Key considerations
- What are 'sustainability skills'?
- Which/how many staff should we aim to equip with sustainabiity skills?
- What sustainability courses are available?
1. What are 'sustainability skills'?
At a basic level, sustainability skills come from having a good understanding of the subject, its key requirements and how it relates to your particular organisation and your own day-to-day work. To explore ways to raise awareness and understanding of sustainability, please explore the Culture & behaviours module.
For sustainability professionals, sustainability skills involve being able to manage the interaction between sustainability and other organisational functions and priorities, and integrating sustainable considerations in such a way that they become part of an organisation's work at a strategic, as well as an operational, level rather than being viewed as an ‘add-on’.
A list of characteristics for leadership in sustainability is being developed by Forum for the Future.
A briefing paper on sustainability and human resources from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry discusses the skills that people require to integrate sustainability into their work in terms of a competency map (see page 13).
The CSR Academy, housed by Business in the Community, has also developed a CSR Competency Framework to help organisations integrate CSR learning.
2. Which/how many staff should we aim to equip with sustainabiity skills?
All staff should be equipped with the basic skills needed to ensure that sustainability is embedded within an organisation. Sustainability should be seen as an integral part of every aspect of an organisation rather than as a stand-alone function carried out by a small team of people. Many organisations are now including a section on sustainability in their induction courses which are attended by all new staff. While this will necessarily be brief, it does give an opportunity to emphasise the key actions for the organisation in relation to sustainability and will get staff to start thinking about how sustainability relates to their role.
The Welsh Assembly Government has developed a short “Greening Operations” course which all operational staff were required to attend, aimed at promoting sustainability skills. This is supported by an Environmental Awareness Training Booklet distributed to all staff.
It is also important to ensure that sustainability professionals within your organisation receive ongoing training and education. Sustainability is a fast-evolving field, and professionals should regularly be given the opportunity to update and further their skills.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry have produced briefing papers on sustainable development for human resource and marketing professionals.
3. What sustainability courses are available?
There are a wide range of sustainability courses available from a growing number of providers catering for all levels of sustainability knowledge. The providers mentioned below are those that have been identified during the course of developing this website, but there are many more available, and new courses are being developed all the time. If you know of any others that you think should be included, please let us know.
There are a number of providers who run general sustainability courses. These include, for example, the National School of Government’s Sustainable Development in Government course.
In addition, an e-learning tutorial (Chronos) on the business case for sustainability, produced by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and University of Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI), is available to purchase.
For sustainability professionals, courses include the following.
- A Masters course in Leadership for Sustainable Development offered by Forum for the Future.
- Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business offered by CPI in association with Forum for the Future.
- Postgraduate Certificate in Cross-sector Partnership offered by CPI in association with International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF).
- The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment offers a range of professional sustainability qualifications.
- For environmental professionals, the Society for the Environment (SocEnv) held a workshop in November 2006 about what sustainability really means for the professional. The workshop report and supporting materials can be accessed here.
- There are a number of courses offered looking at sustainability in relation to specific organisational functions, including the following.
- Short executive programmes: Climate Leadership Programme offered by CPI and the Climate Group and the Business & Poverty Leadership Programme offered by the CPI.
- The Prince of Wales’s Business & the Environment Programme promotes learning for senior officials and executives by bringing leaders from across the world together in a unique forum to think, challenge and debate sustainability issues.
- The National School of Government courses on 'Giving Sustainability a Hard Edge - Performance and Reporting' and 'Buying a Better Future - Purchasing as if the Planet Mattered'.
- The Education for Sustainable Development toolkit, which includes training materials for educators.
Another useful source of information about courses is the Financing Local Futures website, which includes a list of starting points for sustainability training for local authority staff, including the Academy for Sustainable Communities, Cipfa, IdEA, Value Wales and the National School of Government.
The MOD Specialist Training School at RAF Halton offers a number of courses aimed at individuals requiring both general and specialist training, several of which contribute towards IEMA membership. Many of these courses are available, at a cost, to other organisations.
Are there key considerations we haven’t included? If so, please let us know.