Key Elements to Prepare for a Sustainability Plan: Conduct an Assessment

Step 2: Conduct an Assessment

It is important to get an overview of what green initiatives a company has already started along with the areas that have the potential for improvement with regards to environmental and social responsibility. Reach out to each department or division of a company and hold information interviews. Although more information can be gathered through in-person meetings, an organization can also conduct an assessment via an online survey. Develop a series of questions that ask specifically what each area is doing to reduce resource use and minimize environmental impact.  Some organizations also like to assess the social side of business and how engaged they are in the community and supporting non-profit organizations. Eco-officiency has developed an assessment tool with a series of questions for each major department of an organization that can be downloaded at www.eco-officiency.com under the Resources tab.

There are a number of assessment tools on the market here are a few other recommendations; SCORE; PROBE; WBSCD Measuring Impact Framework

Tapped the Movie- A Must See!

Eco-officiency was a sponsor of this years 2009  Colorado Environmental Film Festival which featured the movie Tapped, about the 1.1 billion dollar bottle water industry. This movie has been recognized and awarded in over 15 different film festivals. It was a fantastic look at the bottle water industry and how it is affecting so many areas of life of communities, health, water safety and waste issues. A must see if you didn’t get to the film festival!
Visit the Tapped website to order the DVD.

If you did see it, let me know what you think….