We recognise that our activities affect the environment and are committed to minimising our impact by improving our environmental performance. We will do this by setting and reviewing targets as outlined in the British Council’s Environmental Framework Tool (EFT).
Continually improving our environmental performance is an essential component of fulfilling our organisation’s vision, purpose and values. We will do this by:
- reviewing and understanding the environmental impact arising from our activities
- ensuring we understand and comply with all relevant environmental legislation and with any other environmental requirements or commitments
- setting environmental objectives for our activities which have the most significant impact
- ensuring our policy is understood, implemented and maintained by all staff and is supported by suitable education and training
- communicating our aspirations and progress in reducing our environmental impact to interested parties, including suppliers, local authorities, stakeholders and project partners and taking account of the goals and aspirations of those organisations
- planning our projects in a manner which takes account of their environmental impact, seeking to reduce such effects as much as possible
- periodically reviewing our policy to take account of changes in the British Council, legislation, or other internal and external factors.
Our current focus is to:
- minimise the use of materials, energy and water in our premises
- minimise the generation of waste and implement re-use or recycling initiatives wherever possible
- measure the carbon impact of our operation and identify and implement means of reducing our carbon footprint
- incorporate environmental considerations into procurement decisions and use our influence with suppliers and contractors to deliver more sustainable outcome
- monitor the environmental impact of our business travel and prioritise the use of environmentally friendly transport
- reduce our travel needs by encouraging alternative mechanisms to deliver our work effectively e.g. greater use of video- or tele-conferencing
- better understand how we can integrate environmental considerations into project design and management
- use our skills and strengths as an organisation to promote key sustainability messages locally, e.g. by engaging with the climate change agenda.
Through our global environmental policy we are also working to strengthen networks and relationships among decision makers, influencers and future leaders in order to tackle climate change worldwide.