Our Mission & Vision

We campaign and build movement power to bring about the system change needed for a just world where people and nature thrive.

You can download our Strategic Plan for 2021 to 2025 here

Our Role

We support people to come together to transform our world until social justice is the foundation of resilient and regenerative societies that flourish within the ecological limits of our one planet.

We have particular experience in participatory education, campaign strategy, shaping public debate and driving policy change. We are committed to joining forces with other organizations and networks, of diverse experiences and perspectives, to build our collective power. We support people and groups working autonomously to connect their local work to the bigger national and international picture. We work with others to try to make sure our focus is transformational change, often by creating moments that exert maximum pressure on decision-makers.

Our Goals

Friends of the Earth has four organizational goals to advance our mission and vision:

Building movement power

To contribute to building a diverse and inclusive movement strong enough to bring about system change in a way that supports others’ social justice struggles and that aligns with our values.

Driving policy change

To drive a fair and fast transition to a zero pollution future.

Cultivating our community

To ensure Friends of the Earth supporters feel they are members of a mutually supportive community and present ways for them to participate in and sustain the work of the organization for as long as it is required.

Developing our organization

To ensure Friends of the Earth has the robust governance and effective management systems, and the appropriate financial resources, to maximise our impact and to cultivate a positive working environment.

Our Values

These values are the foundation of our work. We endeavour to consciously incorporate these into everything we do both internally and externally. They underpin our work and we strive to adopt and integrate them into all of our activities.

Solidarity, Participation & Inclusion

We endeavour to ensure that everyone, particularly marginalized and disadvantaged groups who might be affected by policy, is considered and included in the conversation. We acknowledge our privilege and the fact that there may be barriers to participation. We strive to expand and diversify civic engagement by creating spaces for everybody to participate and be included in activism and political change.

Nature and Social Ecology

We appreciate the intrinsic value of nature and the earth as the source of all life. We value work that conserves and protects our natural world and work to end the destructive systems of extractivism, pollution and environmental degradation that prevail.

We work towards regenerative, cooperative, diverse & inclusive systems, taking a sustainable approach to creating change where the welfare of people and the movement we are part of is considered and nurtured.

People and Communities

We strive to build relationships and collaborate with people, communities and organisations around us. We work towards connecting communities around environmental issues and we endeavour to share our resources fairly in order to strengthen these connections and communities.

Science and Education

We value evidence based and scientific solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises. We value learning and sharing our learning through educational activities. We strive to understand and overcome the inherent injustices present in our society and to unpack institutional privilege as part of our own and shared learning experience.

Social Justice and Climate Justice

We recognize that the work we undertake can have both local and far reaching consequences and we endeavour to embed the need for social and climate justice into all that we do as we transition to a better future.

Culture and Creativity

We take a creative approach to our work. We value the arts and culture as a means of expression and communicating our values and goals. We believe that the use of imagination helps us to envision the world we want to see and the solutions to achieve that vision.

Transparency and Accountability

We are open and transparent in all we do and have systems in place to hold ourselves accountable to each other and to our stakeholders.

Our Theory of Change

Our Theory of Change is rooted in a commitment to an ongoing process of educating ourselves, engaging and listening to those most impacted by the issues we work on, and in taking collective action to make change.

We are committed to a process of consistently learning and unlearning about the systems of power and oppression that influence our lives and the world around us. We believe that we need to understand systems in order to effectively change them.

We believe that it is important to be clear in our messaging and so we don’t shy away from occupying difficult conversational spaces. However, we believe that finding common ground is an important element of change-making, and so we strive to do so with all who want to make a positive difference in the world.

We believe in challenging ourselves to consistently create more welcoming spaces for people to engage in a process of interrogating the root causes of global injustice. By doing this we aim to help grow and work with a more critically informed network of change makers across Ireland.

When individuals and groups are nurtured to engage in a process of critically informing themselves as well as being supported to learn-by-doing, they are more likely to take effective collective action to bring about changes in their own communities and as part of a mass political movement.

When policy makers are the target of both mass movement campaigns and targeted, evidence based advocacy, they are compelled to bring about changes in policy and practice.

Strategic Objectives 2021 to 2025

Building movement power

To be a central and trusted hub for training and capacity building for individuals and groups who identify as being part of the movement for social justice and environmental sustainability. Our role is to train, mentor, promote reflection and develop increasing levels of ownership and leadership.
To support the development of opportunities and structures for local organizing and campaigning that contribute to advancing the missions of Friends of the Earth Ireland and International.
To collaborate directly and supportively with other groups and organizations whose work intersects with our mission and aligns with our values, and to participate actively in efforts to facilitate connections, coordination, collaboration and mutual support between intersecting causes in the climate movement and wider civil society.

Driving policy change

To establish a new climate governance regime in Ireland that drives the development and adoption of policies to eliminate emissions in all sectors, based on legally-binding carbon budgets, expert-advice, and parliamentary accountability.
To ensure Ireland’s climate-polluting emissions are on track for a 50% reduction by 2030, and Ireland’s actual fair share of climate action is a key issue in the next electoral cycle.
To prevent a lock-in to fossil gas and enable Ireland to become an international example for the struggle to break the grip of the fossil fuel industry on policy-making.
To shape public debate on key issues related to our mission.
To create public understanding that much of the change we wish to see will generate positive impacts and opportunities, not costs and hardships. To bring justice and fairness to the centre of the debate about climate and environmental issues - change should happen when justice and fairness requires it, even if it is not popular with everyone, especially the rich and powerful.

Cultivating our community

To grow our community
To nurture our community
To sustain Friends of the Earth

Developing our organization

To ensure the organization is appropriately structured to guarantee effective and efficient management.
To be accountable and transparent to all our key stakeholders.
To foster a culture of collaboration, respect and trust within a staff team where wellbeing is prioritized. To retain and attract motivated, committed and skilled staff.
To secure the financial resources to deliver our programmes and achieve our goals while ensuring value for money. To diversify and increase our income.
To innovate and support continuous learning and improvement in both management and delivery of commitments. To implement and maintain relevant Information and Communications Technology.