Green Keele

Overview of the Scheme and University Drivers

Keele has the following Strategic Aim: To develop an environmentally aware and sustainable outward-facing campus community, with the following objectives:

• To provide models of innovation and good practice in environmental sustainability through all our activities.
• To unlock the potential of the University Estate so that it underpins the attainment of our vision.
• To share and provide the University’s expertise in environment and sustainability to local, regional, national and international communities and partners.

In order to achieve this, Keele wants to support staff to become advocates and change agents of good environmental practice within the workplace. The Green Impact scheme, is great way to facilitate this.

The Scheme, which has been running for 5 years and has 50 participant HE and FE institutions, is currently being rolled out to other organisation such as the NHS and local government. Green Impact provides a national best practice framework for measuring and monitoring environmental impact in the workplace. A formalised and flexible staff environmental engagement scheme, Green Impact will replace the University’s Environmental Champions Network, which has been managed on a part-time basis by the Estates and Development Directorate for the past 5 years.

A Keele-specific online workbook has been created though stakeholder engagement. Staff teams around the institution will complet an online workbook to gain Bronze, Silver and Gold accreditation for a building/department.  The Scheme is flexible in that evaluation teams can be formed within a building on a cross-department basis, or by individual Schools or Directorates.  Evaluation teams can also have student members.

Bronze accreditation covers areas that should be easily achievable, and require limited staff time. Silver accreditation requires more time, and Gold accreditation requires more effort on behalf of the whole building/department in embedding environmental change.

The Scheme is a points-based system. The team with the most points will receive the University Gold accreditation. There are also additional awards for individuals, and teams.

The workbook covers the following areas of sustainability:

• Energy reduction
• Waste and Recycling
• Procurement
• Water
• Transport
• Strategy

Project Cycle

A Keele launch event for the Scheme has been scheduled for the 17^th October 2013. Here teams meet, find out more about the scheme and how it works, and have their first Green Impact team meeting.

The workbook is reviewed and completed by these individual teams around the institution between October and March.

Workbooks are then submitted to the central institutional co-ordinator (Philippa Calver, Sustainability Project Officer) and Keele students are trained as auditors and visit buildings and review submissions, to promote student-staff engagement.

A celebration event is held in April, and an evaluation on the scheme follows, ready for a programme re-launch in October 2014 for a second year of the programme.

Example Criteria

The following criteria are examples from the Keele specific online workbook. There are around 20 criteria in bronze and silver to be completed, and additional criteria in the bonus points section.

‌Below is an example from University of East Anglia about how the online workbook looks. There is a further information tab for each criteria to show how you may go about making this change.

FAQ's for Staff

What is a team?

A Green Impact team is a group of staff, academic, support staff and managers, who sign up to be part of the scheme, within a geographically distinct building. This self-selecting team have responsibility for the competition of the online workbook for the whole building. The team can be anything from one person, to a larger group. Larger groups have the benefit of having more hands on deck, but one passionate individual can also create drastic changes.

In buildings with large numbers of people, it is suggested that there are multiple teams with set remits, e.g. The Chancellors Building will split into three; A, B and C.

In some cases, where there are different directorates or schools occupying a building, it is possible to divide, for example, in Tawney building, Planning and Academic Administration may want a separate team from Procurement and Finance.

Don’t worry if your only one person in a team, you may be able to get others to help through the project, and the Keele co-ordinator will provide additional support when needed, and can attend the monthly meetings.

It is normal for a student to be assigned to each team. Students are there to support teams, bringing passion, positivity, and new ideas.  They undertake this role on a voluntary basis, in order to develop their professional skills, and work experience around environmental behaviour change. In some institutions, students act as the chair person, and organise meetings, removing this role from a staff member. You may consider doing this if your student seems very keen, and very organised.

We try and assign students to the building they most closely associate themselves with, but this is not always possible, and you may find you have a student from a different part of the institution. For directorate teams, we aim to find students who are interested in the area of work in which you undertake for the institution.

If your team would prefer not to have a student as an extra pair of hands, this is also completely acceptable. Just let us know at your earliest convenience.

How much time will this take, and can I do this within my working day?

