Embedding sustainability into end-to-end supply chains

Module 2: Understanding the Environmental Impacts of Humanitarian Supply Chains

Environmental impacts can cover a wide range of categories that result from emissions to [1] air, [2]
land, and [3] water.
Impacts on air may include [1] pollutants such as particulate matter from transport or chemicals
released during manufacturing, as well as [2] GHG emissions like carbon dioxide, or CO2, resulting from
numerous activities such as [3] transport, especially air travel, and nearly all other activities that require
energy like [3] manufacturing, [4] electricity generation, or [5] waste management processes, for
example, incineration.
Emissions to and environmental impacts on land imply both the use of natural resources such as [1]
land or minerals to produce food or extract raw materials and the environmental consequences
associated with that use like [2] deforestation, [3] soil degradation, [4] resource scarcity, and [5]
pollution.
The impacts on land are often felt in the early and late phases of the life cycle. Examples include [1]
intensive land use, [2] deforestation, and [3] soil degradation associated with unsustainable
agricultural production or [4] pollution because of improper waste management like an open dump.
Additionally, land plays a key role in regulating the earth’s temperature by acting as a [1] carbon sink
and absorbing carbon emissions through carbon sequestration. When land acts as a carbon sink, it
absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.
However, as land changes through [1] deforestation, [2] industrial development, [3] urbanisation, [4]
agricultural expansion, and [5] unsustainable agricultural practices, it loses the ability to store carbon,
exacerbating further climate change consequences. While certain land types may recover within
decades, others can take centuries or longer.
Furthermore, degraded land also progressively loses its water-holding capacity and thus performs
worse in the case of droughts or flooding compared to healthy land.
As with land, impacts on water also imply [1] unsustainable water use and intensify water scarcity,
especially for activities such as agricultural production, processing, and manufacturing.
Impacts on water also include environmental damage such as [1] pollution to fresh and marine
waterways due to improper waste management, especially relevant for plastics, as well as [2] runoff of
harmful chemicals or contaminated waste, for example, from the production of pharmaceuticals. This
may also create risks for food security in regions dependent on fishing to feed the local community.
Degraded land can also intensify this impact.
In addition to pollution, [1] eutrophication is a major challenge. This is often due to intense mineral
(phosphorus and nitrogen) fertiliser use in industrialised agriculture. These minerals [2] run off into
ground and surface waters, which causes an [3] increase in nutrients to feed algae, leading to harmful
blooms. These algae blooms [4] prevent light penetration and oxygen absorption necessary for

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Embedding sustainability into end-to-end supply chains
Module 2: Understanding the Environmental Impacts of Humanitarian Supply Chains
Types of Environmental Impact
underwater life. Once the [5] algae blooms die, underwater life suffocates, which creates dead zones in
fresh and marine waterways, compromising food security.
The impacts on air, land, and water may also be felt at different spatial levels. [1] Global environmental
impacts are those that are emitted in one region of the world, with results often felt in another part,
such as pollution of air and waterways. On the other hand, [1] local environmental impacts are felt near
where they are emitted, such as deforestation or mineral resource scarcity. Local and global impacts
may also be linked, such as deforestation and carbon emissions, where the impact may be felt both
locally (land use change) and globally (less potential to absorb carbon).
Environmental impacts at a global level also create a risk to fairness, as one region may significantly
contribute to an environmental impact, but the consequences of that are felt far away. A good example
of this is the [1] global inequity of GHG emissions.
Look at the [1] map here. It illustrates the average GHG emissions per capita across the globe in 2022.
[2] North America, some [3] Middle Eastern countries, and [4] Australia have the highest levels of GHG
emissions per capita. [4] European countries, [5] Central Asia and Russia, and [6] East Asia are also
relatively higher. On the other hand, the regions of [7] Latin America, [8] Sub-Saharan Africa, and [9]
South and Southeast Asia have the lowest.
If you compare this map to the [1] next map, which models the vulnerability to climate change, a clear
pattern stands out. Many of the regions of the world that have the lowest GHG emissions per capita are
also the most vulnerable to climate change, such as [2] Latin America, [3] Sub-Saharan Africa, and [4]
Southeast Asia.
The world’s largest GHG emitters are the ones least vulnerable to climate change. On the other hand,
many of the countries that are most at risk of climate change or already feeling the impacts are the
lowest emitters of GHG emissions and are often where humanitarian organisations are most active.
Furthermore, [1] conflict, [2] climate change, and [3] chronic inequality are the top drivers of global
hunger.
Many regions of the world are [1] dependent on agriculture to feed themselves and provide sources of
livelihood. Increasing global and local impacts on [2] air, [3] land, and [4] water will only further pose
[5] risks to food security and [6] challenge environmental, social, and economic sustainability in the
future.
Addressing this spatial inequality through a global effort to reduce emissions and environmental
impacts of operations is a huge task with added complexities in the humanitarian sector. Let’s look at
that more in detail.
As part of a global effort to fight climate change, humanitarian organisations need to [1] reduce the
volumes of emissions and other environmental impacts resulting from their aid and development
activities. However, because of climate change, they will also have to [2] scale up their operations.

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Embedding sustainability into end-to-end supply chains
Module 2: Understanding the Environmental Impacts of Humanitarian Supply Chains
Types of Environmental Impact
Meeting these two objectives will require a transformative approach.

[1] Can humanitarian organisations adapt their way of operating to be more environmentally
sustainable, or is the clash between humanitarian priorities and sustainability too strong?
Understanding emissions and environmental impacts, as well as the role they play in contributing to
climate change and environmental degradation, is the first important step. Becoming a channeler of
change is the next. Let’s explore the role of the supply chain in reducing the environmental
consequences of humanitarian aid and development efforts.