Concerns about being fired or victimised at work are preventing people from calling out their employers on the climate crisis and the wider environment, according to a charity.
A survey commissioned by Protect, a charity that defends whistleblowers, found fear of reprisals and uncertainty about how to provide proof were the main barriers to reporting on poor and misleading behaviour about the environment. Employees were also sceptical that their concerns would be properly dealt with.
The organisation started investigating after receiving a “surprisingly” low number of calls about the environment to its whistleblowing advice hotline. Of the handful who had contacted Protect about an environmental issue at work over the past decade, three-quarters said they faced negative treatment as a result.
Workers inside organisations can often be the first to spot environmental harms, from the illegal dumping of chemicals into a river to false claims about a product’s sustainability.
Whistleblowers can make a difference by reporting those concerns. A gas company was fined after a whistleblower identified dangerous regulatory breaches while civil servants speaking anonymously to the press helped expose failures by England’s environmental regulator to prevent water pollution.
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