World Environment Day

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of World Environment Day, an initiative from the United Nations to ‘encourage worldwide awareness and action for the environment’. Many businesses today are navigating how to be better when it comes to their environmental impact. From B Corp, to implementing ISO standards, to carbon offsetting, it’s great to see the world of business embrace the needs of the planet.

Here’s why OMS want to talk to you about today.

It’s because we champion the use of training and systemisation within businesses to make positive changes to operating sustainably. From small tweaks to major changes OMS have supported a range of sectors in considering their environmental impact and have done it ourselves too.

Rigorous systems

OMS have worked with manufacturers across the country to embed ISO 14001 which is a rigorous environmental management system designed to make an organisation more environmentally friendly, reduce waste and improve elements within your business that are having negative impacts.

This internationally recognised standard is suitable for all types of sectors and organisation sizes, it’s there to assess things like resource usage, the waste produced and to control the impact of your activities.

Any business that wants to improve their environmental credentials can join the other 360,000 across the globe who’ve been issued with this certification.

You won’t just be looking at things like the pollutants your business might need to reduce, or your use of natural resources you’ll also have to demonstrate your behaviour in your local community and operating environment.

It’s THE accreditation to chase if you truly want to become more sustainable in your operations simply because of the rigorousness in your assessment to gain and more importantly keep this ISO standard.

Our consultants have worked with multiple businesses doing a range of operational activities to gain this accreditation and we truly see a change to things like waste management, selection of suppliers, usage of materials and investigation into sustainable fuels where an investment is often made in things like solar or wind energy.

Awareness from people

OMS also provides a range of courses, such as the NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management, CITB SEATS and  bespoke Environmental Awareness courses that can be tailored specifically to your organisation. These courses help organisations to educate their team members (who often then educate the wider team after this training in our experience) and make a positive impact within the business.

Understanding the basic concepts of environmental management means more educated decisions can be made as to the critical things within your company that might need addressing for a more sustainable way of working.

Often during our training courses where people from a range of business types come together in our classrooms we see ideas shared, concerns raised and addresses as a cohort of delegates with different perspectives but all with the drive to provide really positive impact on the environment.

People make a difference, seeing training deliver a more confident person ready to tackle the elements within their organisation that need addressing to make a difference is something the OMS team never tire of.

When it comes to Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) this framework enables you to evaluate HOW you are operating where the sustainability is extended from simply the environment (which ties in nicely with ISO 14001) however your report must contain your approach to pollution reduction, stewardship of natural resources, indirect and direct greenhouse gas emissions management, virgin or recycled material for product processing usage, your carbon footprint and how you address climate risks. If ESG is still a relatively new term and you don’t understand whether it’s an area to consider our consultants can help with the conversation and you might like to read the Deloitte overview here.

On this World Environment Day OMS recommits to continually reviewing our own impact and making the tweaks we need to make so that in another 50 years there’s more of us committed to operating responsibly for our planet.