Support colleagues to identify and evaluate the projects or departments significant environmental aspects and impacts

This standard describes the skills and knowledge requirements for those who support colleagues to identify and evaluate the projects or departments significant environmental aspects and impacts.  This standard also covers proposing management options to improve the environmental performance of the projects or departments.

This standard is suitable for:

·        An individual with a specific brief to assisting with identifying the projects or departments significant environmental aspects and impacts.

This standard covers the identification of activities, products, or services offered by the department or project, which have an impact upon the environment.

It also covers the review of the environmental aspects in order to determine those that could have a significant impact on the environment and the proposal of actions to control or manage the significant environmental aspects in order to improve the environmental performance of the department or project.

Those involved in identifying and evaluating the organisations significant environmental aspects and impacts need to be involved in carbon accounting and Life Cycle Assessments of their products, services, and activities.  This will involve assessing their own carbon footprint of their products and services, as well as making decisions on who to purchase resources from, through evaluating their natural capital accounting and their cardon accounting.  Organisations need to be accountable for how they manage their impact on the environment, they need to become more sustainable.  The organisation needs to look at their carbon impact at global as well as a local level.  This will also involve assessing the impact.

1. The relevant legal and other (non-regulatory) requirements applicable to the projects or departments
2. The inputs, outputs, and operations of the projects or departments
3. The positive and negative environmental aspects of the projects or departments
4. The past, present and future environmental aspects of the projects or departments
5. The direct and indirect environmental aspects of the projects or departments
6. The potential types of abnormal and emergency environmental aspects of the projects or departments
7. How to identify aspects and potential impacts associated with the activities, products, and services of the projects or departments
8. The importance of carrying out a life cycle assessment of all products
9. The importance of improving the project’s or department’s environmental aspects and impacts, to assist with the climate change crisis and lower the impact on future generations
10. The importance of assessing the carbon footprint of a product, activity or service offered by the projects or department
11. The importance of assessing the natural capital accounting and carbon accounting of those you purchase goods and services from
12. The reasons for evaluating environmental aspects and impact of significance and the different methods available for evaluation, considering qualitative and quantitative data
13. How to identify and involve relevant stakeholders, including those from protected characteristics, in the process of evaluating project or departments environmental aspects for significance
14. The importance of recording findings and proposed improvements to environmental performance in a relevant format
15. Those to whom the proposed improvements should be communicated
16. How to formulate and present recommendations for improvements to environmental performance
17. The failure to manage significant aspects for the projects or departments environmental performance
18. The risks of not applying the principles of continual improvement to the projects or departments environmental performance

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Protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Methodology for identifying aspects and impacts

• Grouping Methodology
• Surveying methodology
• Mass balance methodology
• Back-calculating methodology
• Potpourri Methodology