Making a Green Impact at Bristol University

Originally devised by Bristol University’s Sustainability team, Green Impact is a tailor-made environmental accreditation scheme based on simple practical actions. The voluntary scheme assesses departments’ progress against a set of 135 criteria covering categories such as energy, water, waste, transport and procurement. Departments opt in and out of these as they choose, helping to make auditing relatively straightforward. The more actions completed by a department the more points are scored, leading to the award of a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum standard at the end of year awards ceremony.

Now in its third year and with over 60 departments taking part, from Engineering to the Careers Service, the scheme provides a number of benefits…

At the departmental level it helps to:

• Provide a framework for greening the department
• Motivate staff and students
• Save money
• Provide a form of recognition for actions taken

At the wider organisational level it helps to:

• Raise awareness of sustainability
• Build a green communications network
• Open doors and get increased buy-in at a senior level
• Support other sustainability initiatives (e.g. Business in the Community)

Martin Wiles, Head of Sustainability, provided some further insights when he spoke at our recent network event on staff engagement. Martin’s two key take-home messages were:

• Find an interested party in each sector of your organisation to act as a champion on your behalf. This will also help you to build a strong communications network.
• Handing out awards can add a form of friendly competition that draws in those not motivated by the environmental side of things. A tiered system (e.g. Bronze, Silver and Gold) also gives people a benchmark to improve upon.

It is a measure of the scheme’s success that over the past year the University, in conjunction with the National Union of Students, has been able to roll it out across the higher education sector. There are now 35 UK universities running variations on Green Impact, including fellow local member the University of Bath. There are also plans to expand the scheme for local authorities and further education colleges.

Perhaps other organisations in the area could benefit from developing a similar scheme of their own. If you are interested in hearing more, please contact the Sustainability team at Bristol University (Email: sustainability-estates@bristol.ac.uk or Tel: 0117 928 9100).