Job description for an Environmental Champion
Recently a client asked us if we knew of a job description available anywhere for an Environmental Champion. We know that appointing Environmental Champions is a popular approach to promoting sustainability issues, engaging other members of staff and identifying environmental issues and opportunities throughout an organisation. In our experience these type of green groups work best as part of, and not a substitute for, an effective, organisation-wide environmental strategy. Ideally, appropriate elements of environmental objectives should be in everyone’s job description as it typically affects everyone in the organisation.
Anyway, whilst we are not aware of any off-the-shelf JDs, it did get us thinking. The ideal is to create a group of champions that are empowered to really drive environmental improvements within their organisation. Here are some responsibilities we came up with:
- To collate primary data from their respective departments to allow annual environmental assessment and reporting – e.g. in facilities this will be utility bills, but other issues and departments will have different primary data
- To become educated on environmental issues related to their respective directorate, such that they can authoritatively explain them to their work colleagues [why not sign up to our newsletter? 😊][1]
- Identify specific actions in their department that will lead to environmental improvements – this is especially useful when reviewing draft corporate strategies and allows employees to co-create an effective strategy
- Be familiar with the corporate environmental, social and governance strategy and be the point of contact to signpost colleagues to the parts that relate to their directorate
- Keep up to date with new environmental policies that will affect their work
- Prepare environmental content for the organisation’s “green pages” or newsletter (including on new environmental policies and case studies)
- Identify actions that reduce environmental impacts and also reduce costs and/or increase income
- Identify ways that environmental improvement works can be represented in all staff job descriptions and annual objectives so that environmental improvement becomes part of everyone’s job (i.e. not just the champions)
- Identify third parties who can help make improvements
- Can report direct to the board environmental strategy sponsor if there are serious contraventions of the organisations environmental strategy
What do you think? Have you successfully implemented environmental improvements utilising or as an Environmental Champion? You can add comments on our Linked In post.
If you would like help to identify opportunities to improve your environmental performance then please be in touch.
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Image credit: Fauzan Saari