The British Council is committed to meeting UK and international standards for managing our environmental impact. We recognise the impact of our business operations and activities on the environment. We also recognise the threat of climate change to prosperity, social justice and quality of life. We are therefore committed to managing and minimising our environmental impact.
We will do this by
- Reviewing and understanding the environmental impacts arising from our activities
- Ensuring that we understand and comply with all relevant environmental legislation, and with any other environmental requirements or commitments
- Setting environmental objectives and targets for activities having the most significant impact
- Ensuring that our policy is understood, implemented and maintained by all our colleagues and is supported by suitable education and training
- Communicating our aspirations and progress in reducing our environmental impact to interested parties, including suppliers, local authorities and project partners and taking account of the goals and aspirations of those organisations
- Planning our projects in a manner which takes account of their environmental impact, seeking to reduce such effects as much as possible
- Periodically reviewing our policy to take account of changes in the British Council, legislation, government targets or other internal and external factors
Our focus will be to
- Minimise the use of materials, energy and water in our premises
- Minimise the generation of waste and implement re-use or recycling initiatives wherever possible
- Measure the carbon impact of our operation and identify and implement means of reducing our carbon footprint
- Incorporate environmental considerations into procurement decisions and use our influence with suppliers and contractors to deliver more sustainable outcomes
- Monitor the environmental impact of our business travel and prioritise the use of environmentally friendly transport
- Reduce our travel needs by encouraging alternative mechanisms to deliver our work effectively e.g. greater use of video- or tele-conferencing
- Use our skills and strengths as an organisation to promote key sustainability messages locally, e.g. by engaging with the climate change agenda
- Introduce and promote environmental monitoring as an element of our approach to project management