Dear Bodhisattwa,

thanks a lot for your message and the information.

Of course, the responsibility for global south affiliates is a different one than for those of the global north.

However, we are interested in finding out how the other chapters have proceeded so far in order to determine how we can best proceed ourselves. The Swiss chapter does not have a physical office as well, we work from home and take public transport for any displacement in context of work as well.

We are considering using quantitative as well as qualitative methods and it will take us some more time to determine which methodology we will use in order to determine our footprint and how we can work as sustainably as possible.

For us, creating awareness amongst staff and our providers will probably be an important aspect. But we are still figuring out how exactly we will proceed.

Thanks again for your message and have a great day.

Best, Clara

-- Clara Wiest Operations and Development Officer || Wikimedia CH +41 78 248 50 05 clara.wiest@wikimedia.ch

________________________________ From: Bodhisattwa bodhisattwa.rgkmc@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, 25 June 2023 18:29 To: Wikimedians in and from West Bengal, India wikimedia-in-wb@lists.wikimedia.org; Clara Wiest clara.wiest@wikimedia.ch Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-in-WB] Environmental Sustainability Covenant - first steps

Hello Clara,

Thanks for signing the environmental sustainability covenanthttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Affiliates_Environmental_Sustainability_Covenant on behalf of the Wikimedia Switzerland chapter.

As a small affiliate, the West Bengal Wikimedians User Group currently does not have the necessary resources to invest on calculating carbon foot-print of ours. Also, as an affiliate from the global south, we have very limited responsibilities as a signatory of the covenant. Having said so, we do not have any staff capacity or physical office spaces and our user group program related travels related to field trips or physical meets etc. are mostly carried out using public transportations like trains and buses, thus minimizing our carbon footprint as much as possible.

Regards, Bodhisattwa (On behalf of West Bengal Wikimedians User Group)

On Wed, 21 Jun 2023 at 23:45, Clara Wiest <clara.wiest@wikimedia.chmailto:clara.wiest@wikimedia.ch> wrote: Dear Affiliates of the Environmental Sustainability Covenant,

I am writing to you an behalf of Wikimedia Switzerland as the chapter has just recently signed the agreement.

The Swiss chapter is now taking the necessary steps to implement what was agreed on in the covenant. To be able to reduce our carbon footprint, we therefore first want to measure it and consider getting an external consultant to do this.

As a consequence we are interested in how the other Affiliates have progressed in this matter.

Here are a few questions on this matter:

1. Did you succeed in measuring your carbon foot print? If so, was the process done by an external consultant or by someone else? 2. Did you decide to evaluate your starting situation in a different manner?

1. Did you gather data on the carbon footprint (or sustainability in your chapter more generally) by using qualitative or quantitative methods?

2. Have you given up the carbon footprint calculation for another method? If so, what was your first step in this “sustainability journey”?

We would welcome and appreciate an exchange of information on what has already been done in this regard and on what is planned for the future in order to work more sustainably and environmental friendly.

Best wishes,

Clara Wiest Operations and Development Officer || Wikimedia CH +41 78 248 50 05 clara.wiest@wikimedia.chmailto:clara.wiest@wikimedia.ch

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