environmental targets and principles and special areas of concern, such as chemicals regulation and species conservation.

The final assessment of Greener UK’s Risk Tracker, in March 2021, was that “the government’s landmark promise to ‘maintain and enhance’ protections has not been met”, with four areas (air quality, nature protection, waste and resources, and chemicals) deemed to be at high risk. No area was found to be low risk.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Where was the Environment Bill?

The Environment Bill is the most comprehensive and significant piece of environmental legislation for over two decades. Delay to its passage through parliament in 2020 was of real concern as, once the UK had left the EU, important environmental protections would be removed until new provisions were established. We pressed for the bill to return through parliamentary questions, media interventions and social media. This initially succeeded. However, Greener UK had to apply pressure again when the bill was delayed for a third time in early 2021, with our concerns reported in The Daily Telegraph , BBC News, T he Guardian and The Times. It finally resumed its progress through parliament in May 2021.

“Green Alliance plays a valuable role in convening and focusing the views of NGOs through Greener UK. Its regular and active contributions bring insight, perspective and constructive challenge, and I have welcomed its sustained interest in the role for strong environmental governance post-Brexit.”

Dame Glenys Stacey, chair designate of the Office for Environmental Protection

Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, minister of state for trade policy speaking at the Greener UK online event ‘How can trade policy help to achieve the UK’s environmental ambitions?’, July 2020

Informing parliamentary debates

A total of sixteen detailed briefings from Greener UK on the Environment Bill, for the House of Commons committee stage, were heavily relied upon by MPs. In October, two environment select committees were persuaded to raise the alarm about slow progress and the lack of transparency around the bill. This led to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announcing an interim system for public complaints when environmental laws are broken and providing clarity around the new Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), a watchdog for environmental law, first proposed by Greener UK in 2018. BBC News reported our concern that an amendment allowing the government to “advise” the OEP on how it enforces environmental law would enable ministers to steer away from awkward or inconvenient cases. We also highlighted the need for a full shadow OEP to provide a stronger base for its early work. In March 2021, the government responded by announcing that the OEP would be launched on an interim basis ahead of its formal establishment as part of the Environment Bill.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Trade and agriculture standards

Amid rising unease around the potential for new trade deals to erode UK environment standards, Greener UK worked with farming, trade and animal welfare groups to campaign for existing protections to be maintained. Green Alliance’s executive director Shaun Spiers, who also chairs Greener UK, was appointed to the government’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group in October 2020. This enhanced the environment sector’s engagement with the Department for International Trade.

To raise public awareness around food standards, Greener UK supported the Mail on Sunday ’s ‘Save our Family Farms’ campaign throughout the summer of 2020. Coalition members provided stories and comment, including a major piece on risks around antibiotics. Faced with such concerted campaigning, the government established a new quasiindependent Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) to analyse policy options and future agreements.

Worried that the TAC would not offer sufficient scrutiny over trade, Greener UK worked with Sustain to establish the Future British Standards Coalition (FBSC) in September 2020, spanning animal welfare, public health, farming and trade law, it looked in detail at the government’s approach to food standards. Its final report, Safeguarding standards , in November 2020, urged ministers to maintain high import standards through legal bans, to consider the use of tariffs carefully and to improve the breadth of sectors represented on the TAC. These conclusions were reported in the media and were acknowledged several times in parliament. They were also reflected in the TAC’s final report. The government has since moved to extend any future TAC representation to environmental and animal welfare groups.

Greener UK worked with Sustain to look in detail at the government’s approach to food standards and trade

Stronger environmental focus for new legislation

Autumn 2020 marked the end of long running campaigns to strengthen the Agriculture and Fisheries Bills. Thanks to concerted work by Greener UK, the ‘public money for public goods’ purpose in the Agriculture Bill passed unscathed and the future of agricultural support in England post-Brexit has dramatically shifted towards environmental recovery.

The ability of the Fisheries Bill to protect the marine environment was another major focus for Greener UK’s advocacy. Whilst the government did not accept the case that sustainability should be its prime objective, several of its objectives are now environmental. The government also agreed to issue a call for evidence on remote electronic monitoring (cameras on boats to encourage sustainable fishing).

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Greening the economy

The right building blocks for recovery

Green Alliance has focused on the importance of infrastructure for a greener economy for many years, as it governs how people live and work. Our report Getting the building blocks right (November 2020) looked at the UK’s infrastructure needs in the context of economic recovery from Covid-19, and how to get the country on track for net zero and nature recovery. We argued that accelerating the green economy could create over a million jobs across the UK. Emphasising where the government’s current approach is contradictory, eg its roads programme, we set out what a green industrial revolution for the UK should look like. This included proposing a ‘net zero test’ for all infrastructure decisions and scaling up investment in neglected areas, like resource efficiency and nature. Our advocacy encouraged the National Infrastructure Commission to improve its stance on biodiversity, and the government committed to review its national policy statement on roads.

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Scaling up infrastructure for net zero could support over a million jobs across the country over the next decade. From Getting the building blocks right, November 2020

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The need for a green recovery from Covid-19

Towards the end of the year we launched Green Renewal, a major new project with a highly focused mission to promote the economic and social benefits of a green recovery from Covid-19. Using diverse voices from business and civil society, it influenced the narrative on the need for a greener and fairer economy. We had an immediate impact around the budget in March 2021, with our commentary in the major broadsheets, and on the BBC and Sky News. We have built important new relationships with Treasury civil servants, while our focus on job creation has attracted engagement from many of the new intake of Conservative MPs. Initial research, with the influential agencies Public First and WPI Economics, has built a body of evidence on green employment opportunities in different sectors. We reported the results of these studies and surveys in the summer of 2021. This project is breaking new ground, acting as a go between environmental groups and the Treasury. It is also covering economic topics not previously viewed through an environment lens, for instance on the purpose of the UK Infrastructure Bank and the government’s levelling up agenda.

Transforming tax for a greener economy

With the support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust we launched a new three year project on how the tax system can assist the public to adopt greener lifestyles and avoid behaviours that harm the environment. An expert advisory board is helping to guide and test our recommendations. Our first report of the project, Added value (September 2020), examined potential changes to VAT, the UK’s tax on consumption. It highlighted three relatively straightforward changes to the tax as an example of simple, quick reforms that could be made.

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People are frustrated by product lifespans and the lack of repairability. From Added value, September 2020

“Green Alliance brings a deep understanding of how to present messages and engage with policy makers to maximum effect. In our work together I have benefited greatly from its expertise in policy and policy engagement.”

Paul Ekins, professor of resources and environmental policy, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Task force conclusions echoed by minister

In May 2020, our Tech Task Force of leading innovation organisations and businesses produced its third and final sectoral focus report. This looked at opportunities for digital technology to drive novel green developments in the construction and buildings sector. This followed two explorations into digital approaches to greening transport and business energy use.

In Smart and green (October 2020), we summarised the task force’s conclusions emphasising the need for much greater integration between decarbonisation and digitalisation policies. At an event to launch the report, then clean growth minister Kwasi Kwarteng responded, pointing to forthcoming government strategies that would seek to connect these agendas. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has since adopted a technology-based approach to regulating the energy efficiency of large commercial and industrial buildings and there has been more alignment between the work of the department’s ‘Made smarter’ and industrial decarbonisation teams.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, then minister of state for business, energy and clean growth speaking at ‘Unlocking the green digital revolution for the UK’, online event, October 2020

Futureproofing supply chains

Building on our previous work around the emissions generated at home and abroad from the UK’s consumption of goods and services, we worked with the Fairtrade Foundation to identify how to futureproof the supply chains of bananas and roses. We held an event, supported by the foundation, to explore how tackling the UK’s global environmental footprint could promote a more resilient economy.

