Potential occupational standard
Occupational standard in development
Approved occupational standard
Occupational standard without apprenticeship
Custom occupational card
Apprenticeship
Higher Technical Qualification
T Level
Career starter apprenticeship
Royal apprenticeship
Occupational progression
Technical education progression
Mid green occupation
Dark green occupation
Favourite occupation
View glossary of terms
home Business and administration
Sustainability business specialist

Sustainability business specialist

Business and administration

Level 7 - Professional Occupation

Help organisations to manage the resources they use and the waste they generate according to environmentally friendly principles.

Print to PDF View occupation in map

Reference: OCC0748

Status: assignment_turned_inApproved occupation

Average (median) salary: £32,926 per year

SOC 2020 code: 2152 Environment professionals

SOC 2020 sub unit groups:

  • 2152/05 Sustainability officers

Technical Education Products

ST0748:

Sustainability business specialist (integrated degree)

(Level 7)

Approved for delivery
  • Royal apprenticeship

Employers involved in creating the standard:

Two Sisters Food Group, Bakkavor, Branston Ltd, Offundo Ltd, Produce World Group Ltd, Moy Park, Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, Croda International PLC, Premier Foods Group, Wrangle Growers, Atkins

Summary

The broad purpose of the occupation is to help organisations, businesses, charities, the public sector and social enterprises to find new and innovative approaches to working and build resilience based on economically sound, socially friendly and environmentally driven principles. They will be responsible for developing and collaborating in the development of organisational sustainability strategies. They will implement and monitor sustainability strategies, influencing behaviour of stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, colleagues and consumers. The role is highly challenging and multifaceted and will reach across all areas of the organisation.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with numerous colleagues including a specialist subject manager or a senior manager within the organisation at executive or non-executive director level or within smaller organisations they may be at director or board level.

An employee in this occupation may lead a team or work in a matrix management structure to drive change. They would be required to liaise with external stakeholders on a variety of sustainable issues, for example Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), industry and regulatory bodies. An employee in this occupation will have joint or shared responsibility for implementing a sustainability culture throughout the organisation. This will mean they will need to work across functions throughout the organisation and will have a high level of autonomy to do so. In some organisations, they may lead a small team of dedicated experts, however in other organisations, they will work within a management structure with no line management responsibilities. The level of supervision they receive will be down to the size of the company and the individual structures of those companies.

Employers involved in creating the standard:

Two Sisters Food Group, Bakkavor, Branston Ltd, Offundo Ltd, Produce World Group Ltd, Moy Park, Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, Croda International PLC, Premier Foods Group, Wrangle Growers, Atkins

spa

Dark Green occupation

Typical job titles include:

Head of energy and sustainabilityeco
Head of responsible sourcingeco
Head of sustainability and environmenteco
Sustainbility managereco
Sustainbility specialisteco

Keywords:

Agriculture
Business
Environment
Organisations
Retail
Sustainable
Sustainbility Specialist
Waste

Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)

K1: The global social, environmental, economic and ethical pressures affecting business, government and society
K2: The social, economic, philosophical, political, technological and regulatory environment and potential levers to drive change
K3: How different cultures, customs and business practices impact on how the organisation works on a global scale
K4: How life cycles analysis or whole lifestyle costings work, including foot printing
K5: How to build sustainable communities for the future
K6: Utilising continuous improvement techniques such as Kaizen and LEAN to drive the sustainability agenda within the organisation such as through the reduction of waste or recycling
K7: How to identify probable sustainability issues at each stage of the end-to-end supply/value chain and how they can be resolved or mitigated
K8: The principles of being the best "neighbour" in the local community taking into account issues such as emissions, engaging with the local community, road access
K9: How to identify sustainability key stakeholders and their roles
K10: The design of environmental systems to meet ISO 17021 and how to embed them within the business to drive standards in line with ISO 14001 and customer codes of practice
K11: How external factors can influence consumer behaviour and how they can be overcome
K12: Sustainable technologies relevant to own sector
K13: The principles and practices of internal and external audits as specified in ISO 19011
K14: The macro environmental factors which influence the sector such as climate change, water resource and pollution and their impact on business/organisational practice
K15: Key principles which identify the "Ethical Business" and how to put it into practice
K16: How the organisation design and structure can drive or hinder sustainability practices
K17: How to communicate sustainability messages effectively internally at all levels of the organisation or externally to key stakeholders
K18: Transformational leadership and change management in areas such as creating a vision for the future, motivating and inspiring others to engage with the vision and coaching and mentoring others and building a team to achieve the vision
K19: How to research, critically evaluate and present business information; utilising statistical/analytical skills to interpret primary/complex data

