Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) has announced that ShelterBox and Cool Earth will be its new global charity partners, as voted upon by its employees.
As part of a three-year commitment, LSM will donate £50,000 annually to each charity. LSM will also hold various of engagement activities to further support and promote the charities.
“We are proud to be supporting ShelterBox and Cool Earth as both charities fight for causes close to our hearts,” said Nigel Davenport, group general counsel of Liberty Specialty Markets. “Supporting these charities enables us to focus on the immediate impact on individuals and communities, while supporting initiatives to combat climate change in the long term. With international disasters becoming increasingly common, we will work with ShelterBox to build an effective partnership, which will help mitigate the impact of climate change, conflict and disasters by helping protect the most vulnerable from further hardship.”
“We are also pleased to be working with such a dynamic and unique charity as Cool Earth,” Davenport said. “We were impressed by their ambition and desire to make real change that can help combat the climate emergency we all face and preserve rainforests for future generations.”
The search for new charity partners followed the expiry of LSM’s seven-year partnership with WaterAid UK. According to LSM, the partnership raised over £857,000 and funded projects to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene awareness to communities in Madagascar and Rwanda.
“Our new and exciting partnership with Liberty Specialty Markets, a company with a clear commitment to supporting communities living on the front line of the climate crisis, will help us go further,” said ShelterBox chief executive Sanj Srikanthan. “There is a compelling alignment in our missions - putting communities first and listening to people's needs to personalise how we respond to events that have devastated lives they have worked so hard to build.”
“Cool Earth believes the greatest insurance we have for the future of life is to trust in people and trust in those who have protected rainforests for thousands of years,” said Isabel Felandro, Cool Earth’s Peru programme manager. “Rainforests have the potential to capture 30% of the carbon needed to cool the planet to safe levels (IUCN 2021). Our partnership with LSM will help to significantly accelerate learning around the effectiveness and scalability of unconditional cash programmes and how they can help keep vital ecosystems like rainforests protected in the fight to end the climate emergency.”
