Green Impact is a sustainability learning and awards scheme supporting teams who want to improve their sustainability and social responsibility. It started with a student idea in 2006, and has since expanded into a successful employee engagement programme in many sectors, reaching tens of thousands of people each year.
The model has been developed based on behaviour change and engagement models and its flexible approach means it can be tailored to meet each organisation's unique needs and priorities.
Find out more on the Green Impact web pages.
Green Impact can:
Whether you’re taking your first steps into sustainability, or feel like there’s nothing left for you to do – you can make meaningful, visible progress in just one year of Green Impact, whatever your starting point.
Our online toolkit software breaks the often complex world of sustainability down into simple, manageable actions but allows for creativity, ambition and growth. We work with you to co-create your toolkit with actions which will contribute meaningfully to your sustainability strategy, reflect local targets, procedures and priorities, and fit with your culture. The toolkit will be made up of simple, engaging, and impactful actions for teams to complete, covering a wide range of sustainability themes, including energy, waste, water, biodiversity, and wellbeing.
Once the toolkit is live, teams of staff and students will track their progress and upload evidence to the toolkit – building confidence and enabling light competition to drive further positive change.
Change doesn’t just happen – we need to feel encouraged, supported and be led by example to really take on new habits and behaviours. We support organisations to deliver meaningful and timely communications and create networks across programmes to share learning.
We also develop, deliver, and support training for participants in a wide range of knowledge and skills. Our suite of workshops and IEMA-approved auditor training are delivered for staff and students by our team of experienced and passionate facilitators.
Green Impact is more than a pledging scheme. Teams are assessed on their progress to ensure they are creating meaningful, lasting change. Students are a fundamental part of the programme, as local students volunteers attend our IEMA-approved environmental auditing course, and put their skills into practice by conducting audits of your Green Impact teams. This opportunity gives them fantastic development opportunities so they can leave their education as passionate change makers. Find out more about student auditing here!
We recognise the work of teams within each organisation by supporting you to host award events to celebrate the collective achievements of teams. The student auditors use our framework to assess the award level for each of your teams. The awards celebrate and recognise the achievements of staff and students who have worked outside the parameters of their everyday roles, to create lasting change.
We run Green Impact in a number of sectors including education, healthcare, cultural heritage and local authorities. You can find out information on our specific sectors here.
If your sector isn't listed, please do get in touch. Wherever you work, Green Impact is an effective way to create sustainable change across the organisation, and an exciting way for staff to get involved in sustainability. It offers a clear framework to create and maintain engagement with a network of sustainability champions who are empowered through Green Impact to lead on sustainability in their area of work.
If you lead on sustainability within an organisation, Green Impact can support you to engage your staff and empower them to take action. Please contact us to discuss.
Wherever you work, contact us if you would like to form a Green Impact team in your place of work and make your workplace more sustainable. Green Impact team members are able to make a real difference and can develop transferable knowledge and skills by leading a Green Impact team. We will be able to tell you if there is a Green Impact programme already running in your organisation and how to get involved.
Student volunteers are fundamental to Green Impact's success! If you are a current student in the UK, you can volunteer to become a Green Impact auditor, or look out for other opportunities running at your university. Find out more about student auditing here and register your interest!
Find out more about Green Impact and how to bring this to your organisation by visiting the Green Impact website here.
What is Green Impact?
Green Impact is a United Nations award-winning programme designed to support environmentally and socially sustainable practice within organisations.
This can mean anything from communicating recycling systems, to committing to go Fairtrade; from supporting team health and well-being campaigns, to working towards carbon-neutrality! The model has been developed over ten years. Based on proven behaviour change models, its flexible approach means it can be tailored to meet each organisation’s unique needs.
By volunteering with us to audit Green Impact teams, you will help verify if they have carried out set actions to achieve their working towards, bronze, silver or gold award target.
What’s involved?
To apply, you must be a current student at a UK university. No previous experience is necessary.
As a Green Impact auditor, you will be fully trained by SOS-UK in a free IEMA-approved training course, for which you will receive a digital badge upon completion of the audits to showcase the skills you have utilised.
Following the training, you will spend some time reviewing the Green Impact toolkit submissions of staff at participating organisations and preparing questions to ask. You will then meet with the staff (online or in person), where you can ask questions and make final decisions on your audit. It's a great opportunity to view real-world implementation of sustainability in the workplace, as well as build new skills in communications, analysis and team-work.
Total commitment is between 6-10 hours, depending on how many audits you complete. This is a voluntary opportunity.
Where do I sign up?