S1: Conceptualise and resolve ethical, corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues within the business
S2: Devise and implement achievable and viable sustainability strategies for the organisation
S3: Critically evaluate sustainability issues and trends which may impact on business performance
S4: Analyse sustainability performance data and develop the appropriate business response in line with ISO 14001, legislative and customer codes of practice
S5: Assemble and drive resource efficiency including auditing in line with ISO 19011 and ISO 17021 and consulting on energy, water, waste, materials, packaging.
S6: Contribute, collaborate and, where appropriate, show leadership on a global procurement Standards and Governance strategy, breakthrough ideas, best-in-class approaches, bringing the outside inside including innovation and sustainability, and managing the sourcing cycle and supplier relationship management system effectively by liaising with the procurement function
S7: Formulate and co-ordinate a business response on sustainability issues to internal and external stakeholders
S8: Collaborate on, lead and/or manage organisational sustainability projects, such as life cycle analysis or foot printing to drive change throughout the business
S9: Identify, influence and manage key stakeholders across different business functions
S10: Support the organisation at all stages of the internal and external audit process
S11: Contribute and collaborate in the leadership, coaching and management of a multidisciplinary team, collaborating with and influencing other sustainability colleagues and the wider business to achieve organisational sustainability objectives
S12: Identify, assess, and prioritise sustainability risks within the organisation and utilise resources to mitigate, control and monitor the probability and/or impact of such events
S13: Design, implement and evaluate the internal and external environmental audit schedule in line with ISO 19011 and ISO 17021 to drive improvements
S14: Appraise the impact of current global economic issues to the viability of sustainability projects and its impact on profitability
S15: Directly influence and input into the corporate social responsibility agenda for the organisation

B1: Problem solving: take a holistic approach to solving complex problems
B2: Integrity and respect: listens to others and seeks to build understanding; embraces the diversity of colleagues and makes complex issues easy for others to understand
B3: Networking: establishes internal and external networks to keep current knowledge of sustainability trends and issues up to date
B4: Personal effectiveness: demonstrates a high level of self-awareness and is emotionally intelligent; adapts behaviour easily dependent upon situation and impact to achieve desired result
B5: Influencing and negotiation: acts as a subject matter expert to inspire others to achieve business goals; adapts language and communication medium to seek agreement; proactively communicates clearly, concisely and on a timely basis; is inventive about win-win options to gain majority consensus
B6: Ethical: demonstrates, and champions in others, a healthy respect for key moral principles that include honesty, fairness, equality, dignity, diversity and individual rights
B7: Responsiveness to change: flexible to changing demands; resilient under pressure
B8: Innovation: demonstrates curiosity to foster new ways of thinking and working; seeks out opportunities to drive forward change and improvements for the business

Duties

Duty D1

Support the business to ensure legal sustainability compliance and embed a management system approach to sustainability performance improvement

Duty D2

Identify and collaborate in the setting of sustainability KPIs for the wider business/organisation

Duty D3

Develop and implement a comprehensive auditing programme

Duty D4

Manage environmental data and monitor the sustainability performance of own business and suppliers

Duty D5

Review sustainability management information, including incidents, and advise the company on performance, impacts, business risk and appropriate response

Duty D6

Train staff on sustainability principles, legislation, risks and opportunities

Duty D7

Maintain regular and effective communication with colleagues throughout the wider business on sustainability best practice

Duty D8

Act as the business champion to lead on addressing areas such as in work poverty, modern day slavery and inclusiveness

Duty D9

Reduce waste and, where practical, ensure materials are purchased from sustainable sources in order to reduce the environmental footprint

Duty D10

Advise the organisation on reduction of harmful emissions

Duty D11

Promote ethical business standards and practices internally to enable employees to make the right choice

Duty D12

Act as key business contact and actively engage with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), industry and regulatory bodies for sustainability issues

Duty D13

Lead on business transparency in the area of corporate reporting

Duty D14

Investigate and implement water, energy and materials reduction initiatives

Duty D15

Lead, manage and deliver sustainable business projects, such as carbon foot printing, impact assessments, change management, Kaizen and LEAN

Duty D16

Horizon scan to identify future trends, technologies, innovations and best practice

Duty D17

Collaborate with wider teams on the corporate social responsibility agenda and managing media outlets

Duty D18

Coach and mentor individuals in sustainable business process, both internally and externally

Duty D19

Develop a business case to clearly demonstrate return on investment

Duty D20

Take responsibility for and manage own professional development, keeping up to date with technical knowledge and skills, and record these through CPD records

Occupational Progression

This occupational progression map shows technical occupations that have transferable knowledge and skills.

In this map, the focused occupation is highlighted in yellow. The arrows indicate where transferable knowledge and skills exist between two occupations. This map shows some of the strongest progression links between the focused occupation and other occupations.

It is anticipated that individuals would be required to undertake further learning or training to progress to and from occupations. To find out more about an occupation featured in the progression map, including the learning options available, click the occupation.

Progression decisions have been reached by comparing the knowledge and skills statements between occupational standards, combined with individualised learner movement data.

Technical Occupations

Levels 2-3

Higher Technical Occupations

Levels 4-5

Professional Occupations

Levels 6-7

This is the focused occupation.
assignment_turned_in

Level 7

spa
Progression link from focused occupation.
assignment_turned_in

Level 7

Business and administration