Sustainable Practices for Facilities Manager

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Vision
Negative Effects
Corporate Responsibility
Operational Strategy
Carbon Reduction Project
Waste Management Plan
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The dramatic increase in the global population has culminated in an increased emission of carbon into the atmosphere. Scientists have argued that the level of increase in the amounts of these gases is so alarming that drastic steps need to be taken urgently. Uncontrolled levels of the gas in the atmosphere will have dire effects such as unpredictable climatic conditions, characterized by extreme weather patterns. They explain that the levels of carbon emission into the atmosphere have increased as a result of uncontrolled human activities. Such activities as mining and utilization of fossil fuels, uncontrolled use of non-renewable energy sources and lack of any preventative measure has lead to an imbalance of atmospheric gases. T is no longer the efforts of the government to lead the fight for a sustainable future. Cooperate bodies as well as individual citizens have a very important role to play. Where the governments formulate and implement policies for carbon emission, it is the work of the organizations to mobilize their resources especially the human resources to implement projects at the grass-root level. In this case, the organizations will be a more effective tool in utilizing the public more effectively in managing environmental issues, especially the management of carbon emission. This report, therefore, endeavors to describe why it is justifiable for organizations to be actively involved to counter the rates of carbon emission in the atmosphere.

Vision

In continuously providing our customers with the best possible quality service through sustainable as well as profitable growth, we aim to achieve the highest respect in the building and construction industry through investments in clean and green technology.

The organization’s core values will certainly help us achieve our goals, mission as well as our vision. The organization remains committed to improving and delivering our core values. We are focused on preserving our core values as well as the organizational culture that has continuously earned us respect as we seek to attain our vision.

Negative Effects

Even though the atmosphere is coping well currently, the future does not look bright and the negative effects of these activities are already being felt in some parts of the world. The emission of greenhouse gases has led to an increase in global temperatures. There have been notable changes in weather patterns in countries that experience the two extreme weather conditions, summer, and winters. These countries are experiencing warmer and drier summers. There are also notable irregularities in weather patterns in many parts of the world. Rain is being experienced in traditionally dry seasons, while the winters are unusually cold. A further increase in levels of carbon in the atmosphere will result in a rise of greenhouse temperatures and thus much more drought conditions will be experienced in many parts of the world (Sanders 2005).

Corporate Responsibility

The organization aims to maintain its reputation in the industry and therefore have to continuously build, maintain, protect as well as enhance the organization’s status among the clients, investors, employees, and amongst other stakeholders of the organization. As much as our organization is committed to maximizing financial returns from its business practices, it also has an obligation towards being moral responsibility for the effects of its business activities. The larger picture of this organization’s long-standing history of giving back to society is informed by the knowledge that a company should spread the wealth it creates to the society surrounding it. CSR is more than a means to meet the ethical expectations of society. It is all about getting more value out of business practice. It, therefore, has the mandate to align its business practices to respond to the social needs of the communities it serves (Baker n.d.).

Our corporate responsibility will be on the environment and climate change. We will keep responding to environmental as well as climate change concerns in our operations. This will be achieved through several associated initiatives. The first step is the establishment of a CSR committee. The purpose of this committee is to reformulate our organizational goals, ethics, and objectives that are inclined towards more ethical business practices. The general aim of this committee is to instill a philosophy of ethical business practices into the organization. The philosophy must look beyond the ethics of our organization’s CSR, and fashion it along with the notion of engagement rather than a responsibility (Martins 2010).

This is because social corporate engagement is a more meaningful way of giving back to the community than cooperate social responsibility as the organization becomes part of communities’ efforts to develop solutions for its problems. The committee will also engage in other activities such as engaging the human resource in managing carbon emission not only through training but also by encouraging the employees to adopt carbon emission reduction practices. Such activities as switching of unnecessary lights at home, using renewable enesolar-generated solar generated power, and switching of electronic devices’ like TV when not in use will be highly encouraged (Jarvis & Parker 2010). Lastly, the CSR committee will develop employee environmental pledges, employee zero-carbon technology training as well as smart-waste technology which will measure the quantity of waste generated from each project to enable the organization to improve resource efficiency.

