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

SCORE Assessment

A great new easy assessment tool, SCORE is a sustainability self-assessment that identifies opportunities to improve sustainability performance within small and medium sized companies. It also provides a baseline measure against other companies who have taken SCORE to determine where a company lies with sustainability measures within different departmental areas. It was developed by AXIS Performance Advisors in conjunction with the International Sustainable Development Foundation and the Zero Waste Alliance. On their website, they have licensed facilitators to administer SCORE, including eco-officiency who services the Denver/ Boulder metro area.