In a year when our precious planet has given us countless warning signs that it is in grave danger, we’ve used every ounce of our influence and scientific know-how to keep the existential threats from climate change and nature’s decline on the agenda.
We’re incredibly grateful that despite environmental, political and economic turmoil, we can report many successes.
Vital landmark international agreements were reached, including the UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework and the Treaty of the High Seas, both with strong scientific input and advocacy from us.
In the UK, we shone a spotlight on nature and the threats it faces through the Wild Isles TV series and an accompanying campaign – joining forces with the RSPB and the National Trust.
Our input has also led to some encouraging news for wild tiger numbers, including rises in populations in Nepal and India. And to the first increase in Yangtze finless porpoise numbers, after decades of decline. We’ve also seen great engagement with our Walrus from Space citizen science project, and strong backing for the recommendations of the UK’s first ever People’s Assembly for Nature.
Read on to find out about these and many other successes, together with our full financial review.
Our successes
Messages from our Chief Executive and Chair
Our achievements and performance
How we’ve fared this year in each of our main goals to help us bring nature back to life.
Averting dangerous climate change
We were instrumental in influencing negotiations on agriculture and food at the UN climate summit, COP27, which led to a major win – a new four-year action plan on agriculture and food security that takes into consideration many WWF asks. And, to support a low-carbon, nature-positive economy, we successfully pressed for nature as well as the climate to be incorporated in the UK government’s climate transition plan guidance for companies and financial institutions. Read about these successes and much more here.
Creating a sustainable food system
This year, we and Tesco were successful in developing more detailed guidance on the food sector plans for companies to transition to a net-zero future that supports the recovery of nature. We published a first report on UK food retailers’ yearly progress towards our ambition to halve the environmental impact of UK shopping baskets by 2030. And through our work on the Eat4Change campaign, we encouraged 1.1 million people to make a shift towards more sustainable diets. Find out more about these and our other achievements under this goal.
Restoring threatened habitats and species
Our Amazon scientific briefing helped us make a powerful case for immediate action at the UN climate summit. In Asia, we were central to a vision to secure a viable future for the tiger. In east Africa, we continued our large-scale programme to maintain a healthy, connected landscape. And in the UK, we developed a ‘wholescape’ approach to test how best to ensure our land, rivers and seas can help meet net-zero targets and nature recovery. Read more about these breakthroughs and our other progress here.
Growing support
We’re incredibly grateful that despite a very challenging economic climate, the continued generosity of our supporters meant our income rose by 3.3%. Read about our work to engage with wider audiences through the BBC nature series Wild Isles and a campaign to inspire public and government action for nature. And find out about work we’re supporting through partnerships with Aviva, Sky, HSBC and the World Resources Institute, Tesco, Reckitt and Scottish Power – as well as new partnerships with John Lewis Partnership, Vodafone and a collaboration with NatWest.
Financial review
Here’s a summary of our income and expenditure for the year ending 30 June 2023, along with equivalent figures for the previous year.
Read more detail in our full Financial Statements.