Amplifying the case for green innovation

Since 2019, our role in the Green Innovation Policy Commission (GIPC), led by Professor Paul Ekins at University College London and Sir John Cridland, was to make sure its work was well understood by the government. This included promoting its priorities to the BEIS and Environmental Audit Committees, and providing input to BEIS task forces on economic recovery. We helped to launch the commission’s final report in January 2021 and published our own summary of its findings for policy makers, How to fast track innovation for a green industrial revolution (January 2021). Headline messages from the report included the need for a better use of government powers of investment, regulation and procurement to stimulate innovation. With a significant business leader membership, the GIPC also called for a new green transition partnership between the public and private sectors. We continue to emphasise this important study’s conclusions to both BEIS and the Treasury.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Low carbon future

The power of local climate action

By late 2020, 75 per cent of English local authorities had declared a climate emergency, demonstrating their determination to act on the climate crisis. We held workshops for six authorities already leading on this agenda, to explore their policy options. We also interviewed representatives of 12 other authorities aspiring to do more, to hear directly about the issues they face. The local climate challenge (December 2020) stressed the importance of local action in meeting climate goals and the need for greater powers and funding for local authorities to take effective action. This was our most read report of the year with nearly 12,000 downloads in three months.

This report helped to shape subsequent work by the National Audit Office and we have given evidence to select committees on its findings. Workshops with civil servants and a coalition of environment, local authority and research organisations also explored particular local sectoral challenges and made the case for a comprehensive policy framework to support local action. These helped to nurture stronger relationships with government departments on these issues and led to ongoing discussions about how to plug evidence gaps in future.

In The local climate challenge, December 2020, we argued that, with more government support, local authorities would be best placed to support communities and local businesses to tackle climate change

“Green Alliance’s work has helped to raise awareness around the local dimension of climate action, proving that mayors and local leaders have a vital role to play in getting us to net zero.”

Andy Street, mayor of West Midlands

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Aligning NGO views on transport

As a leading advocate for earlier phase out of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans, we were delighted when the government confirmed, in November 2020, that it would bring forward the phase out date by ten years, from 2040 to 2030, accelerating the move to low carbon transport with all the benefits to society and the environment that will bring. This was a very significant win for our work on transport.

In autumn 2020, we launched a new programme of work on decarbonising transport. As the sector responsible for the greatest share of carbon emissions, there needs to be much swifter, decisive action to bring down transport emissions. Early research under the programme made the case for an ambitious regulatory framework to speed up the electric vehicle transition.

We recruited new members from across the environment sector to our transport roundtable, increasing its membership to 30. This strengthened the cross-sector response to the department’s ‘Decarbonising Transport’ consultation.

We produced briefings and held meetings for civil servants, MPs and NGOs on expectations for the government’s transport decarbonisation plans, on how planning reforms can support the move to low carbon transport and on the need to include emissions from international aviation and shipping in future UK carbon emission reduction targets. This influenced the government to announce that it would include international aviation and shipping emissions in UK decarbonisation targets, a positive move in the effort to decarbonise these high emitting sectors.

Cathryn Higgs, head of food policy at The Co-op , speaking at ‘Is tackling the UK’s global environmntal footprint the route to a resilient, low carbon economy?’, online event, February 2021

The case for clean air zones

There is a wealth of evidence showing that the best and fastest way to prevent dirty air in cities from damaging people’s health is through clean air zones, charging polluting vehicles to enter. Local areas with significant air quality issues have responded to a requirement from the government to deal with it, with many making plans for clean air zones. However, there was some pushback early in 2020, partly due to the pandemic, with

The case for clean air zones, March 2021

suspicions that they are a stealth tax and might be ineffective. In The case for clean air zones (March 2021), we countered the myths and clarified the evidence in favour of clean air zones. We demonstrated how they can play an important role in meeting air pollution and climate targets as well as improving community wellbeing. The Times and The Guardian both featured stories around our findings.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Resources

Influencing more political action on resources

Throughout the year, we kept the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and civil servants in Defra, BEIS and the Treasury briefed on the role that resource efficiency could play in a green recovery from Covid-19, and on the need for waste reform and resource reduction targets in the Environment Bill.

Our evidence to an Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into green jobs argued that a more ambitious approach to the circular economy could deliver hundreds of thousands of new jobs, on top of benefits for climate and nature.

Libby Peake, Green Alliance’s head of resources, giving advice about circular economy opportunities to the Environmental Audit Committee’s hearing on green jobs, skills and training, February 2021.

We organised a letter to the House of Commons Environment Bill Committee, from businesses and trade associations, supporting an important amendment that would expand the power to charge for single use items, from those made of plastic to all single use materials. It was supported by Labour, which adopted our stance on the need to do more to tackle the wider issue of throwaway society.

With CHEM Trust, we wrote to ministers, urging them to resist the chemical industry’s calls for deregulation under UK REACH, the UK’s replacement for the EU chemicals regime. There have been alarming calls from some businesses suggesting they should not have to provide full safety data for chemicals they use in the UK because of the additional financial burden it would impose.

“Corplex joined Green Alliance’s Circular Economy Task Force in 2021 because it is giving voice to the most effective ways to make the circular economy a reality, through its research, membership and connection to policy makers.” Lucas van der Schalk, CEO, Corplex

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Securing ambitious national recycling targets

In response to signals that the government might drop the EU’s Circular Economy Package targets following Brexit, we kept the pressure up for it to maintain them, through parliamentary questions, prompting enquiries from journalists and a blog which accused the government of backtracking. In response, the government announced it would adopt the EU’s headline 65 per cent recycling target. It also released plans for binding resource productivity targets to complement this target, a necessary pairing which we have advocated since 2017.

The need for a design first approach

In Design for a circular economy (November 2020), the first report in the year for our Circular Economy Task Force, we focused on how design influences a product’s environmental impact. We urged the government to fulfil its promise to match or exceed EU standards of ecodesign. This report was part of our ongoing work, first with the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products and now with the Centre for Energy Demand Solutions. It influenced the CCC to acknowledge the importance of resource efficiency in climate policy. Some of our recommendations feature in its advice to government on the sixth carbon budget. This work also heavily influenced the Environmental Audit Committee’s report into e-waste and the circular economy, which contained 50 references to our work.

----- Start of picture text -----
Vacuum cleaner
At least
6.5 11
years years
Laptop
At least
4.5 20
years years
Washing machine
At least
6.3 17
years years
Actual lifetime Optimal lifetime
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Rebecca Pow MP, environment minister speaking at ‘Recycling in the UK: what do people think?’, online event, September 2020

A new UK vision for resource use

While high product standards and recycling incentives are important for a circular economy, unless there are clear and ambitious targets to reduce resource use overall, the UK’s environmental impacts will continue to mount up. This includes unsustainable levels of waste, climate change, damage to nature and water stress. The UN estimates that resource extraction and processing drives half of global emissions and 90 per cent of biodiversity loss. Our second report in the year for the Circular Economy Task Force, Targeting success (March 2021), looked at the causes of these issues and the solutions. We concluded that a more systemic approach is essential, with a target needed to halve the nation’s resource use by 2050. This message was promoted in our first animation which was shared widely on social media and received over 8,500 views in its first week of broadcast.

How long should energy efficient products last to compensate for emissions caused by their production, transport and disposal? From Design for a circular economy, November 2020

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Natural Environment

Influencing post-Brexit plans for farm support

The UK is breaking with the past following Brexit and will support farmers through a new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, based on the ‘public money for public goods’ principle. Over the past five years, we have worked with the National Trust on ideas to create a step change in environmental restoration, combining both public and private funds to support a new market concept we have called a Natural Infrastructure Scheme.

As our thinking aligned with Defra’s new funding plans, we were invited to join its ‘tests and trials’ programme, to explore how they could be integrated with the ELM scheme.

This year we briefed the government on scheme improvements and explored technological solutions. We also ran a series of gaming workshops, involving potential market participants, to simulate how public money could be brought together with funding from private beneficiaries, like utility companies and food businesses, to deliver outcomes they need from the land, such as reducing flood risk and pollution.

