IGDC wins Bronze at the Green Impact Awards 2020

Green Impact is run as part of the University's Carbon Management Plan by the National Union of Students (NUS) on the University’s behalf, awarding an environmental accreditation for green habits in the workplace.

In 2019/2020, IGDC began work towards the first level of the Green Impact programme and aimed to achieve Bronze accreditation.  IGDC Administrator Tara Mundy led the work as our Green Impact representative, despite the lockdown and new working-from-home arrangements, and earning the Bronze Award is a fantastic achievement for us.

The Bronze Award is one of many steps that we are taking to ensure that we as a Centre are responding as well as we can to the unfolding climate crisis. IGDC has also developed an Environmental Strategy to guide the sustainability of our working practices and policies as a Centre. 

The Green Impact Auditor recognised our commitment to sustainability, noting:

"I was very impressed by the overall passion that [IGDC] has for sustainability. The Environmental Strategy in particular shows how thorough the [Centre] is in their scrutinization of both [Centre] and university actions, covering a range of both independent and Green Impact initiatives."

In our Environmental Strategy, IGDC has agreed to minimise the adverse impacts on the environment of our operations by committing to the following aims:

1. Minimise the environmental impact of our research activities
2. Emphasise the critical importance of sustainability in the content and practice of our learning and teaching
3. Include ethical and environmental issues in our events and purchasing decisions
4. Ensure our office operates in an environmentally-sensitive way 
5. Monitor and evaluate our progress on sustainability in all our areas of activity 

IGDC is also playing a leading role in sustainability strategy development at University level.  Piran White (IGDC Co-Director) is Deputy Chair for the University Sustainability Strategy Steering Group, which was set up in November 2019 to provide strategic leadership of the development, implementation and delivery of the University Sustainability Strategy. Jean Grugel (IGDC Director) and Henrice Altink (IGDC Co-Director) are also members of this Group. Piran White has worked alongside colleagues in the Department of Estates and Campus Services to develop the University’s Sustainability Strategy. As Co-Chair of the Working Group for Research and Enterprise, he is leading the development and implementation of a new Strategy for Sustainability Research at the University of York. The Working Group will also be developing guidance for sustainable research practices at the University. 

 This year University of York’s Green Impact programme has involved:

• 1,699 actions completed, 1,172 as a direct result of Green Impact
• 470 tonnes CO2 potential saving (based on just 10 of the 200+ actions in the workbook)
• £155,562 potential savings
• 28 teams submitting (some achieving multiple awards), with 37 teams taking part over the year in some way
• 217 Green Impact team members, reaching 4,000 staff and students
• 60 students widening their University experience through training and development roles as auditors and project assistants

lGDC will be working in 2020/2021 on advancing from Bronze to hopefully achieving the Silver Award.