The best eco-friendly charities
Behind every beach cleared of litter and every fairer cup of coffee is someone who made it happen: the volunteers with litter-pickers, the farmers growing with care and the teachers showing children how to look after the planet. It's practical, hopeful work, and it proves that greener living can start with everyday choices.
Four charities, each brilliant at a different part of the job.
Rather than a ranked list, we've picked a range of charities, so together they cover more than any one could alone.
Eden Project
- Nature Education
- Nature Recovery
- New Edens
The Eden Project took an exhausted clay pit in Cornwall, once described as a great scar on the landscape, and reimagined it as a global garden. It opened in 2001, and its giant Biomes hold one of the world's largest indoor rainforests. Run by the Eden Trust, an education charity, it inspires positive action for the planet by reconnecting people with the natural world. Turning a scar into a garden is about as hopeful as it gets.
Key stats
- Visitors since Eden opened in 2001
- 25m+
- Young people on school visits each year
- 30,000+
- People at a Big Lunch last year
- 10.3m
- Tonnes of topsoil made for the old clay pit
- 83,000
Why we've included them
Eden shows people what a greener future could look like, with education at the heart of its work. It aims to send every visitor home inspired to take positive action for the planet.
Registered Charity: 1093070
Visit Eden Project
Practical Action
- Energy Access
- Resilient Farming
- Early Warnings
Practical Action began in 1966, when E.F. Schumacher and others founded the Intermediate Technology Development Group to put his ideas into practice. Sixty years on, it works across Africa, Asia and Latin America on practical answers to poverty and climate change, from solar irrigation to flood alerts sent by text. In Peru, it developed the first deforestation-free coffee accreditation system with a local cooperative. It's proof that a small, clever idea can travel a very long way.
Key stats
- People with better energy access since 2021
- 3.4m
- Reported better incomes and food security
- 619,000
- Cleaner water, hygiene or waste services since 2021
- 709,000
- Nepali farmers with new climate insurance
- 5,000+
Why we've included them
Practical Action takes eco-friendly ideas to the communities who need them most, putting clean energy, resilient farming and early warnings to work. It's where green solutions meet the fight against poverty.
Registered Charity: 247257
Visit Practical Action
Fairtrade Foundation
- Fairer Trade
- Climate Resilience
- Fair Pay
The Fairtrade Foundation was founded in 1992 by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam and fellow campaigners for fairer trade. Two years later, Green & Black's Maya Gold became the first chocolate bar in the UK to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark. Today the Mark is the most recognised and trusted ethical label in the UK, and Fairtrade Standards include environmental criteria alongside fair pay. A shopping basket can do real good for people and the planet, and we love that.
Key stats
- Farmers and workers in Fairtrade co-ops
- 1.8m
- Of Premium spent by small farm co-ops on quality and climate
- 23%
- Cleaner cookstoves installed in coffee homes
- 1,403
- People at Fairtrade Fortnight events
- 100,000+
Why we've included them
Fairtrade brings this selection into the shopping basket, with standards that look after the land as well as the people who farm it. It supports farmers to adopt climate-smart practices while earning a fairer deal.
Registered Charity: 1043886
Visit Fairtrade Foundation
Surfers Against Sewage
- Sewage Pollution
- Plastic Pollution
- Beach Cleans
Surfers Against Sewage started in St Agnes Church Hall in 1990, when Cornwall's surfing community responded to the shocking state of the coastline. Thirty-five years on, it campaigns to end sewage and plastic pollution, while its volunteers run plastic clean-ups right across the UK. Its Safer Seas & Rivers Service app alerts swimmers and surfers to sewage pollution. It's grassroots action with a seriously loud voice, and the waves are all the better for it.
Key stats
- Volunteers on its plastic clean-ups
- 158,706
- Plastic and waste removed from nature
- 72,594kg
- People using its sewage alert app
- 387,697
- Children at its Pupil Power Assembly
- 26,815
Why we've included them
When it comes to everyday action, Surfers Against Sewage makes it easy to get stuck in, from clean-ups to campaigns for cleaner water. Its supporters helped push sewage pollution up the national agenda.
Registered Charity: 1145877
Visit Surfers Against Sewage
Four amazing eco-friendly charities. Why choose just one?
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