----- Start of picture text -----
First trade:
Phosphorus and
farm resilience
Carlisle
Lower Eden
Petteril
Penrith
Ullswater Middle and upper Eden
First trade extension:
Nutrient
management,
flood and climate
Possible second mitigation
trade: Flood and
drinking water
quality
----- End of picture text -----

We worked with partners in the Eden Valley, Cumbria, to demonstrate how trading in positive environmental outcomes, between farmers and beneficiaries, could work. From Building local markets for sustainable land management with the Eden Model, March 2021

In our workshops we used the example of a real demonstration project in the River Eden catchment in Cumbria to investigate how best to reach agreements between public and private interests and the farmers delivering environmental services. In November, we presented our ideas to Defra, which included a new ‘interface’ between public and private payments for ELM and we held a workshop to help tailor the proposals to their needs.

In March 2021, we concluded this work with a toolkit based on the lessons we learned from the trial in the Eden Valley. We are pleased that, following our recommendations, Defra is now developing plans to integrate private funding across all the new ELM schemes.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Proposing strong oversight of carbon offsetting

Aviation is increasingly turning to carbon offsetting to try and reduce its damaging impacts on the climate. But there is an unresolved challenge to ensure offsetting does not reduce the effort to cut emissions, and there are big issues with the quality of offsets on the market, with no guarantee they will help to tackle climate change.

In The flight path to net zero ( April 2020) we recommended a new national Office for Carbon Removal to regulate the market, give more confidence that carbon removal offsetting works and demonstrate good practice to the rest of the world. The government has since shown interest in this idea and the Energy Systems Catapult, the National Infrastructure Commission and a team of researchers from Imperial College, the University of Leeds and Foresight Transitions have all called for a similar body to oversee carbon removal.

We also highlighted the potential value of using funding from effective offset schemes to speed up nature restoration in the UK and called for a new Farm and Soil Carbon Code, so farmers and land managers can verify their ‘carbon farming’ measures and gain a new income stream from the sale of credits. Following our recommendations, a new UK Soil and Farm Carbon Code is now being developed, with support from the government’s Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.

Jamie Arbib, co-founder of RethinkX, speaking at ‘What will lab grown meat and dairy mean for food, farming and the environment?’, online event, December 2020

Debating the future of food and farming

We hosted two online debates on forthcoming changes to farming and food in the context of climate change. The first brought academics, innovators and farmers together on what laboratory grown meat could mean for our food system and the environment. The discussion highlighted the potential for it to improve the environment and for the UK to be a market leader, but also the urgent need for policy to ensure farmers and others in the food system are not disadvantaged by these new products. The other event, on the implications of the government’s review of gene editing regulation, revived a long running debate, which Green Alliance has previously been deeply involved with, about the control of this technology and the environmental threats and benefits it might present.

In The flight path to net zero we highlighted the potential value of funding from effective offset schemes to speed up nature restoration in the UK and reiterated our call for a new Farm and Soil Carbon Code

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Reaching wider audiences in 2020-21

Our first animation, broadcast in March 2021, argued for a UK strategy to halve resource use by 2050. It received over 8.5k views on social media in its first week.

Blog views doubled

2019-20: 130 posts 100,000 views 55,000 visitors

2020-21: 169 posts 168,000 views 103,000 visitors

Podcast output rose

We increased activity on our podcast as all our work went online in early 2020, featuring regular one to one interviews and highlights of our events. We broadcast 32 podcasts in 2020-21. Episodes covered a wide range of issues, including interviews with bird expert and campaigner Mya Rose Craig, the authors Dara McAnulty and Margaret Heffernan, the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, Environment Minister Rebecca Pow and economist Dieter Helm.

Interview with Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment Agency, June 2020

Interview with Mya-Rose ‘Birdgirl’ Craig, January 2021

Interview with Sir Ed Davey, Lberal Democrat leader, January 2021

Celebrating nature writing with longlisted Wainwright Prize authors Jini Reddy and Dara McAnulty, July 2020

A new approach to events

The switch to online events, imposed by the pandemic, turned out to be a huge opportunity for Green Alliance. Freed of the confines of venues, we were able to vastly increase our output and range. It allowed us to reach more diverse audiences from all over the country and around the world, and to invite speakers from as far away as the US and India. With much less advance planning required, we were able to host reactive debates at short notice on emerging issues in environmental policy and politics. The online format also enriched our interaction with audiences, enabling an easy flow of chat, knowledge sharing and questions. Making them available to view afterwards on our YouTube channel has also extended our reach further. We will be keeping these innovations, which have now permanently changed our approach to events, as we explore new hybrid formats in the slow return to in person meetings.

We ran 24 online events during the year, with a total of 98 speakers and 5,850 attendees.

Our most popular event of the year was ‘Racism in the environment sector: why we must change and how we can do it’ in September 2020 which had 750 attendees and 1.7k views on Youtube.

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Our plans for 2021-22 27

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Green Alliance published a new strategy in 2021. Responding to the circumstances created by the pandemic and the urgency of acting on the climate and nature emergencies, during 2021-22 it focuses on three broad objectives: to turn UK political ambition on climate and nature into rapid action, to promote effective solutions for a fair transition to a green economy and to push the boundaries to find new answers to complex environmental problems. In addition, we have made a new commitment to improve diversity, inclusion and equity internally and across the wider environment movement (see page 31). We acknowledge these important considerations in the task of building a fairer, greener, more prosperous society.

Below are our priorities under our themes to meet these objectives during 2021-22:

Political Leadership

We will work to ensure that all government strategy aligns with and supports the urgent need to meet climate and nature commitments. Our advocacy will focus on mainstreaming environmental priorities, including in plans for economic recovery. We will promote joined up domestic policy in preparation for the UK hosting the major global climate summit in November 2021.

Greening the Economy

Decisions made by the Treasury are crucial to meeting the UK’s climate and nature targets. We will continue to focus on changes to tax and other incentives that can support the shift to a fair green economy for all, ending the perversities and poor economic signals that result in environmental harm. Focusing on the need for a sustainable recovery from the impact of Covid 19, we will conduct research and advocacy to stimulate a green renewal for the UK, including through infrastructure, innovation and new employment opportunities.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Greener UK

As the Environment Bill reaches its final stages towards becoming legislation, our work with our coalition partners will focus on securing the most ambitious and robust Environment Act possible, with a highly effective governance system to support it. We will work to make sure the UK’s high environmental standards are not compromised in new trade deals and that the environmental provisions of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement are properly implemented.

Low Carbon Future

Targeting the most polluting sector in the UK, our decarbonising transport programme will recommend national policies that demonstrably close the gap in reaching net zero carbon in the sector. We will also be developing our position on the role of new technologies to reduce carbon, exploring new solutions for cutting emissions from the built environment and industry, and we will continue our work on the potential of local government to tackle climate change at the community level.

Resources

With our Circular Economy Task Force, we will continue to promote an economy wide target to cut resource use, to reduce the carbon emissions and environmental damage arising from over consumption. We will broaden the conversation around supply chains to include better due diligence, resource use and resilience and we will target the legislative changes needed to address the full lifecycles of all materials, extending the focus beyond plastic and the end of a product’s life.

Natural Environment

We will make sure that nature and biodiversity priorities are not sidelined in the pursuit of climate action. We will continue to advocate new governance for natural and engineered carbon removals and sustainable nature-based solutions for the climate and nature emergencies. Continuing our work on new economic routes to nature restoration, we will analyse existing private payments for ecosystem services projects and recommend how to develop them into functioning markets.

