Sustainability Charter
Purpose
This charter demonstrates our collective commitment to designing and delivering an event that minimises environmental impact, promotes social equity and economic sustainability, and fosters long-term positive change, whilst ensuring transparency and accountability. It will serve as a guide to all workstreams in embedding sustainability into planning, execution, and legacy.
Overarching guiding principles
We pledge to:
1. Environmental responsibility
- Select suppliers with strong environmental sustainability practices.
- Manage waste by reducing, reusing, recycling, and aiming for zero landfill waste.
- Minimise the use of plastics, using sustainable materials where possible.
- Minimise carbon emissions through efficient energy use and sustainable alternatives, including electricity, travel, accommodation and logistics.
- Conserve water use.
2. Social equity
Ensure diversity and inclusivity of all attendees, speakers and organising teams, including by considering accessibility, emergency measures and health and safety for all demographics.
3. Economic sustainability
Manage budgets responsibly and ensure value for money, whilst prioritising sustainability considerations.
4. Long-term behaviour change & Innovation
- Raise Jamati awareness of sustainable actions in their daily lives.
- Pilot new sustainable practices for our Jamat.
- Leave a positive legacy by inspiring long-term behaviour change towards more sustainable lifestyles.
5. Transparency & accountability
- Ensure transparency of goals by sharing them widely.
- Measure progress and report outcomes.
- Align all decisions with these overarching guiding principles to embed accountability across all workstreams.
https://the.ismaili/gb/en/news/sustainability-charter
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Sustainability: Our commitment and actions
Sustainability means meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs (United Nations, 1987). It calls for a careful balance between environmental, social, and economic considerations, and is about making thoughtful choices that support people and the planet, not only for today but for the future.
Sustainability is also a core Islamic value, deeply rooted in the teachings of the Quran and reinforced by Mawlana Hazar Imam’s guidance on environmental stewardship. These teachings emphasise humanity’s role as Khalifah (stewards) of the Earth, entrusted with its care and preservation for generations to come.
At the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Presentation Ceremony in Kazan in 2019, Mawlana Shah Karim Shah explained this further:
“Both the natural world and the world of human capacities are divine gifts, but it is tempting sometimes to embrace one without thinking much about the other,” he said. “The Holy Qur’an asks Muslims not to be passive recipients of our Natural Habitat but instead to be faithful stewards of the divine creation.”
In this spirit, we have made a collective commitment to design and deliver a Didar that is as sustainable as possible.
This commitment is closely aligned with the UK Didar themes of kindness and gratitude. Kindness towards one another extends to kindness towards the world we share, while gratitude encourages us to value resources, avoid excess, and act with care. Through this lens, sustainability becomes an expression of our faith, our values, and our respect for creation.
Through this effort, we hope to leave a positive and lasting legacy by raising awareness of the choices the Jamat can make to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Our aim is to inspire long-term behaviour change that supports sustainable practices.
How are we ensuring the Didar (and associated events) will be sustainable?
The leadership and organising teams have collectively committed to a Sustainability Charter. This charter takes a holistic approach to sustainability, encompassing environmental, social and economic considerations, whilst also committing to long-term behaviour change and transparency and accountability.
The two main objectives are to:
- Consciously minimise the environmental footprint of the event and associated activities.
- Encourage long-term behaviour change and innovation.
To help deliver these objectives, the following aims have been set:
- Reduce the procurement of new items wherever possible, in favour of hired items where possible we can, and prioritising reusable and recyclable materials.
- Adopt a near zero-landfill policy, with efforts to ensure that items can be re-used post-Didar, and with clear waste and recycling facilities provided at venues.
- Minimise single-use materials or items, opting for sustainable alternatives where possible.
- Ensure efficient energy use, including within venues, and opt for low-carbon options where available.
- Select sustainable suppliers where possible.
How can you help to ensure the Didar is as sustainable as possible?
Sustainability is a shared responsibility, and everyone has a part to play. Individual actions both in the lead up to and during the Didar - such as travel choices, waste disposal, and avoiding unnecessary consumption - can collectively make a significant difference. You can:
- Avoid single-use disposables and waste by bringing reusable water bottles to the Didar. There will be plenty of water refill stations for you to fill your water bottles.
- Choose low-carbon travel options such as organised low emission coaches, public transport, car-pooling, walking, or cycling, in line with our sustainability commitments.
- Avoid waste and excess, for example by taking only what you will eat to minimise food waste, and by considering whether an existing outfit can be re-worn or repurposed rather than purchasing something new for the event.
- Minimise waste and correctly sort it at the venues using the designated recycling bins.
- Return items at the end of the Didar to enable them to be reused at future events.
- Keep shared spaces clean and take all personal items with you when you leave.
- Practice patience and kindness: Sustainability also means being inclusive, respectful, and considerate of others during the event.
- Encourage others by setting a good example and challenging unkind and unsustainable behaviour.
How can sustainable actions count as acts of kindness to the Environment?
As part of the Gratitude to Kindness theme, we invite the Jamat to extend kindness towards the environment through simple, everyday actions. These acts may be one-off or ongoing, before, during, or after the Didar, and each reflects gratitude for the resources we share.
Examples of Kindness to the Environment include:
- I chose walking, cycling, or public transport when possible.
- I use reusable bottles, bags, or containers.
- I recycle waste properly.
- Out of gratitude for what I already have, I re-wear or repurpose my outfit for the Didar.
- I save water by turning off taps.
- I avoid wasting food.
These small actions, when taken together, become powerful expressions of gratitude, responsibility, and kindness in action.
The Jamat is encouraged to log acts of kindness - including those towards the environment - via iiuk.org or the Ismaili App (Click More > Gratitude to Kindness).
If thousands of us embrace more sustainable actions, the collective impact will reach far beyond the event. It will reflect a shift in mindset that we can carry into our homes and daily lives.
Together, through kindness, gratitude, and conscious action, let us help shape that future.
We are counting on you - every action matters.
https://the.ismaili/gb/en/news/sustaina ... nd-actions
