Frequently Asked Questions
Why is behaviour change important?
Green Impact aims to target key behaviours to help reduce the overall emissions of staff, students and their communities. We shouldn’t rely only on technology, policy and regulations to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions; research has shown that changing lifestyles could reduce as much as 30% of carbon emissions, as well as reducing other negative environmental impacts.
Why is NUS delivering Green Impact?
Green Impact forms part of our wider strategy to support students’ unions by providing them with the resources to help them to green their own operations, their institutions and the wider community.
With all our environmental programmes we seek to generate sustainable income for students’ unions by funding them to get involved in local delivery of our central projects.
Our environmental programmes are also committed to providing volunteering opportunities for students that will help with their employability, especially through skills that support the transition to a low carbon economy. For further information on our strategy, visit www.nus.org.uk/greener.
What are the benefits of Green Impact?
Cost savings and environmental improvement
• It generates cash savings in terms of utilities, increased recycling, reduced travel, savings through sustainable procurement and can also help with procurement discipline (preventing staff from buying just any old copier paper, etc.).
• It helps to meet carbon targets, many of which are achieved through behaviour change, which are traditionally difficult to tackle. We know from our survey work for Degrees Cooler that Green Impact helped change target behaviours with swings of up to 15%
• It covers environmental legislation and can help ensure compliance with WEEE and other regulations.
Student skills and development
• Students can volunteer as auditors or project assistants, or to help drive the programme at their students’ union.
• Students build strong sustainability skills, the ability to gather experience in working in professional environments, and build exciting CV’s to increase their employability.
Staff engagement
• Green Impact provides a mechanism for finding, engaging and empowering environmental champions bottom-up, adding value to existing champion schemes;
• It enables champions to take targeted practical action through the framework, in so doing tackling common bad practices;
• It is a tried and tested way of getting staff to buy into to top-down environmental targets and policies;
• It gives champions a bespoke function and role. This helps create a champion identity;
• It creates a collective momentum of positive action amongst staff that can be self perpetuating;
• Through the annual cycle of the programme, and the function of adding criteria, it allows momentum to be gained and sustained, meaning long term engagement;
• It helps with team building and creating a positive ethos on the workplace;
• It helps build a better working relationship between the institution and Students’ Union.
External
• Demonstrates your commitment to engaging your staff and/or studnets ion driving sustianbaility at your organization
• Links you to other organisations creating positive impacts and allows you to share good practice and enable wider reaching impacts to be realized.
• Contributes towards Green League criteria on staff engagement;
• Helps cover behaviour change in your Carbon Management Plan;
• It is a vehicle for positive local media stories.
Read our 2011/12 Portfolio to find out more about the benefits of Green Impact in more detail.
How do teams get accredited?
There is flexibility around exactly how different levels can be awarded. NUS advises each organisation on how best to award levels of achievement for their own environments, aimed at encouraging new teams to be able to take small steps to gain recognition, whilst pushing high achievers to innovate and drive change at their orgainsation.
Traditionally, teams complete a list of criteria to gain bronze, a further list of slightly more advanced actions to gain silver, and then score the highest from a list of additional bonus criteria to gain a gold award. For teams struggling to get started, we always award a Working Towards bronze award, to make sure we are providing encouragement to those eager to get further. Some institutions now taking part for the third or fourth year have devised further award levels so as to reward several high scoring teams and continue to push them further through adding additional wider reaching projects or tasks.
Are there further awards to encourage innovation and excellence?
The criteria within the workbook were designed to be applicable to as many departments as possible, so focus on areas such as heating, lighting and travel. However we recognise that many departments have significant environmental impacts outside of the criteria which they are addressing. Each year we choose a number of special awards to recognise the important innovative work departments are implementing to improve their environmental performance, reduce their energy consumption and to celebrate those individuals who are driving those changes. The winners of these categories locally are be entered into the national Green Impact Special Awards competition which are announced each summer. You can read more about the special awards for Students’ Unions here and for Universities and Colleges here.
Is my institution taking part?
Check out the Green Impact Participants link to see what’s going on at your organisation.
How can I get involved?
Check out which projects are taking place at your institution here.
Students’ unions can register for Green Impact from the 14th July. Please contact for more details.
Green Impact is open to any university or college with an NUS affiliated students’ union. It is ideal to have signed up before November in the academic year in which the institution is planning to take part. View the Rate Card for this year, and , Green Impact programme manager if you would like more information or to sign up.
We can also offer the Green Impact model to any off-campus organisation. We have now successfully run the programme in 72 off-campus organisations including hospitals, local governments, national government departments, charities and private-sector organisations. The off-campus ratecard contains further information although it’s always advised to contact , communities programme manager, to discuss exactly how we would run the programme and for what fees.
My union’s involved in Green Impact Students’ Unions – is this the same thing as Green Impact Universities and Colleges?
Green Impact Universities and Colleges based upon the highly successful Green Impact Students’ Unions (formerly the Sound Impact Awards). Although the scheme is based on the same model they are two autonomous programmes – one aimed at helping students’ unions improve their environmental performance and the other aimed at university staff and students. Students’ unions can participate in Green Impact Universities and Colleges if they wish, competing with other departments and teams from within their university, but this shouldn’t replace the tailored Green Impact Students’ Unions programme which is much more well suited to their activities. You can see if your students’ union is involved in either programme on our Green Impact Participants page.
I am a student. How can I get involved?
If you’re a student you can lobby your department to get involved, join their green team or train as an environmental auditor to improve your CV. Check out our student volunteering pages to see what you can do, or contact your local students’ union, institution or talk to us to find out more.
How much work is involved in Green Impact?
How much time you put into Green Impact is completely at your discretion – the whole process is voluntary. NUS provide support and resources and through our Green Impact project team who provide face-to-face support for each of the universities involved. You can work at your own pace and we encourage people to form teams rather than tackle the workbook individually to ensure no great burden is passed onto any one person.
All of the criteria in the Bronze category have been designed to enable implementation within 6 weeks assuming the work is being done part time by a small team. Anyone can get involved!
Who can help me with completing the workbook?
Anyone within a Green Impact team can support you to complete the workbook and we would encourage you to get as many people involved as possible. If your colleagues also want access to the workbook, just get them to register, choosing your team from the drop-down menu so they can see the same comments as you. If you have any problems, particularly resource based, please get in touch with your local Green Impact lead. If you have a wider problem, your appointed NUS Green Impact project officer will be happy to help.
Who should I have on my team?
You will find it easier and more fun to have a number of people on the team, preferably with a mix of skills. You can then either tackle each question as a team effort or you can allocate questions to particular team members. Teams can be made up of a department, a whole or part of a building, or simply a group in the same area that would like to take on the challenge!
You may find it helpful to bring the following onto the team:
- Staff and student Green Champions
- Departmental Administrator
- Estates Liaison Contact
- Laboratory Manager
- Colleagues
- Students