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Equity, diversity and inclusion 30

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

As for many organisations, the death of George Floyd and the subsequent focus on the Black Lives Matter movement stimulated increased attention on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues at Green Alliance. We acknowledge that the environmental, charity and think tank sectors have all fallen short in their representation of wider society. We have started to address the issues we face as an organisation and as a sector, and we aim to take a proactive approach to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Trustees endorse and support this direction and, during the year, they approved an EDI action plan (created by a staff working group) and appointed a diversity champion on the board. The action plan sets out the priorities for the organisation to embed EDI and anti-racism into our work culture and external work. The plan outlines objectives, activities and outcomes across four pillars: organisational culture, recruitment and retention, external communications and engagement, and our policy and politics work. We have also embedded our commitment to address barriers to racial equality in our organisation and the sector in our 2021-24 strategy. We are working with consultant partners The Social Justice Collective and Impact Culture, to support organisational learning and the development of long term goals.

As part of our contribution to meaningful action in the sector we held an event in September 2020 to discuss the experiences of people of colour in our area of work and ways we can improve. Over 700 people attended the online event ‘Racism in the environment sector: why we must change and how we can do it’. A second event, in June 2021, ‘Building momentum for change’ looked at the sector’s progress over the year and discussed collective efforts.

We have also engaged with cross sector groups, the Diverse Sustainability Initiative, led by IEMA, and the inclusion, equality and diversity group, led by Wildlife and Countryside Link.

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Finance and fundraising review 32

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Treasurer’s report

At the beginning of the financial year the UK had just gone into lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Whilst we expected such a significant world event to affect our ability to operate, we did not expect that we would still be under lockdown as the financial year ended in March 2021. However, despite the challenges of a year under restrictions, everyone at Green Alliance has worked incredibly hard to maintain operations, financial stability and a sense of team cohesion to achieve our objectives.

Income

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Individual 1%
Public bodies 4%
Business 5%
NGOs 8%
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Trusts and foundations 82%

Green Alliance’s income for the year ended March 2021 grew to over £2.2m. This is slightly higher than the budget that was set prior to the pandemic and defied our early expectations of how the year would progress.

We took immediate and thorough steps to manage Green Alliance’s financial health over the year, which included full analysis of the potential impact on income sources and how we could respond. We reviewed our funded projects and communicated how we planned to revise activity to continue to have impact during the crisis. We are grateful to all our funders who have been flexible and supportive of our work during the period.

As a result, we have been able to continue all of our planned work, with some adjustments, and we have added new projects, grown our income and the team.

We formally added a new theme ‘Greening the Economy’ to our work plan and launched a new project focused on building a green economy post pandemic.

We grew our activity in the climate space through a decarbonising transport project to add to existing work under our Cutting Carbon Now and local authorities projects, we also added more capacity to our climate advocacy work and took over the secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the environment.

As would be expected in a time of economic uncertainty our income from corporate funders reduced (from £175k) to £100k and from NGOs (from £225k) to £172k. Our growth has been enabled by increased support from trusts and foundations who provided 82 per cent of our total income (73 per cent last year). The share of income from trusts and foundations has increased, as has the number of trusts supporting our work. We are not dependent on any one funder for more than 16 per cent of our income.

We received a one-off donation of £100k from an anonymous trust in the year, via the National Philanthropic Trust, due diligence was undertaken through the Environmental Funders Network to ensure that this donation satisfied Green Alliance’s funding principles.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Expenditure for the year was £1.8m (2020 £1.75m), generating a significant surplus of £397k (2020: £194k surplus). This was made up of additions to the restricted fund of £319k to be spent on projects in 2021-22 and a contribution to the free reserves of £79k. We spent approximately £20k as one-off costs for a move into temporary office space in March 2021 and plan to make a more permanent move in 2021-22.

Reserves

Expenditure

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Governance 2%
Fundraising 6%
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Charitable activities 92%
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The board reviewed the reserves in March 2020 and concluded that the level of unrestricted reserves required by March 2021 would be £450k to maintain operations or wind-up projects as a result of loss of income, or failure to secure funds and to finance an office move in the coming year.

Total funds at the end 31 March 2021 (note 12 in the financial statements) were £1.24m (2020: £844k) comprising of £785k restricted funds (2020: £466k) and £457k in unrestricted funds (2020: £378k).

The free reserves of the charity, being the general unrestricted fund less the net book value of tangible fixed assets, at 31 March 2021, were £287k. The unrestricted funds of the charity, less the net book value of tangible fixed assets, were £437k. This is £13k short of the reserves policy target set by the board.

Investments

At the present time, the trustees’ policy is to maintain all cash balances on deposit earning a market rate of interest. Green Alliance held no other shares or investments in the financial year.

Going concern

The board of trustees has reviewed Green Alliance’s financial position and believes there are sufficient resources to manage any operational or financial risks. Cashflow forecasts through to September 2022, analysing different scenarios, have been undertaken and, on that basis, the board considers there is a reasonable expectation that Green Alliance will continue in operational existence in the foreseeable future.

For this reason the board continues to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of these accounts.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Fundraising disclosure

Green Alliance does not employ any third parties to undertake fundraising activity on its behalf. Fundraising is led by the senior management team with support from the staff.

The majority of Green Alliance’s income is generated through trusts or foundations; NGOs or businesses.

We have a membership scheme for individuals, with over 300 members, who contribute to the organisation through a regular fee. We ask for new members’ consent and preferred method of contact and respect the wishes of those who choose not to be contacted. We have not undertaken any fundraising activity involving direct mail or telephoning supporters. We did not receive any complaints about our fundraising activity in the year.

In line with 2016 fundraising regulations we have written guidance for staff who are concerned about the fundraising practices of Green Alliance and to ensure that they are protected from discrimination in any cases of whistleblowing.

Paul Lambert FCA Treasurer

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21 6.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Green Alliance was founded in 1979. It was registered as The Green Alliance Trust, a charitable company, limited by guarantee, in 1995. The charity and company The Green Alliance Trust continues to operate under the working name Green Alliance.

The company was established under a memorandum of association, which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its articles of association.

Board of trustees

The charity is governed by a board of trustees. Day to day running of the charity is delegated to the executive director and senior management team. The charity is staffed by paid employees.

The finance and management sub-committee meets quarterly to monitor financial performance, risk and other management issues. The appointments committee is responsible for the recommendation of new board members and meets as required. From March 2020, the finance and management sub-committee held additional meetings to monitor the impacts of the pandemic on Green Alliance’s financial health.

Recruitment of trustees is directed by organisational need. Green Alliance appoints trustees on the basis of the skills and experience they can bring to the custodianship and management of the business and its activities. All prospective trustees are recruited from a range of external sources and by public advertisement. Recommendations from the

appointments committee are voted on at either an AGM or at a board meeting in accordance with our memorandum and articles of association. Each prospective trustee is invited to a board meeting prior to their appointment to ensure mutual suitability. Once confirmed, they are then appointed or co-opted to the board. New trustees are provided with an induction to the organisation and the role, and additional training is made available as required.

Trustees stand down and can be re-elected annually at each AGM. After a trustee has served for one year their position is reviewed, following that it is reviewed at three year intervals. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, no trustee serves longer than eleven years.

Principal risk and uncertainties

Green Alliance operates in an uncertain funding environment, in common with other charities, and a significant amount of our work is reactive and responsive to changing political activity. The trustees have a risk management framework to ensure risks are effectively identified and minimised.

We review our risk register annually and assess all of the risks and mitigating actions necessary to manage them. These include risks relating to:

—[Premises, IT and business continuity]

—[Health and safety]

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

—[People and talent retention ]

Unsurprisingly, the greatest risks identified for Green Alliance in 2021 related to the pandemic and included:

—[Premises]

Green Alliance addressed project risks immediately with a thorough review and redesign of activity to continue to have impact. Areas particularly affected were our ability to access policy makers and our engagement with stakeholders. We moved quickly to online events and meetings and were able to maintain good levels of access and engagement over the year.

As soon as the country entered lockdown it was expected that there would be significant economic impact. Green Alliance undertook detailed analysis of various financial scenarios and cash flow to ensure the organisation could survive. In parallel, we accelerated our fundraising efforts, particularly focusing on the opportunity for a green economic recovery.

