Introducing green qualifications into your business

Ensuring your business is future proof isn’t just about financial resilience or acquiring the best in talent, there is now a greater emphasis on managing a business’ environmental impact.  

The Welsh Government recently published its second Net Zero Wales plan, highlighting education and upskilling as key factors needed to achieve net zero by 2050. 

What this means practically speaking is that managing their own carbon footprint is going to need to become a core process for employers across Wales.  

This is why ACT, Wales’ leading training provider, has been working with the Welsh Government to develop an all-new qualification that will help businesses with this net zero challenge.  

ACT has recently received ISO 14001 certification for its own environmental management system – an international standard. It is currently the only Welsh Government-funded training provider to hold such status. 

As such, it is aware of the importance of monitoring a company’s waste, energy, water, transport and carbon and what goes into lessening its environmental impact.  

Going forward, employers are going to have to work consciously to equip themselves with the additional skills they’ll need to support their staff in becoming more sustainable. 

On the ground, this has to involve more than simply nominating a colleague or group of co-workers to push a carbon neutral plan, it’s going to mean formal education and training too.  

To help, ACT recently launched its Level 3 Diploma in Energy and Carbon Management which supports people in all kinds of organisations and at all levels to manage their carbon footprint. 

Throughout the course, learners will explore a number of wide-ranging topics in the context of energy and carbon management, from professional networking and health and safety to developing working relationships and energy procurement.  

Completion of the program offers a number of transferable skills while also allowing the candidate to progress into more specialised energy manager roles. 

The qualification joins a suite of courses delivered by ACT that help to develop a basic understanding of the environment, sustainability, climate change and net zero as well as how they relate to a green skills future. 

The Level 2 Award in Sustainability and the Green Environment is an e-learning course and one-day workshop that gives participants the knowledge, understanding and motivation to make a positive difference in the workplace, and is perfect for organisations working towards implementing an environmental management system. 

ACT also offers a Level 4 qualification with a focus on Environment Management which supports managers to understand their responsibility in meeting Wales’ net zero agenda. 

Net zero training often gets associated with hybrid technology and engineering, but that’s just a part of how Wales is going to achieve this ambition. Education is also going to prove vital in ensuring that the future of business here is greener.  

Businesses and organisations of all sizes, in all sectors, are going to have to get more accustomed to examining their energy and carbon management in a more holistic manner, and doing this effectively requires specialist knowledge and expertise. 

With global emissions as high as they have ever been, reducing the carbon footprint of all that we do both at home and at work is becoming ever more crucial – and introducing these kinds of qualifications is a clear indicator that the business of achieving net zero is something which now belongs to all of us.   

Find out about the fully-funded courses here.