EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Community Based and Voluntary Sector Green Guide

Community Based and Voluntary Sector Green Guide

Introduction

This briefing was prepared as part of a Government Office for London seminar. It aims to provide a quick and easy reference for voluntary and community sector organisations on resources they can use to help put sustainable development into practice.

Problem

The briefing aims to provide a quick and easy reference for voluntary and community sector organisations on resources they can use to help put sustainable development into practice. This briefing should be read in conjunction with the Community Action 2020 leaflet and background information at www.sustainable-development.gov.uk

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a tool which allows organisations to assess and manage their environmental impacts in a structured and integrated way. It is a cyclical process where an organisation first commits to an environmental policy, establishes environmental targets and objectives and then implements a plan of action to achieve these.

Description

Each section of the briefing contains signposting for London-based organisations to useful information such as contact details for suppliers, links to support organisations and on-line guidance, as well as overviews on some of the issues to be considered when thinking about environmental management and sustainable development.

The briefing covers:

office recycling,
purchasing,
energy,
catering,
transport and
basic environmental management systems.

It provides links to web-based resources and identifies the services other agencies provide. It also contains procurement guides and eco-labelling symbols.

Approach

Office Recycling:

setting up an office recycling scheme,
service providers and links to web based information resources.

Purchasing:

why purchasing is important to environmental management,
criteria to consider when making new purchases,
eco-labeling,
sustainable procurement guidance,
ethical and environmental products on the web.

Energy:

Free advice service and online resources.

Catering:

Questions you should ask,
food assurance schemes,
list of London-based caterers.

Transport:

London-based courier and taxi services,
green transport plans and
other web links.

Basic Environmental Management Systems (EMS):

what is an EMS,
accreditation schemes,
setting up a basic EMS,
writing an environmental policy,
setting targets and communication.

Results

The result of this briefing is to better enable voluntary and community sector organisations to meet the challenges of sustainable development and environmental management.

It provides suggestions for:

writing an environmental policy,
contacts for food assurance schemes,
energy advice services,
web resources,
eco labelling and
products for ethical and green consumers.

It provides checklists for organisations to consider when determining the potential impact of goods and services and how to minimise these through purchasing decisions.

Beneficiaries

Voluntary and community sector organisations, the environment

Resources used

Web resources, telephone helplines.

Contact info

London Sustainability Exchange
info@lsx.org.uk

Project start date

Links

Visit the London Sustainability Exchange website

Download the 'Community Based and Voluntary Sector Green Guide' Report (PDF, Eng, 950 KB)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Transport and infrastructure

Keywords

Public transport