Our team have coped remarkably well with remote working and intermittent lockdowns, but we acknowledge that the majority of people experienced negative impacts on their wellbeing at various stages over the year. Isolation, the blending of home and work, and health anxiety are a few of the issues people had to deal with. We have an employee assistance programme available to all staff, have maintained social activities and provided access to a wellbeing programme for people working in the environment sector.

Alongside pandemic related risks, Green Alliance had to move out of its offices in March 2021, we secured a peppercorn lease short term and will seek longer term premises in the current year. There is still a risk attached to finding affordable central London property, we will be assessing our business needs with consideration of better hybrid and flexible working options.

Related party transactions

The Green Alliance Trust and the dormant company The Green Alliance are connected in that all the directors of The Green Alliance are also trustees of The Green Alliance Trust. There were no transactions with The Green Alliance during the year. Details of other party related transactions are set out in note 15 to the accounts on page 64.

Staff and volunteers

The sixth cohort of assistants under our graduate scheme were appointed in September 2020. We are grateful to Rebecca Willis, Julie Hill, Tamsin Cooper, Leah Davis and Amy Mount for mentoring staff on the scheme on a pro bono basis throughout the year.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

We undertook a salary benchmarking exercise between January and March of 2021 with the help of external consultants and the finance and management committee approved a new salary framework in April 2021. The benchmarking process included reviewing pay bands and levels for similar roles across the NGO and think tank sectors.

The pay of the senior management team and all staff is reviewed annually by trustees and is increased in accordance with cost of living, where practicable, taking into account the charity’s financial position. Details of the remuneration of key management personnel are set out in note 7.

Environmental impact

Green Alliance’s work promotes sustainable development by ensuring that the environment is at the heart of decision making and we seek to apply this in our own operations too.

Suppliers are chosen to align with our values and environmental policy, and for potentially higher impact services, such as printing and cleaning, we employ ISO14001 accredited companies with strong environmental credentials. When purchasing for the office, second-hand items are considered along with criteria such as energy consumption, manufacturing methods, materials, packaging, emissions and consumables. All our publications are available to read online and many are only published online. In organising our events we follow the guidance of the sustainable events standard ISO 20121.

Staff are supported in choosing greener methods of transport. Green Alliance promotes the Cycle to Work scheme and offers rail season ticket loans. When other transport is required, for example to carry equipment and heavy packages, hybrid taxis, cycles or electric vehicle couriers are used. We use hybrid or electric taxis wherever possible.

In our office move in 2021 we used a removal company with strong environmental credentials and recycled defunct IT equipment through Computer Aid. We kept all our furniture and made minimal disposals. The new office has secure bicycle storage and there are showers on site for staff to use.

Public benefit

The charity is guided by its founding aims which state that it will:

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The trustees confirm they have complied with the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance, published by the Charity Ccommission in determining Green Alliance’s activities. Green Alliance is careful to ensure its work is inclusive, accessible and responsive to the needs of beneficiaries.

Trustee’s responsibilities

Trustees, who act as directors of the company for the purposes of the Companies Act, and trustees for charity law purposes, submit their annual report and the financial statements of The Green Alliance Trust for the year ended 31 March 2021. The board of trustees confirms that the annual report and financial statements of the company comply with current statutory requirements, the requirements of the company’s governing document and the provisions of the statement of recommended practice Accounting and reporting by charities: statement of recommended practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (Charities SORP (FRS 102)).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time of the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets for the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Safeguarding and whistleblowing

Green Alliance has a safeguarding policy and whistleblowing procedure to ensure staff have reasonable protections in undertaking their work, and are able to report any perceived wrongdoing within the organisation. Whistleblowing reports go directly to a nominated member of the board. There were no safeguarding or whistleblowing complaints raised in the year.

Auditors

The auditors, Buzzacott, will be proposed for reappointment in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006. The report of the trustees has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to companies subject to the small companies regime within part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

In preparing this report, the directors, who are also the trustees, have taken advantage of the small companies exemptions provided by section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.

On behalf of the trustees

Sir Graham Wynne Chair of the board of trustees

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21 7.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Green Alliance Trust (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Report and Accounts, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

We assessed the susceptibility of the financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditors’ responsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Shachi Blakemore (senior statutory auditor) For and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP, statutory auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

47

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21 8.

48

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The Green Alliance Trust Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2021 (incorporating the income and expenditure account)

2021
Restricted
funds

2021
Unrestricted
funds

2021
Total
funds

2020
Total
funds













Notes £ £ £ £
Income from:
Donations and legacies		 3 — 181,143 181,143 38,842
Charitable activities
Political leadership		 749,782 69,454 819,236 994,031
Greeningthe economy 35,000 154,201 189,201 —
Low carbon future 560,765 3,938 564,703 517,347
Resources 168,225 109,350 277,575 268,088
Natural environment 33,500 143,703 177,203 128,417
Investments — 370 370 1,673
Total income 1,547,272 662,159 2,209,431 1,948,398
Expenditure on:
Raising funds:
Fundraising		 4 — 112,803 112,803 57,089
Charitable activities
Political leadership		 4 689,089 111,954 801,043 978,077
Greeningthe economy 34,952 8,517 43,469 —
Low carbon future 389,287 20,416 409,703 377,943
Resources 110,115 107,311 217,426 257,172
Natural environment 5,193 222,328 227,521 84,499
Total expenditure 1,228,636 583,329 1,811,965 1,754,780
Net income and net movement
in funds		 318,636 78,830 397,466 193,618
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward		 465,865 377,901 843,766 650,148
Total funds carried forward 12 784,501 456,731 1,241,232 843,766

All activities relate to continuing operations and the Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. The comparative Statement of Financial Activities is on note 19 The notes on pages 52-64 form part of these financial statements.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The Green Alliance Trust

Balance sheet at 31 March 2021 (company number: 03037633)

Note 2021
£
2021
£
2020
£
2020
£



Fixed assets
Tangible fxed assets		 8 19,620 17,303
Current assets
Debtors andprepayments 9 540,747 740,250
Cash 1,203,272 457,383
1,744,019 1,197,633
Creditors:amounts falling
due within oneyear		 10 (522,407) (371,170)
Net current assets 1,221,612 826,463
Total assets less current
liabilities		 11 1,241,232 843,766
Charity funds
Restricted funds		 12 784,501 465,865
General unrestricted funds 12 306,731 377,901
Designated funds 12 150,000 —
1,241,232 843,766

The full financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the trustees on 14 September 2021 and signed on their behalf by

----- Start of picture text -----
Chair Treasurer
----- End of picture text -----

The notes on pages 52-64 form part of these financial statements

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The Green Alliance Trust Statement of cash flows

2021 2020
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cashprovided by operating activities 759,277 27,302
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest income 370 1,673
Purchase of equipment (13,758) (8,735)
Net cash used in investingactivities (13,388) (7,062)
Changes in cash and cash equivalents in theperiod 745,889 20,240
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginningof the reporting period 457,383 437,143
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 1,203,272 457,383

Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities

2021 2020
£ £
Net income 397,466 193,618
Add back depreciation charge 11,441 8,821
Interest income (370) (1,673)
Decrease(increase)in debtors 199,503 (269,069)
Increase in creditors 151,237 95,605
Net cashprovided byoperatingactivities 759,277 27,302
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
2021 2020
£ £
Cash in hand 1,203,272 457,383

No separate statement of movements in net debt has been prepared as there is no difference between the net cash and cash equivalents and the net debt of the charity.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The Green Alliance Trust Notes to the financial statements

1. Accounting policies

Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and reporting by charities: statement of recommended practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Legal status

The charity is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales. The members of the company are the trustees named on the inside front cover. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charity.

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these financial statements. The trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of one year from the date of approval of these financial statements. and have paid particular attention to the impact of Covid-19 on the charity, as detailed on page 34.

