Corporate environmental sustainability update
By Natasha Chetina
Our latest blog post is from our Sustainability Manager, who provides an update on our corporate environmental sustainability journey.
As outlined in our Together for Nature strategy, JNCC’s vision is of 'thriving nature for a sustainable future'. Every day, our staff and partners take steps to help meet this vision through the plethora of work that we deliver. However, we must not forget that the way that we deliver this work matters too. It is important for JNCC to monitor our internal operations and make sure that they align with our vision. Only by doing this can we truly be role models for sustainability.
Developing our environmental management system
Over the last year, we have been establishing and maturing our environmental management system (EMS). An EMS is a framework designed to monitor, control, and continuously improve environmental performance. To develop our EMS, we first completed some organisational research, including identifying our environmental aspects and impacts, environmental compliance obligations, and stakeholders of our environmental performance. This helped us to understand our current operating landscape and how what we do interacts with the environment.
From this, we were able to consider the initial objectives for our EMS. Our current focus is on reducing emissions from business travel, reducing the environmental impact of our electrical and electronic equipment lifecycle, and increasing the proportion of goods and services procured that have a minimal environmental impact across their lifecycle. Meeting these objectives is noted in our refreshed Environmental Policy, where we outline our commitment to conducting our day-to-day business operations in a way that supports our vision and protects the environment.
Another vital aspect of delivering a successful EMS was ensuring that all staff are aware of it through training and communication and encouraged to engage. This can be through reporting environmental successes and issues, and making sure that these are effectively logged and acted upon as necessary as part of a continual improvement process.
ISO 14001 certified
We are delighted that JNCC’s EMS has also been #ISO 14001 certified.
Image 1: Our environmental management system is ISO 14001 certified.
ISO 14001 is the international standard for EMSs. It helps organisations to control their environmental aspects, reduce impacts and ensure legal compliance.
Our EMS will be externally audited every year to make sure that we remain in scope of ISO 14001 and demonstrate continual improvement in our environmental management.
Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation
In other news, back in April, we wrote about how carbon literacy training is supporting our journey to net zero. Carbon Literacy is defined as "an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis". It involves a day’s worth of learning and action on climate change.
Over 15 staff, including four members of our Executive Leadership Team, are now certified carbon literate, and we are chuffed to say that because of this, JNCC is now officially a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation!
Image 2: We have a new shiny addition to our 'trophy cabinet' – our Bronze Carbon Literate award.
Not only does this mean we get a shiny new trophy for our cabinet, but we were invited to attend the 2024 Carbon Literate Organisation Awards, held in Manchester in June. it was great to see JNCC achieve the Bronze level alongside a diverse mix of other organisations, from the British Antarctic Survey to Transport for London.
Image 3: Watching online JNCC's section at the 2024 Carbon Literate Organisation Awards.
Carbon Literacy is an essential skill; it is the foundational knowledge, and a catalyst to empowering people to act on climate. It is also only the first step. The actions taken and pledged by learners as part of their Carbon Literacy training have an immediate impact within their organisation, however it is the maintenance of these and further actions, supported by Carbon Literate organisational culture, that reaps the greatest rewards for both participants and their organisations.
We are excited to see more staff become Carbon Literate in the coming months and would like to thank our sponsors, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), for giving us the opportunity to do this training.