Firstly, there is a launch event that we would be delighted if you could attend. This session will go over how to use the workbook, and lead on to your first Green Impact meeting as a team. As this is from 12.00 – 2.15, this will cover a lunch break, and form part of your working day.

After this, over the 5 months of the project cycle (between October and March), it is recommended that each team meet for 1 hour per month for a formal meeting within your working day.  This is flexible dependent on individual’s diaries and workloads, and desire to get bronze, silver and gold accreditation. If your team are very short on time, you may only decide to have a single meeting at the start of the project cycle, and another at the end to compile prior to submission.

In other institutions, on average, individuals spend around 2 hours undertaking changes within their building/ directorate independently of the 1 hour monthly meeting.

The process ends with an awards event, to celebrate for a few hours with all the Green Impact teams in mid-April.

What support can I expect to receive?

Philippa Calver, Sustainability Project Officer, is managing this projected on a P/T basis as a member of the Estates and Development Directorate.

Her role is to ensure you understand the Green Impact Process, have the skills in order to implement it, the resources required, and feel fully supported through the process,

In the first instance, please e-mail: estates.environment@keele.ac.uk with any questions, help needed, or even a bit of moral support.

Telephone number: 01782 733620
Or pop into the weekly drop in times, 10am – 12pm on Tuesdays, William Emes Building Reception.

What are audits?

The NUS is incredibly keen to ensure that every opportunity is provided for students to develop their professional skills, and learning through the scheme.

In addition to having the option of having a student as an extra pair of hands in your team, there is a second opportunity for students to gain work experience through acting as an auditor.

After you have submitted your online workbook in March, student auditors get external training, and are provided with a team’s workbook and an audit time slot. In this time they compare what is stated in the work book and what they see. You can take this opportunity to share with them all the beneficial changes you have made.

If there are any discrepancies, the Keele Green Impact co-ordinator will highlight these and support will be given to make the relevant changes.

How can I find out which other buildings have Green Impact teams and contact them?

For general questions to all Keele Green Impact teams, please log on to the Keele Forums page. Here you will see questions or queries from other teams.

To contact individuals, we have created a Google docs list. Please click on here to see the Green impact contacts in the different buildings. Please do not send group messages. If you do have something urgent to go out to the group, that is not suitable for the message board, please send to estates.environment@keele.ac.uk to be forwarded.

Please note, a Keele log on is required to open this page.

Will my department automatically get a bronze certificate?

No, in order to get the bronze certificate for the building/ directorate, you will need to have completed all of the bronze criteria.

If you take part but do not complete the bronze criteria, you department will receive a ‘working-towards’ certificate. Putting this up may mean you get more support and more hands on deck next year to boost you up to Bronze, or even Silver in the next project cycle.

This sounds a bit complicated, where is the fun?

The concept of Green Impact is simple, you group together with people around you, tick off what you already do in the worksheet, then think creatively about how to tackle criteria that you haven’t done.

It can be as fun and creative as you make it. How about making comical signs for light switching off reminders? How about running a campaign promoting the use of stairs rather than lift, but getting staff to tick off how many times they have walked up the stairs with a competition to walk the height of Everest?

This is your opportunity to try different ways to engage those around you, with the institutions support behind you.

If you are in need of some inspiration, contact Philippa Calver at any time.

One of the criteria doesn’t work for my building, what do I do?

Time has been spent on the workbook to ensure this will not often be the case; however, there is always an n/a option for each criteria. If you do use this, you will have to state the reasons why this is not applicable.

How do I find out more information?

The best thing to do is attend the launch event on the 17^th October from 12.00 – 2.15pm in the Student Union Ball Room hosted by Professor Pat Bailey, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Environment and Sustainability.

Click here to register your interest in attending the launch event

Speakers:

• Professor Pat Bailey, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Environment and Sustainability – Welcome
• Vice-Chancellor Professor Nick Foskett - Official Launch
• Trevor Shields, Environmental Advisor, University of Birmingham – The impact the scheme can have, and top tips on overcoming barriers
• Sophia Perkins, Green Impact Liaison, National Union of Students– How to use the online workbook

This session will also give you a chance to have your first Green Impact meeting with your team with lunch provided.

If you have any other questions, or would like to meet someone in person to find out more, please e-mail estates.environment@keele.ac.uk