The trustees of the charity have concluded that there are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The trustees are of the opinion that the charity will have sufficient resources to meet its liabilities as they fall due.

Income

Income is recognised in the year in which the charity is entitled to receipt, it is probable that the charity will receive the income and the amount can be measured with reasonable certainty. Income is deferred only when the charity has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it or where the donor or funder has specified that the income is to be expended in a future accounting period. Income comprises of donations, subscriptions, bank interest and income from charitable activities.

Donations are included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when there is entitlement, probability of receipt and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.

Subscriptions are accounted for on an accruals basis. Subscriptions relating to a later period are therefore carried forward to that period and treated as deferred income in the balance sheet.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity. This is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

Income from charitable activities relates to grants and other income of a contractual nature. Grants are recognised when the charity has entitlement to the income, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably and there is probability of receipt. Income of a contractual nature is recognised to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the charitable company and the revenue can be reliably measured. It is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, excluding discounts, rebates, value added tax and other sales taxes.

Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings.

Costs of raising funds comprise of direct costs relating to fundraising income and their associated support costs.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of all activities undertaken to further the purposes of the charity relating to the strategic vision and their associated support costs.

Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs and governance costs which support the charity’s activities. These costs have been allocated between the cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. Support costs are allocated based on a percentage of staff costs and overheads directly charged to each activity.

In prior years the support costs were allocated based on total direct costs. As such support costs for 2020 and 2021 are not directly comparable.

Governance costs are those costs incurred in connection with enabling the charity to comply with external regulation, constitution and statutory requirements and in providing support to the trustees in the discharge of their statutory duties.

The charity is registered for VAT. In common with many other charities, The Green Alliance Trust’s expenses are inflated by the cost of irrecoverable VAT.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Employee benefits

Short term benefits

Short term benefits including holiday pay are recognised as an expense in the period in which the service is received.

Employee termination benefits

Termination benefits are accounted for on an accrual basis and in line with FRS 102.

Pension scheme

The Green Alliance Trust operates a defined contribution pension scheme for the benefit of its employees. The pension scheme of the company is funded by contributions partly from the employees and partly from the company. The assets of the scheme are held independently from those of The Green Alliance Trust in an independently administered fund. The pensions costs charged in the financial statements represent the contributions payable during the year.

Operating leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged in the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight line basis over the life of the lease.

Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose.

Restricted funds are funds that are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors that have been raised by the charity for particular purposes.

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

All assets costing more than £400 are capitalised.

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives on the following basis:

Furniture & fixtures: 33.33 per cent straight line Computer equipment: 25 per cent straight line

Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments, including trade and other debtors and creditors are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity and group has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due

Statement of cash flows

The charity’s cash flow statement reflects the presentation requirements of FRS 102

2. Judgments in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty

Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Although these estimates are based on management’s best knowledge of the amount, events or actions, actual results may ultimately differ from those estimates. The trustees consider the following items to be areas subject to estimation and judgement:

The full impact following the recent emergence of the global coronavirus pandemic is still unknown. It is, therefore, not currently possible to evaluate all the potential implications for the charity’s activities, beneficiaries, funders, suppliers and the wider economy. As set out in these accounting policies under “preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis”, the trustees have considered the impact of the pandemic on the charity and have concluded that although there may be some negative consequences, it is appropriate for the charity to continue to prepare its accounts on the going concern basis.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

3. Donations

2021
2020
Unrestricted funds
£
£		 2021
2020
Unrestricted funds
£
£
Donations(trusts and individuals) 156,199 2,755
Membershipsubscriptions 21,366 19,087
Other income 3,578 17,000
Total 181,143 38,842

4. Expenditure

4. Expenditure
Direct costs
£		 Direct
staf costs
£
Support costs
£		 Total 2021
£		 Total 2020
£
Raising funds
Fundraising		 - 94,403 18,400 112,803 57,089
Charitable activities
Political leadership		 163,429 481,646 155,968 801,043 978,077
Greeningthe economy 10,029 23,407 10,033 43,469 —
Low carbon future 53,403 267,984 88,316 409,703 377,943
Resources 98,959 92,741 25,726 217,426 257,172
Natural environment 68,055 120,049 39,417 227,521 84,499
Total 393,875 1,080,230 337,860 1,811,965 1,754,780
Direct costs
£		 Direct
staf costs
£

Support costs
£
Total 2020
£
Raising funds
Fundraising		 — 50,380 6,709 57,089
Charitable activities
Political leadership		 341,696 522,747 113,634 978,077
Low carbon future 100,870 233,408 43,665 377,943
Resources 111,778 122,073 23,321 257,172
Natural environment 9,676 64,799 10,024 84,499
Total 564,020 993,407 197,353

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

5. Allocation of support costs to activities

Raising
funds
£

Political
leadership
£

Greening
the
economy
£


Low carbon
future
£

Resources
£
Natural
environment
£

Total
2021
£

Total
2020
£


Premises — 47,787 4,211 27,771 5,888 12,328 97,985 68,362
Ofce costs — 1,428 126 830 176 369 2,929 4,511
Communication — 7,733 681 4,494 953 1,995 15,856 14,892
Support staf
costs		 16,337 83,352 4,051 46,376 16,049 20,775 186,940 78,266
Governance
– staf		 2,063 10,523 511 5,855 2,026 2,623 23,601 21,487
Governance
– other		 — 5,145 453 2,990 634 1,327 10,549 9,835
Total 18,400 155,968 10,033 88,316 25,726 39,417 337,860 197,353
Raising
funds
£

Political
leadership
£

Low carbon
future
£

Resources
£		 Natural
environment
£

Total
2020
£
Premises 3,851 38,452 14,776 7,891 3,392 68,362
Ofce costs 254 2,537 975 521 224 4,511
Communication 839 8,376 3,219 1,719 739 14,892
Support staf
Costs		 — 46,651 17,926 9,574 4,115 78,266
Governance
- staf		 1,211 12,086 4,644 2,480 1,066 21,487
Governance
- other		 554 5,532 2,125 1,136 488 9,835
Total 6,709 113,634 43,665 23,321 10,024 197,353

During the year a review was undertaken of the methodology applied to the allocation of support costs. Due to changes in the structure of projects, support costs for the year ended 31 March 2021 have been allocated based on the percentage of staff costs and overheads directly charged to each activity. In prior periods, support costs were allocated based on a percentage of total direct costs in each activity.

6. Net income

6. Net income
2021
£
2020
£


This is stated after charging the following:
Depreciation of tangible fxed assets
- owned bythe charity		 11,442 8,821
Auditors’ remuneration
- as auditor		 9,250 8,050
- other services 1,300 1,285
Operating lease costs (property) 80,343 80,343

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

7. Staff costs and numbers

7. Staf costs and numbers
2021
£
2020
£
Wages and salaries 1,102,440 928,009
Social securitycosts 112,038 96,639
Pension costs 76,293 68,513
Total 1,290,771 1,093,161
The average head count of staf during theyear was as follows: 2021
No.		 2020
No.
Project staf 30 30
Support staf 4 4
Governance 1 1
Fundraising 2 1
Total 37 36
The total full time equivalent was 25.6(2020: 24.2).
The total full time equivalent was 25.6(2020: 24.2). The total full time equivalent was 25.6(2020: 24.2). The total full time equivalent was 25.6(2020: 24.2).
The total number of employees earningin excess of £60,000 duringtheyear were as follows:
Staf earningremuneration between £60,000 - £70,000 1 1
Staf earningremuneration between £70,001 - £80,000 1 —
Staf earningremuneration between £100,001 - £110,000 1 1

Employer pension contributions totalling £20,436 (2020: £14,770) were paid into a defined contribution scheme for the above higher earners.

Key management personnel comprise the trustees and chief executive and the senior management team. The total employment benefits including employer pension and national insurance contributions of the key management personnel were £346,360 (2020: £344,016). This figure does not include the policy director who has been on secondment for the full year and not undertaken any key management responsibilities.

