Going for Green: how Change Agents UK achieved the highest iiE accreditation level

Change Agents UK lives and breathes sustainability. But even for a not-for-profit organisation with an environmental mission, attaining Green accreditation had its challenges.

For Change Agents UK (CAUK), a Rutland-based charity with a mission to champion sustainability, leading by example comes with the territory. They don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk, which is why they embarked on their iiE journey back in 2019.

Fast forward five years to June 2024. CAUK achieves Green-level accreditation – the highest level awarded by iiE – demonstrating their commitment to responsible environmental practices. Yet even for a charity with nearly three decades’ experience in promoting sustainability, this was no mean feat.

In going for Green, CAUK overcame big challenges and learned valuable lessons along the way, and now they want others to follow their lead.

Here’s how they did it…

All change: from upgrading a Victorian office to tracking travel in a meaningful way

Established in 1996, CAUK is a small charity with fewer than 10 full-time employees, and while some work remotely, others are based at the charity’s offices in Oakham’s Grade II-listed Victorian station building. Like all historic buildings, it’s not an ideal set-up from a sustainability point of view, but team CAUK have nevertheless striven to make changes wherever possible.

“Our old building has poor energy efficiency,” says CAUK Green Champion Courtney McGrath. “And because of its listed status, we are very limited with what we can do about that. However, we do our best with reducing our environmental impact where we can.”

Another significant hurdle faced by CAUK was changing travel habits. On top of day-to-day commuting, staff rack up miles travelling across the UK to deliver educational workshops, conduct interviews, and attend meetings and conferences. CAUK’s clients often still prefer in-person delivery to virtual.

So, what steps did CAUK take to reduce their environmental impact? The first was upping their audit game, making 2019 their baseline year. It wasn’t easy at first, but by collating accurate data using meter readings and bills to monitor energy and water use, travel, and waste, CAUK has since been able to measure progress and make better-informed decisions. Staff travel surveys, training, and even external communications are also taken into account.

CAUK identifies three more important steps on the path to Green iiE accreditation:

• Appointing Green Champions: “All employees have a part to play in working towards Green accreditation,” says McGrath. “But designating Green Champions gives employees direct points of contact. You also need someone to pull the information and evidence together and facilitate the audit process.” (Read CAUK’s tips for streamlined evidence-gathering and audit-ready filing here.)
• Embracing a sustainability policy: “This should be fully supported and signed by senior management. To demonstrate commitment, your policy should be reviewed on a recurring basis. We do this yearly to ensure that we are on track, up-to-date, and fully committed.”
• Creating a measurable action plan: “…for all your resources: gas, electricity, waste, water, travel, and staff projects. iiE provide a great template for this to ensure you a setting SMART goals. You will need to detail the action, who is responsible, whether it is a single or ongoing action and when it will be completed or reviewed.”

One of the goals CAUK set itself in 2023 was to investigate building efficiency improvements, including an upgrade to its historic office’s boiler. To meet this objective, they submitted a successful funding bid through Future Green to conduct a Building Energy Audit.

“This identified improvements we could make on the energy efficiency of our building,” explains McGrath. The audit’s recommendations, which CAUK has been actively exploring in 2024, included getting quotes for a new boiler and switching energy providers.

Efforts to adopt greener travel habits since 2019, such as adhering to the travel hierarchy, have also proved successful. In five years, CAUK has cut down on commuting by 20%. However, over the same period, increased demand for their services has meant their use of alternative transport (such as carpooling and public transport) went up by 129%.

CAUK now includes normalised measurements in its audits, which provide more meaningful comparisons. Instead of measuring travel emissions solely using total alternative transport mileage, CAUK tracks mileage per 100 hours of delivery or service provided, which reflects an increase in service provision. There’s a trade-off when it comes to travel, they acknowledge.

“Despite offering virtual calls, workshops and programme delivery virtually as much as possible, some events require us to be there in person,” says McGrath. “This travel is necessary for us to continue our work as a sustainability charity.”

CAUK don’t consider this an excuse, however, and are tightening up how they follow the travel hierarchy to provide services. They are now actively promoting online delivery as the first option.

Spreading the word: becoming a net zero hero

CAUK’s success was only partly down to taking steps to reduce their own carbon footprint. Green-level iiE accreditation also factors in an organisation’s wider influence and impact on sustainability – in other words, spreading the message far and wide.

“This is our mission, and it’s what we are really proud of,” says McGrath. “Over the past year, we have grown and developed so much.”

Recent highlights for CAUK include accrediting their own Carbon Literacy course in April 2023. They now regularly educate individuals, teams of staff and whole businesses to gain knowledge in carbon and climate change, and to date have certified over 100 new learners. CAUK also works with schools, supporting climate education through the nationwide Climate Ambassadors programme.

In October, CAUK launched a sustainability and net zero course specifically designed for Human Resources (HR) professionals. And in March 2024, they teamed up with iiE parent charity PECT to deliver a DfE-funded Skills Bootcamp in Sustainability and Environmental Management on behalf of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), helping jobseekers and career-changers find rewarding roles in the emerging green economy.

Change Agents UK are rightly proud of their achievements so far and are excited about the year ahead. One thing’s for certain, they won’t be taking their coveted Green-level iiE accreditation for granted. Their mission to promote a sustainable future, while minimising their own environmental impact, isn’t over yet.

Find out more about Change Agents UK at www.changeagents.org.uk