Develop a Strategy that Strives to Achieve Sustainability within Sustainable Business Practice
Overview
This Standard is about the skills and knowledge required within organisations to develop and promote strategies to achieve sustainability.
This standard would be appropriate for:
Those who have responsibility for developing strategy that strives to move an organisation towards a more sustainable future, based on sustainable business practices.
It is expected that you will manage and support others with regard to the development and implementation of strategy.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
P1 consult national policies and practices to determine the influence of Governmenttargets and legal requirements on organisational sustainability
P2 identify influences which impact on the sustainability of
organisational activities
P3 identify benefits to the organisation that can be achieved through sustainable organisational activities
P4 establish sustainability targets by benchmarking organisational practices against industry best practice
P5 organise the collection and analysis of data relevant to resource utilisation relating to sustainability
P6 specify targets and performance indicators for sustainable practice within all organisational activities
P7 identify potential barriers to achieving sustainable development
P8 support the integration of sustainability targets into all organisational activities
P9 develop strategies to overcome barriers to sustainable development
P10 ensure the relevance of sustainability targets through consultation with interested parties
P11 establish processes to monitor and review progress towards sustainability
P12 support the implementation of strategy that strives to achieve organisational sustainability
P13 promote the benefits of sustainability to stakeholders
P14 monitor and review progress towards sustainability
P15 report on performance and improvements in sustainable practice to key stakeholders
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
K1 the principles of sustainability
K2 what sustainability is and what it means to your business or organisation
K3 the sustainability/circular economy models that could be applied to your business or organisation
K4 how environmental management systems (EMS) are used to support sustainability
K5 how carbon currency data (carbon footprints) are used as an indicator of sustainability
K6 the relationship between sustainability and the three key elements of economic, social and environmental development
K7 the importance of consulting national policy to determine the influence of Government targets and legal requirements on organisational sustainability
K8 the impact of current and future legislation on sustainability strategy
K9 sources of advice and guidance on achieving sustainability
K10 the benefits of sustainability to the organisation and its stakeholders
K11 how to gain stakeholder commitment to a sustainability strategy
K12 the influences which impact upon strategies that strive to achieve organisational sustainability
K13 how to establish targets for sustainable development including the use of benchmarking
K14 how to control the efficient use of resources within organisational activities to help achieve sustainability
K15 how the actions of others can influence sustainability
K16 potential barriers to achieving sustainability and how these can be overcome
K17 how sustainability can impact on organisational structure
K18 how to collect and analyse data relevant to resource utilisation including the application of cost benefit analysis
K19 how continuous improvement supports organisational sustainability
K20 how to report on performance and improvements in resource utilisation
K21 how to communicate effectively with stakeholders
K22 how compliance can influence sustainability
Scope/range
Influences can be economic, environmental, social, political and legal
Organisational activities can incorporate, for example, purchasing, supply, production, storage, packaging, transport and all aspects of business support
Organisational sustainability in terms of social, economic and environmental factors
Resource can include: raw materials, product, packaging, energy, water, transport, finance, people etc.
Sustainability targets: establish targets relating to resource usage, waste minimisation, environmental impact, emissions, etc.
Benefits:
1. economic
2. environmental
3. social
4. compliance
Barriers can be:
1. economic
2. technical
3. social
4. compliance
5. people’s personal beliefs and attitudes
Stakeholders both internal and external to the organisation concerned with or affected by organisational activity
Benchmarking is a comparative measure of one organisation against best practice
Sustainability models, for example: The Natural Step Framework, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Circular Econmy The International Institute for Sustainable Development, The Global Footprint Network, etc.