During the year no trustee received remuneration or benefits in kind (2020 – none). During the year, expenses of £nil were reimbursed to no trustees for travel and subsistence (2020: £70 reimbursed to two trustees).

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

8. Tangible fixed assets

Furniture and fttings
£
Computers and IT
equipment
£

Total
£



Cost
At 1 April 2020		 24,388 60,719 85,107
Additions — 13,758 13,758
Disposals (8,140) (15,435) (23,575)
At 31 March 2021 16,248 59,042 75,290
Depreciation
At 1 April 2020		 24,388 43,416 67,804
Charge for theyear — 11,441 11,441
Disposals (8,140) (15,435) (23,575)
At 31 March 2021 16,248 39,422 55,670
Net book value
At 31 March 2021		 — 19,620 19,620
At 31 March 2020 — 17,303 17,303

9. Debtors: due within one year

Total funds
2021
£

Total funds
2020
£


Trade debtors 150,037 276,129
Prepayments and accrued income 371,398 441,473
Other debtors 19,312 22,648
Total 540,747 740,250

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

10. Creditors: amounts falling due in one year

10. Creditors: amounts falling due in one year
Total funds
2021
£

Total funds
2020
£







Trade creditors 39,887 34,254
Taxation and social security 32,635 29,268
VATpayable 21,205 41,633
Accruals 55,676 59,658
Deferred income(see note below) 355,238 198,319
Other creditors 17,766 8,038
Total 522,407 371,170

Deferred income relates to income received in the year specifically for the following year. In 2021, £198,319 was released to the Statement of Financial Activities and £355,238 was received in the year but for project work to be performed in the following period.

11. Analysis of net assets between funds

Restricted funds
2021
£

Unrestricted funds
2021
£

Total funds
2021
£

Total funds
2020
£
Tangible fxed assets — 19,620 19,620 17,303
Current assets 784,501 959,518 1,744,019 1,197,633
Creditors due within oneyear — (522,407) (522,407) (371,170)
Total 784,501 456,731 1,241,232 843,766
Restricted funds
2020
£

Unrestricted funds
2020
£

Total funds
2020
£
Tangible fxed assets — 17,303 17,303
Current assets 465,865 731,768 1,197,633
Creditors due within oneyear — (371,170) (371,170)
465,865 377,901 843,766

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

12. Statement of funds

12. Statement of funds
At 1 April
2020
£

Income
£
Expenditure
£
Transfers
in/(out)
£

31 March
2021
£
218,518
48
449,128
88,400
28,407
784,501
306,731
150,000
1,241,232
Restricted funds
Political leadership		 157,825 749,782 (689,089) —
Greeningthe economy — 35,000 (34,952) —
Low carbon future 277,650 560,765 (389,287) —
Resources 30,290 168,225 (110,115) —
Natural environment 100 33,500 (5,193) —
465,865 1,547,272 (1,228,636) —
Unrestricted funds
General funds		 377,901 662,159 (583,329) (150,000)
Propertyfund — — — 150,000
Total funds 843,766 2,209,431 (1,811,965) —

The designated property fund represents the anticipated costs of moving to new premises once the current office licence has expired. This includes an allowance for fit out costs to make any premises suitable for the needs of the charity.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

12. Statement of funds (continued)

At 1 April
2019
£

Income
£
Expenditure
£
31 March
2020
£




Restricted funds
Political leadership		 127,855 928,485 (898,515) 157,825
Low carbon future 131,148 513,180 (366,678) 277,650
Resources 22,186 25,000 (16,896) 30,290
Natural environment 100 — — 100
281,289 1,466,665 (1,282,089) 465,865
Unrestricted funds
General funds		 368,859 481,733 (472,691) 377,901
Total funds 650,148 1,948,398 (1,754,780) 843,766

Funding received for specific projects is accounted for as restricted funds. Green Alliance’s restricted funds were divided between themes of work with the following aims:

Political leadership: building the ambitious political leadership necessary to bring about change to reverse nature’s decline and create a greener, fairer, low carbon economy.

Greening the economy: ensuring the government’s financial policies align with its environmental ambitions

and the move to a green economy.

Low carbon future: accelerating the renewal and rapid decarbonisation of the UK’s energy infrastructure and

presenting policy solutions to make power more flexible.

Resources: advocating a more resource efficient system, which keeps materials in productive use and avoids the environmental problems caused by waste.

Natural environment: generating new thinking and building powerful new alliances to support nature’s recovery.

The balances on restricted funds as at 31 March 2021 arise from income received for specific projects on which some expenditure is still to be incurred.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

13. Operating lease commitments

At 31 March the charity had the following future lease payments (including VAT), under non-cancellable operating leases:


operating leases:
Land & buildings
2021
£

Land & buildings
2020
£
Expiry:
Under 1year		 — 95,806
Between 2 and 5years — —

During the year the charity moved offices. The current premises are leased at a peppercorn rent until June 2023. A service charge is payable in relation to the property.

14. Related party transactions

Relatedparty Nature of
transaction		 Transaction
amount 2021
£

Transaction
amount
2020
£


Further details and connection
Conservative
Environment
Network		 Expenditure 30,000 15,800 Consultancy services were provided for the
Greener UK programme.
Ben Caldecott and Benet Northcote are both
directors.
Seahorse
Environmental
Communications		 Expenditure 36,690 18,000 Consultancy services were provided for the
Greener UK programme.
Shaun Spiers is a member of the advisory
council.
RSPB Income
Debtor		 11,305
7,000		 24,609
—		 Funding was provided in relation to Greener
UK programme.
David Baldock is on RSPB’s advisory
committee and Sir Graham Wynne is RSPB’s
vicepresident..
WWF UK Income
Debtor		 14,323
—		 17,609
17,609		 Funding was provided in relation to Greener
UK.
Rita Clifton is a fellow and former trustee
The Wildlife Trusts Income
Debtor		 7,626
7,000		 —
—		 Funding was provided for the greener UK
programme;
Craig Bennet is the chief executive of The
Wildlife Trust
Wessex Water Income 1,000 —
—		 Wessex Water joined the Business Circle in
December 2020.
Fiona Reynolds is a non-executive director of
Wessex Water
Southern Water
Services		 Income 1,000 — Southern Water joined the Business Circle in
August 2020.
Rosemary Boot is an independent
non-executive director of Southern Water
Services.

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Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

15. Share capital

The Green Alliance Trust is a company Limited by guarantee and has no share capital. Each member is liable to contribute a sum not exceeding £1 in the event of the charity being wound up.

16. Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

17. Pension commitments

The pension cost represents contributions made by the charity to the defined contribution scheme.

18. Commitments

At 31 March 2021 there are no capital commitments (2020: £nil).

19. Comparative statement of financial activities

Notes 2020
Restricted funds
£

2020
Unrestricted funds
£

2020
Total funds
£








Income from:
Donations and legacies		 3 — 38,842 38,842
Charitable activities
Political leadership		 928,485 65,546 994,031
Low carbon future 513,180 4,167 517,347
Resource stewardship 25,000 243,088 268,088
Natural environment — 128,417 128,417
Investments — 1,673 1,673
Total income 1,466,665 481,733 1,948,398
Expenditure on:
Raising Funds:
- Fundraising		 4 — 57,089 57,089
Charitable Activities
Political leadership		 4 898,515 79,562 978,077
Low carbon future 366,678 11,265 377,943
Resource stewardship 16,896 240,276 257,172
Natural environment — 84,499 84,499
Total expenditure 1,282,089 472,691 1,754,780
Net income and net movement in funds 184,576 9,042 193,618
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward		 281,289 368,859 650,148
Total funds carried forward 12 465,865 377,901 843,766

64

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Thanks

For details about supporting Green Alliance as a funder, partner or member, please contact Jo Rogers, operations director, jrogers@green-alliance.org.uk

We are grateful to every organisation and individual who contributed to our work in 2020-21

