Business & sustainability

 
Title of the Assignment is, Business & sustainability
The learning outcomes that are assessed by this coursework are:
This Assessment will address the following outcomes:
1. Research the issue of sustainability in business
2. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the issues associated with sustainability and show how this can be assessed by a company.
3. Consider the impact of sustainability on a company.

Assignment Brief
As a Consultant, you have been asked to help a company with understanding how they can assess their ongoing impact on the environment. The company are keen to improve their sustainable image and hope this will be reflected in increased sales along with attracting more customers.
In order to help them you have been asked to look at the following topics and give them some guidance on what is involved:
1. What is the definition of sustainability when viewed from an industry stance?
• What is sustainability
• What are the ‘Pillars’ and what do they each mean
• Use a diagram to illustrate your answer
• Explain why sustainability is important to industry
2. Identify the KEY Steps you would need to undertake when conducting your baseline sustainability audit and the areas for consideration.
• Briefly explain why a baseline audit is required.
• Clearly identify the various resources that should be covered in your audit
• Consider both internal and external resources.
• Outline what actions are required by each of your chosen steps
• Produce a flow diagram which can be used as a route map of the process for others to follow.

3. For each resource identified, highlight what information is required to assess the quantity used, potential emissions and costs.
• Location of information if available
• How you would obtain some data if none was readily available
i. Specific sections of the company
ii. Specific machines or processes

4. Explain how you would analyse the data obtained during the audit to highlight areas of opportunity for improvement.
• Outline potential types of data
• Briefly explain the methods you would use to show which areas could be targeted for improvement.
• Use some simple examples of data analysis to show your chosen techniques

5. Develop a plan for the company which would help them understand the sequence of performing a sustainability audit and implementing recommendations.
• Think about the sequence of doing an audit from the company viewpoint
• Produce a Gantt chart or project plan to help visualise how the process may be undertaken.
• Identify the tasks and associated times. An estimate is sufficient to illustrate your thinking.