Charlotte Bonner is the Chief Executive Officer of EAUC, a leading body for sustainability in the post-16 education sector in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Here, she tells us about her experiences working on the SOS-UK Green Impact Programme.
As you can read from my career story, early on in my journey I was involved in the set-up of the Green Impact Programme, run by SOS-UK. With initiatives designed for students’ unions, universities, colleges, businesses, and more, Green Impact is a programme that helps to support environmentally and socially sustainable practice.
My role was really varied. One day I’d be training student auditors, the next I’d be researching the most sustainable materials we could make awards from, the next I’d be pitching to a hospital senior leadership team about why they should sign up. It was incredibly rewarding, and I learned bucket loads – just as often from the mistakes I made as well as having to ‘learn by doing.’ I’m delighted to see the programme continues to create ripples of impact in numerous sectors and countries.
When Green Impact was in its infancy, sustainability was niche within the education sector. Some large organisations had a sustainability practitioner, some even had a small team. Now we see sustainability being recognised as a core component of quality education, and of how organisations operate.
Some sustainability teams are now 30-people strong. The shift is phenomenal and, in relative terms, incredibly rapid, although of course we know it is not fast enough to be commensurate with the urgency of the climate, biological, and social justice crises we face. Education is therefore even more important to ensure that everyone has the right skills and knowledge to bring sustainability into their role.
Formal training is a core part of Green Impact, which includes IEMA-approved auditor training delivered by experienced facilitators. This was something we added to the programme in its early days because we wanted those volunteering their time to get a quality learning and development opportunity, and recognition for the time and expertise they offered.
When education for sustainable development is delivered well it develops skills, behaviours and competencies, as well as knowledge. Our sector is also a test bed – the home of research, development, and innovation. If we can’t get it right in education, we can’t get it right in society at large.
Supporting the whole education system to embed sustainability in everything it does is incredibly rewarding, especially so when you see learners have a ‘lightbulb moment.’ This happened a lot in Green Impact and in my teaching, particularly when working with those studying subjects where sustainability content isn’t yet widespread.
As well as helping to accelerate my own career in sustainability, for over ten years, the Green Impact programme has given students the confidence to challenge their education organisations and others in their local communities to build sustainability action into their work. Students can then take the knowledge and skills that they’ve gained into their workplaces and help to embed sustainability across organisations globally.
Joanna Romanowicz, Director of Engagement at SOS-UK, adds: “When individuals are empowered to take action through programmes like Green Impact, their combined efforts can lead to really powerful impact. Since 2008, over 50,000 staff have been actively involved with Green Impact, in over 2,000 organisations, completing an incredible 600,000 sustainability actions.
“We are proud to have trained nearly 8,500 students as Green Impact auditors through a course approved by IEMA. Past team members and student volunteers regularly get in touch with us to find out how they can take the programme to their new workplace, showing how truly transformative it can be.
We are always excited to welcome new organisations to join Green Impact and invite passionate students who want to gain hands-on sustainability experience to become an auditor. Exciting auditor opportunities are available year-round!”
This is a guest blog for the Green Careers Hub, by Charlotte Bonner, EAUC. You can read Charlotte’s full career story here.
Students who participate in the Green Impact programme are entitled to an IEMA student membership discount. Find out more about this offer. SOS-UK is also an endorsement partner of the Green Careers Hub.
If you’re interested in becoming an auditor, get in touch with SOS-UK.
Image credits: 1 – Shutterstock, 2 – University of Birmingham, 3 – SOS-UK