£1,000-£5,000 Accelerator Cities Aldi Stores Ltd Bambino Mio Ltd The Co-op CPRE ERG UK Holding Ltd Good Energy Iceland Foods Ltd MCS OVO Group Ramco UK Ltd Scottish Power Southern Water SSE plc Triodos Bank UK Ltd Wessex Water

£30,001-£40,000 Gower Street John Ellerman Foundation Kenneth Miller Trust Sussex University The Schroder Foundation

£40,001- £50,000 Garfield Weston Foundation

£50,001-£80,000 Waterloo Foundation

£80,001-£100,000 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

£5,001-£10,000 Friends of the Earth Greenpeace Wildfowl and Wetland Trust

£120,001-£140,000 Friends Provident Foundation

£140,001-£160,000 Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

£10,001-£20,000 ClientEarth Kingfisher Plc Nestlé RSPB Schneider Electric UK Viridor The Wildlife Trusts Woodland Trust

£200,001-£250,000 Network for Social Change

£250,001-£300,000 Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Quadrature Climate Foundation

£20,001-£30,000 Fairtrade Foundation Marmot Trust National Trust Suez Recycling and Recovery UK Treebeard Trust WWF UK

£300,001-£350,000 European Climate Foundation Samworth Foundation

65

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Our alliances

Green renewal coalition

Circular Economy Task Force

Tech Task Force

66

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

of Green Alliance’s Business Circle.

It provides a unique space for us to join important conversations across sectors about the economic

development and change needed to secure a greener future.” Bevis Watts, CEO, Triodos Bank

Business Circle

67

Green Alliance Annual report and accounts 2020-21

Members

Members

Our individual members include those active in our network, experts in the fields of environment, business and government, and those in other spheres who wish to support our work.

Members
Jamie Abbott
John Adams
Syed Ahmed
Tim Ash Vie
Anne Ashe
John Ashton
Jane Ashton
Dr Robert Atkinson
Dr Mark Avery
Janet Barber
David BarkerQC
Alison Barnes
Keith Barnes
Phil Barton
Clive Bates
TobyBelsom
Terence Bendixson
David Bent
Peter Betts
Sean Birch
Ronald Blythe
Dr Stephen Bolt
David Boyle
Duncan Brack
Tim Branton
Jim Bridges
Chris Brown
Kate Burningham
Sarah Burton
Danielle Byrne
Alison Cairns
Lord Cameron of Dillington
Rachel Cary
Pamela Castle OBE
Giles Chitty
Chris Church
Michael Clark
Roger Clarke
BarryCoates
Tim Cordy
Martin Couchman OBE
Paul Court
Roger Crofts
Sharon Darcy
Kate Davies
Hannah Dick
Julie Doyle
Stephanie Draper
Dagmar Droogsma
Christine Drury
Jane Durney
John Elkington
Sara Eppel
Louise Every
Bill Eyres
JeremyFaull
Malcolm Fergusson		 Tim Foxon
Justin French-Brooks
John Fyfe
RayGeorgeson
Martin Gibson
Brendan Gillespie
William Gillis
Matthew Gorman
Peters Graig
Dr TonyGrayling
Michael Grubb
Nigel Haigh OBE
Paul Hamblin
Baroness Hamwee
Nick Hartley
Dr Paul Hatchwell
Ian Hawking
Dirk Hazell
Barbara Herridge
Joan Herrmann
Roger Higman
Julie Hill MBE
Dr Mayer Hillman
John S Hills
Hannah Hislop
Mark Hodgson
Paula Hollings
Leo Horn-Phathanothai
Stuart Housden
Alex House
Catherine Howarth
Rupert Howes
Jim Hubbard
Chris Huhne
Robert Hull
David Hutchinson
Merlin Hyman
MichaelJacobs
AlexJelly
Prof NicholasJenkins
Stanley Johnson
ClaireJones
Prof AndrewJordan
Ravi Kewalram
Sean Kidney
Angela King
Alexander King
Jean Lambert
Paul Lambert
Pippa Langford
Lucinda Langton
Dr Paul Leinster CBE
Simon Lyster
Ian Macarthur
Dr Eleanor Mackay
Dr Tom Macmillan
Prof Richard Macrory

68

Mark Mansley Frank Martin Deborah Mattinson Ed Mayo Paul Meins Charles Millar Peter Mitchell Ed Mitchell Catherine Mitchell Lesley Moore Margaret Morgan-Grenville Elizabeth Ness Adrian Newton Dinah Nichols Adam Ognall Tom Oliver Prof Timothy O’Riordan Derek Osborn CB Prof John Page Nicholas Paget-Brown Philip Parker Sara Parkin Dr Doug Parr Mamta Patel Anthony Paterson Prof R J Pentreath Anthony Perret Craig Peters Adrian Phillips CBE Iain Pickles Ben Plowden Anita Pollack John Pontin Don Potts Denis Pym Louise Quarrell Peter Rae Kathleen Raine Dr Kate Rawles Trewin Restorick David Richards Sue Riddlestone Michael Roberts Alison Robertson Archie Robertson Nick Robins Neil Rotheroe Phil Rothwell Prof Stephen Salter Jeremy Sandford Philippe Sands QC Jenny Saunders Diana Schumacher OBE Paul Scott Juhi Shareef Yasmin Shariff Ben Shaw

Dr William Sheate Richard Shennan Gareth Simkins Jonathan Sinclair-Wilson Rita Singh James Skinner Andy Smith Stephen Somerville Steve Sorrell Shaun Spiers Leslie Spoor Martin Spray Ben Stafford Clym Tomas Stephenson Lord Stevenson John Stewart Andrew Stirling Neil Stockley Martin Stott Robin Stott Mark Suthern David Symons Joss Tantram Dr Richard Tapper Derek Taylor Clare Taylor Guy Thompson Alison Tickell Dr Bruce Tofield Ben Tuxworth Richard Usher Annette van der Kolk Jane Vaus Mike Walker Andrew Warren Anne Weir Alan Wheeler Dr Rowan Whimster Prof David Wiggins Dr Rebecca Willis Prof James Wilsdon Nicholas Wilson Bob Worcester Graham Wynne Baroness Young of Old Scone

Donor members

Rosemary Boot Anthony Bourne Tom Burke CBE Richard Burnett-Hall Tony Burton Mark Campanale Clementine Cowton Philip Douglas Jack Easton Prof Paul Ekins Antonia Grey Dan Hamza-Goodacre Merylyn Hedger Ben Jewell Robin Latchem Peter Lehmann Hywel Lloyd Hien Luong Dorothy Mackenzie Peter Madden Peter Maddox Dr Lilli Matson Robert McCracken QC Duncan Mclaren Graham Meeks John Murlis Prof Nicholas Pidgeon Sir Jonathon Porritt CBE Jim Potter Dr Andrew Purkis OBE Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE Julian Rose Nick Schoon Dr Alister Scott Philip Sellwood Neil Sinden Prof Jim Skea Adrian Spurrell David Still Jane Thornback Mike Tregent Paul Vanston Prashant Vaze Jonathan Wallace Dr Steve Waygood Kay West Adrian Whyle Sheena Will Dr Emma Woolliams Dimitri Zenghelis

Life members

David Andrew Alison Austin Gregory Barker Richard Barnes Robert Barrington Ben Bell Katherine Bell Dr Robin Bidwell Julia Brown Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE Bernie Bulkin James Cameron Rodney Chase CBE Ian Christie Greg Conary Andrea Cook OBE Dr Nick Eyre Zac Goldsmith Matt Gosden David Green OBE Emma Howard Boyd Paul Jefferiss Colin Le Duc Thomas Lingard Patrick Mahon Michael Massey John Midgley Alice Page Michael Palin MT Rainey Matthew Rhodes Chris Rose Penny Shepherd Lord Thomas Of Gresford Dr Tom Tibbits Dr John Webb Philip Wolfe MBE

69

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