Unit 1 Course Notes

course notes2
You may have heard of ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems or ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems. These, along with our new ISO 20121 standard require an organisation to put in the framework, steps, procedures and processes that have been recognised as necessary to ensuring through and successful identification and management of sustainability issues as they apply to our industry and its activities.
Rather than a checklist or action plan, or simply counting greenhouse gas emissions, by implementing the standard an organisation is putting procedures and processes in place, which are well documented, giving the organisation the framework it needs to do everything from identifying stakeholders, to engaging staff, identifying issues and reviewing performance.
By having a management system in place, the steps to great sustainability management for an organisation is not reliant on one staff member’s personal knowledge – which has the risk of departing when that staff member leaves!
Documenting the steps, procedures and processes offers a rule book as it were, on what the organisation stands for, what it wishes to achieve in terms of its contribution to sustainable development and the tools it will use to ensure success.
Rather than single issue or reactive management of sustainability issues, by putting a system in place the procedures and processes will facilitate comprehensive issues identification, stakeholder engagement and supply chain management.
A management system is a set of interrelated or interacting elements of an organization to establish policies and objectives, and processes to achieve those objectives.
It is not:

  • Only about certification
  • Judging performance against indicators
  • Calculating the carbon footprint of an event
  • Trying to be carbon neutral or offsetting.

 

<<< Back to Course Unit


Leave a Reply