Operational Strategy

The organization will be committed to the identification as well as strict compliance with all the relevant regulations, requirements, and directives. The organization plans to achieve ISO 14001 Environmental Accreditation in all its projects and operations by minimizing pollution and inconveniencies to customers by adopting a more efficient approach in all its operations. The organization will adopt alternative and more efficient measures that will enable it to reduce costs, greenhouse gas emissions as well as environmental impacts in its project sites and its industrial department within the construction division. The organization is also committed to efficient use of resources plus materials to ensure the long-term sustainability of non-renewable materials and other key areas which include energy and water use in addition to waste by setting and monitoring the targets.

It is also determined to improve its performance by adopting best practices and technologies, training its employees as well as regular management reviews of implementation of its environmental policy to align it with the government target of zero carbon emission. It becomes futile to have a carbon emission reduction imitative that does not provide for the criteria for developing new environmentally friendly technologies. The organization will therefore have to develop and adopt new policies that will not only support and ensure the development of new technologies that reduce carbon emission but also discourage means that do not guarantee the reduction of this dangerous gas into the atmosphere. Such disarrangement measure will be to put limits on the use of carbon-emitting practices and fine those who exceed this limit (Department for engineering and public policy 2008)

Employees play an interregnal part in the success of this project. As motioned earlier the goal of this organization is to look at CSR beyond ethics but as a social engagement, a means to engage the organization in more productive and moral business practices. Social corporate engagement aims at making the organization part of the community and the search for more responsible use of resources. Therefore, employees will receive maximum training on the need to adopt at person levels carbon-reducing emission strategies. Involving employees has a double effect: Not only does it offer motivation to people as they feel a sense of belonging in being part of fighting for a sustainable future but is also a method for achieving cooperate social engagement.

It will also adopt renewable energy technologies and policies in installations of zero-carbon technologies and waste recycling plants. To adopt these technologies, the organization will acquire planning permission as well as permitted development rights from the relevant authorities. The organization will therefore establish environmental working groups who will be responsible for implementation and monitoring of the organization’s environmental processes as well as targets.

The company is an Associate Member of the considerate Constructors Scheme which ensures that its employees, particularly the engineers are obligated to achieving excellent performance in all the eight categories audited under the scheme. Under this scheme, the organization will target to surpass the national industry average particularly in environmental protection, accountability, and responsiveness. This strategy does not exist in a vacuum but has an intended purpose. Other than creating a deadline for achieving its objectives, it has an established criterion for measuring its success. This criterion is the achievement of manageable levels of carbon in the atmosphere. All technologies, human efforts, and corporate activities are geared towards the development of technologies that offer long-lasting solutions to these ignored but potentially catastrophic issues.

Carbon Reduction Project

In response to the government’s Climate Change Act of 2008, the organization will be committed to attaining significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The organization will actively measure and record its energy use for all its operations within the country. The organization’s Carbon Reduction Commitment Committee will be instrumental in establishing strategies and frameworks that will enable the organization to capture and report its data on progress on the reduction of carbon emissions. Its carbon emission data for 2010 will be used to benchmark its future measurements. The organization targets to reduce CO₂ emissions by 12.5% by the end of 2012 asset in the Kyoto accord of 1990. Each unit in the organization should be able to set its carbon reduction target for 2012 in line with the organization’s carbon reduction vision. The Carbon Reduction Commitment Committee will set targets for the preceding years as they actively monitor the progress of the organization in carbon emissions reduction.

Waste Management Plan

To effectively respond to the Waste and Resource Action Programme, the organization plans to reduce its waste to landfills by 50% by the end of 2015. To achieve this, the construction division will put in place measures that will enable it to deliver a reduction of 25% in all its waste from construction, demolition as well as excavation that is usually sent to the landfills based on the organization’s 2010 baseline by the end of 2012. The organization also plans to achieve a 10% reduction in wastes generated from the division for every £100,000 of its turnover by the end of 2012. The organization will upgrade its online site-waste management tool, ‘Smart-waste’, to enable it to improve its capacity to analyze the data sets on wastes and resources within its construction division. This program will also include building maintenance. Using the data available on the waste generated through the organization’s activities, we will set up a pilot project on waste disposal by the end of the year on a site certified by the environmental department to help us develop a material logistic planning strategy for our resources and waste.

