Environment

Since our founding in 1991, ISC has helped people bring clean air, water, and land to their communities while conserving precious resources. From the start, we set out to demonstrate that there is no need to sacrifice social or economic health for that of the environment—and that a healthy environment can bolster economic growth while supporting social goals.

In the regions in which we work, the use of antiquated technology and practices have seriously harmed people's health and contributed greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. We have found that our approach—of engaging communities and building the capacity of local organizations to solve problems—is critical to addressing issues like environmental health and climate change, where a groundswell of citizen commitment is needed to have the most impact.

Tangible Results

• In Russia, years of artificially low energy costs provided little incentive to conserve heating fuel or upgrade outdated boilers. It's often been cheaper to turn up the heat than to make repairs or invest in new technology. But as energy costs crept up, we helped 13 municipalities reduce their energy consumption by 20 to 50 percent. We also helped them reinvest those savings in badly needed social programs.
• In six years, 39 pilot municipalities in Russia reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12,200 tons per year and saved millions of rubles. Our partner, the Fund for Sustainable Development, continues this important work with the aim of influencing practice and policy nationwide. Today, we are bringing this approach to the industrial province of Guangdong, China, to help them reduce climate-changing emissions while becoming energy efficient.
• Restoring environmental health is a hallmark of ISC's work in the former Soviet Union, with particularly dramatic results in the city of Nizhnii Tagil. Most recently, several Russian cities have seen dramatic improvements in children's health due to cleaner air quality: In our pilot schools, respiratory illness has decreased by 30 percent since 2002.
• We have helped establish or strengthen scores of nonprofit organizations across Central and Eastern Europe that now provide local communities with training and mentoring to address environmental problems. A strong network of environmental training centers now stretches from Hungary to the Russian Far East.