In the week of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, international aid charity Tzedek has announced plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 10 per cent.

Tzedek also intends to become a "zero waste" organisation, maintaining a sustainable procurement policy favouring local suppliers and further promoting vegetarian food at its events.

"Implementing these policies will not be easy, but this is an issue that is central to achieving our mission statement," said Tzedek executive director Dan Berelowitz.

"The actions required will reduce overheads and thus increase the number of grants we can provide to overseas projects."

Tzedek founder Steve Miller pointed out: "If we ignore the fact that our actions at home impact on the local environment of our partners overseas, we would be ultimately failing our partners and donors. We want to provide a sustainable solution to poverty."