The organization is committed to achieving increased savings by increasing its recycling. The organization will work with its partners, suppliers as well as subcontractors to raise its capacity and expertise to recycle and manage its waste. We plan to reach an agreement with the National Community Wood Recycling Project to collect waste wood from the organization’s sites for recycling. The organization will create a lasting partnership with the Environmental Agency to deliver a clean, green as well as a sustainable environment.

The organization is committed to providing customers with the best possible quality service as well as delivering sustainable growth to our stakeholders through improvements in our delivery.

There are other means that the organization will support an effort to manage the carbon waste in the atmosphere. It will work with the community in planting ten thousand trees every month and making sure that the number of trees cut is below those planted b half or less. The aim of this exercise is informed by the fact that trees help trees are large consumers of carbon dioxide and thus increasing the number is an effort to restore the natural atmospheric gases balancing mechanism. This is a project with long term commitment and implications. Employees and the communities will be encouraged to not only use renewable energies such as solar but also adopt energy-saving techniques. Much of the energy used today is from sources that increase emissions during the production phase. Thus saving the amounts of energy uses from these sources is saving the amount of energy produced and reducing the amounts of carbon emitted (Science Ray 2011)

Managing carbon emission comes at a cost to this organization. Most business managers would wonder why to bother with an expensive undertaking than it’s not the core interest of the organizations. Doing this to the communities has more benefits to the organization than it seems. Many communities are forming opinions on company products and brands depending on the company’s efforts to give back to the communities. Involvement in the management of carbon emissions will create a very positive image of this organization. As a result, thus organization sees this as an opportunity no to just give back to the opportunity but as a chance to indirectly promote its brands. The organization will therefore have played its role in checking climate change. As explained earlier this effort will be an opportunity not only to train staff but also to motivate them. Involving the human resource in efforts to manage the environment creates a sense of achievement as they will have felt that they have made a difference in a world flying fast into self-destruction (British Standards Institution 2011). A positive cooperate image is advantageous in several ways. It reduces the cost of doing business in the long run because the organization seeks to establish efficient and cost-effective business practices as the organization does not only count the profits gained financially but also in building a sustainable environment. It also gives the organization a competitive edge over its competitors in the market due to its positive corporate image. Lastly, it is an effort to comply with environmental laws and thus it will be helping the government in its effort to legislate environmental management (Comply Direct 2011)

Conclusion

The organization has to implement the mandate given to the construction industry of designing systems, which conserve energy, enhance the capacity of owners of buildings to conserve energy, present accurate forecasts on energy consumption, and also monitor and carry out energy audits targeting consumption and sustainable use of energy in the buildings. This will not only require enhanced involvement of all parties, but also the government, organizations, and its employees. The most effective and efficient way to involve the public is through CSR activities initiated by companies. The effect of using these activities has a double effect: it ensures realizable goals while improving a company’s public image and benefits thereof. The goal of this project is to achieve a tolerable level of carbon emission in the atmosphere. Thus, the organization will have helped in environmental management by being part of the community’s efforts to do so.

Reference List

British Standards Institution., 2011. Carbon Footprint Verification. BSI. Web.

Baker M., n.d. Corporate social responsibility – What does it mean?. Mallenbarkernet. Web.

ComplyDirect., 2011. Key benefits of managing carbo. Comply direct. Web.

Department For Engineering And Public Policy., 2008. Managing emissions of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants. Carnegie Mellon University. Web.

Jarvis, C., & Parker, A., 2010. Engaging employees in CSR strategies is profitable- here’s proof!. Web.

Martins, R., 2010. Corporate social responsibility: how to integrate and communicate a change management strategy in your organization towards sustainabilityCorporate ethics blog. Web.

Sanders, R., 2005. Faster carbon dioxide emissions will overwhelm capacity of land and ocean to absorb carbon. US Berkeley News. Web.

Science Ray., 2011. Managing carbon emission. Science Ray. Web.

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