Develop an environmental action plan
An action plan is a more in-depth document than a policy, which sets clear targets and timelines for the kinds of high carbon activities you want to reduce, how you’ll reduce them, and when you aim to do this. This could be having more staff travel taking place by public transport, or reducing your overall carbon footprint by a certain percentage each year. Like any action plan, it should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to your organisation, and time-bound.
Key
You can complete sections in any order, but following our suggested sequence may be beneficial.
Complete this on the page to connect today's learning with your current activities and goals.
Take this task away to work on with your team. When you feel it’s complete, come back to tick it off.
Something else for you to consider, like another resource on our website, or an opportunity.
Measure your environmental impact
You can’t reduce what you’re not measuring! You can gather data on electricity, gas, and water usage through bills. You could measure staff business travel and commutes, the waste you create, and more. All of this can be placed in carbon footprint calculators to get your organisation’s carbon footprint.
Measure your environmental impact
You can’t reduce what you’re not measuring! You can gather data on electricity, gas, and water usage through bills. You could measure staff business travel and commutes, the waste you create, and more. All of this can be placed in carbon footprint calculators to get your organisation’s carbon footprint.
Measure your environmental impact
You can’t reduce what you’re not measuring! You can gather data on electricity, gas, and water usage through bills. You could measure staff business travel and commutes, the waste you create, and more. All of this can be placed in carbon footprint calculators to get your organisation’s carbon footprint.
SmartCarbon
We offer the opportunity to work with SmartCarbon’s lite and full calculators to give you the tools to measure your carbon footprint. The lite tool gives an estimate for a full year and is appropriate for micro-organisations or those who can’t get a full breakdown of energy bills. The full tool is recommended as an accurate tool which you can input data into throughout the year, with the option to add and change data sources, and comes with a course to help you understand better how to monitor carbon emissions and develop a carbon reduction plan.
SmartCarbon
We offer the opportunity to work with SmartCarbon’s lite and full calculators to give you the tools to measure your carbon footprint. The lite tool gives an estimate for a full year and is appropriate for micro-organisations or those who can’t get a full breakdown of energy bills. The full tool is recommended as an accurate tool which you can input data into throughout the year, with the option to add and change data sources, and comes with a course to help you understand better how to monitor carbon emissions and develop a carbon reduction plan.
SmartCarbon
We offer the opportunity to work with SmartCarbon’s lite and full calculators to give you the tools to measure your carbon footprint. The lite tool gives an estimate for a full year and is appropriate for micro-organisations or those who can’t get a full breakdown of energy bills. The full tool is recommended as an accurate tool which you can input data into throughout the year, with the option to add and change data sources, and comes with a course to help you understand better how to monitor carbon emissions and develop a carbon reduction plan.
Prioritise your actions
Within your environmental plan, certain actions will have a bigger impact whilst others will involve a lot more effort from you and your team. For example, having the insulation in your building upgraded can significantly reduce your organisation's carbon emissions, however this will take more effort and resources than swapping to LED lightbulbs.
Aiming to work on a number of priority actions in the beginning will help your environmental plan remain sustainable and achievable. If tackling too many areas at once, you may risk losing team engagement and capacity whilst seeing few benefits. The tool below will help you prioritise your organisation's actions.
Prioritise your actions
Within your environmental plan, certain actions will have a bigger impact whilst others will involve a lot more effort from you and your team. For example, having the insulation in your building upgraded can significantly reduce your organisation's carbon emissions, however this will take more effort and resources than swapping to LED lightbulbs.
Aiming to work on a number of priority actions in the beginning will help your environmental plan remain sustainable and achievable. If tackling too many areas at once, you may risk losing team engagement and capacity whilst seeing few benefits. The tool below will help you prioritise your organisation's actions.
Prioritise your actions
Within your environmental plan, certain actions will have a bigger impact whilst others will involve a lot more effort from you and your team. For example, having the insulation in your building upgraded can significantly reduce your organisation's carbon emissions, however this will take more effort and resources than swapping to LED lightbulbs.
Aiming to work on a number of priority actions in the beginning will help your environmental plan remain sustainable and achievable. If tackling too many areas at once, you may risk losing team engagement and capacity whilst seeing few benefits. The tool below will help you prioritise your organisation's actions.
Set your targets and how you plan to reach them
If you’re measuring a resource, like how much electricity you use, you could set a target to reduce it by a certain amount. If you’ve calculated your carbon footprint, you might think about reducing this by a percentage each year. You’ll want to set a process for how you’ll continue to track these over time, what steps you’re taking to reduce each resource, and record these for later reference.
Set your targets and how you plan to reach them
If you’re measuring a resource, like how much electricity you use, you could set a target to reduce it by a certain amount. If you’ve calculated your carbon footprint, you might think about reducing this by a percentage each year. You’ll want to set a process for how you’ll continue to track these over time, what steps you’re taking to reduce each resource, and record these for later reference.
Set your targets and how you plan to reach them
If you’re measuring a resource, like how much electricity you use, you could set a target to reduce it by a certain amount. If you’ve calculated your carbon footprint, you might think about reducing this by a percentage each year. You’ll want to set a process for how you’ll continue to track these over time, what steps you’re taking to reduce each resource, and record these for later reference.
Investors in the Environment
The Investors in the Environment framework supports you to set targets and build these into a comprehensive environmental management system. It includes an external audit to assess how effective your environmental management system is, and provides accreditation which you can share with stakeholders. Our partners, Genee, will work with you and support you through this process. Let us know if this interests you!
Investors in the Environment
The Investors in the Environment framework supports you to set targets and build these into a comprehensive environmental management system. It includes an external audit to assess how effective your environmental management system is, and provides accreditation which you can share with stakeholders. Our partners, Genee, will work with you and support you through this process. Let us know if this interests you!
Investors in the Environment
The Investors in the Environment framework supports you to set targets and build these into a comprehensive environmental management system. It includes an external audit to assess how effective your environmental management system is, and provides accreditation which you can share with stakeholders. Our partners, Genee, will work with you and support you through this process. Let us know if this interests you!
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