Sustainability managers are responsible for ensuring the sustainability of business processes. They provide assistance in the design and implementation of plans and measures to ensure that the manufacturing processes and products comply with given environmental regulations and social responsibility standards and they monitor and report on the implementation of sustainability strategies within the company supply chain and business process. They analyse issues linked to manufacturing processes, use of materials, waste reduction, energy efficiency and products traceability to improve environmental and social impacts and integrate sustainability aspects into the company culture.
The use of ICT systems in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner, such as the implementation of energy-efficient servers and central processing units (CPUs), reduction of resources and correct disposal of e-waste.
The handling or managing of business processes in a responsible and ethical manner considering the economic responsibility towards shareholders as equally important as the responsibility towards environmental and social stakeholders.
A business practice to conduct long-term sustainable growth by seeking environmental, economic, and social strategies as its three main pillars.
Field of information concerning the reduction of the use of energy. It encompasses calculating the consumption of energy, providing certificates and support measures, saving energy by reducing the demand, encouraging efficient use of fossil fuels, and promoting the use of renewable energy.
The hardware and equipment suitable for measurement and live monitoring of environmental parameters.
The global, standardised reporting framework that enable organisations to quantify and communicate about their environmental, social and governance impact.
The guidelines on how to design and construct sustainable buildings. They follow the criterion of mitigating the environmental impact of buildings while promoting green practices among the occupants.
The consulting approach that is used to help businesses to know more about their sustainability impact and implement strategies to become eco-friendly and efficient.
The process of integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations when making business or investment decisions, leading to increased longer-term investments into sustainable economic activities and projects.
Sources of energy that do not originate from fossil fuels and have few greenhouse emissions.
The circular economy aims to keep materials and products in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value from them while in use and recycling them at the end of their life cycle. It improves resource efficiency and helps to reduce the demand for virgin materials.
The impact of climate change on biodiversity and life conditions for plants and animals.
The legal limitations of the amount of pollutants that can be emitted into the environment. The EU legislative framework regulating emission standards for driving vehicles.
The practice of reducing energy consumption and using fewer energy services. As a sustainable process, energy conservation is done by replacing used energy with alternative sources, using more efficient energy products, or refraining from particular energy products or services to conserve it.
The environmental policies and legislation applicable in a certain domain.
The requirements for an organisation to implement the environmental management system in order to enhance its environmental performance such as ISO 14001.
Local, national and international policies dealing with the promotion of environmental sustainability and the development of projects which reduce negative environmental impact and improve the state of the environment.
The different types of waste which poses risks to the environment or public health and safety, such as radioactive waste, chemicals and solvents, electronics, and mercury-containing waste.
Sustainable technologies which allow to produce more value using limited resources while reducing the impact on the environment, restraining the risks of scarcity.
The process of identifying, assessing, and prioritising of all types of risks and where they could come from, such as natural causes, legal changes, or uncertainty in any given context, and the methods for dealing with risks effectively.
Technologies with the aim of reducing environmental and ecological risks, achieving at the same time, a positive economic, social, and environmental impact. They are innovative technologies designed to prevent, reduce and recover from the negative impact of humanity in the planet.
The methods, materials and regulations used to collect, transport, treat and dispose of waste. This includes recycling and monitoring of waste disposal. It excludes procedures related to waste incineration.
Inform others about the social responsibility of companies and organisations in society and advise about matters to prolong their sustainability.
Analyse, understand and interpret a company's needs to determine the actions to be taken.
Monitor the practices of organisations and companies with regard to ethics and impact on the larger community.
Evaluate the use and possible recycling of raw materials in the whole product life cycle. Consider applicable regulations, such as the European Commission's Circular Economy Policy Package.
The approach that is used to face environmental problems related to buildings, plans, and products in various fields such as engineering, interior design and architecture.
Give companies advice on reducing industry carbon emissions, identify incentives, and keep them to date with carbon emissions regulations and policies, as well as with innovative reduction methods.
Advise companies on solutions to develop sustainable production processes, improve material efficiency and reuse and reduce carbon footprint.
Contribute to planning and policy development for sustainable management, including input in environmental impact assessments.
Study clients' needs and expectations for a product or service in order to identify and resolve inconsistencies and possible disagreements of involved stakeholders.
Examine an organisation's planning details of production, their expected output units, quality, quantity, cost, time available and labour requirements. Provide suggestions in order to improve products, service quality and reduce costs.
Monitor environmental impacts and carry out assessments in order to identify and to reduce the organisation's environmental risks while taking costs into account.
Perform staff training and ensure all members of the workforce understand how they can contribute to improved environmental performance.
Gather relevant information by applying systematic methods, such as interviews, focus groups, text analysis, observations and case studies.
Execute a systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques.
Organise and integrate all environmental efforts of the company, including pollution control, recycling, waste management, environmental health, conservation and renewable energy.
Monitor activities and perform tasks ensuring compliance with standards involving environmental protection and sustainability, and amend activities in the case of changes in environmental legislation. Ensure that the processes are compliant with environment regulations and best practices.
Analyse the operations and actions of a company in order to assess their repercussions, possible risks for the company, and to develop suitable strategies to address these.
Oversee the process of reporting on the sustainability performance of the organisation, according to established guidelines and standards.
Develop and implement an environmental management system.
Manage the annual recycling program and respective budget of an organisation.
Keep track of sustainability indicators and analyse how well the company is doing in sustainability performance, in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals or the global standards for sustainability reporting.
Evaluate and identify opportunities to use resources more efficiently with continuously striving to reduce waste of utilities.
Identify and assess factors that may jeopardise the success of a project or threaten the organisation's functioning. Implement procedures to avoid or minimise their impact.
Manufacture goods in a sustainable manner throughout the product lifecycle which involves promoting social responsibility, conserving resources, and minimizing negative environmental impacts.
Promote sustainability and raise awareness about the environmental impact of human and industrial activity based on the carbon footprints of business processes and other practices.
Identify, select environmentally friendly materials and components. Decide on the substitution of certain materials by the one that are environmentally friendly, maintaining the same level of functionality and other characteristics of the product.
Technologies used for the treatment and processing of waste which involve high temperatures, and the processes involving the combustion of waste materials and energy recovery from waste treatment.
Fuels or power sources that serve, at least partly, as a substitute in the traditional energy supply to transport such as oil and fossil sources. They have the potential to contribute to decarbonisation efforts and enhance the environmental performance of the economy and transport sector.
The subfield of economics that studies the efficient allocation of environmental resources to the aim of minimizing the negative impacts on the natural environment.
Technologies that allow the development of sustainable practices within the automotive industry. They are focused on lowering the negative effects of this industry on the environment such as air pollution or the use of non-renewable sources, and on using green methods in the design and manufacture of automotive products.
The financial instruments traded in financial markets that aim at raising capitals for projects with specific environmental benefits.
The practices involved in the design and creation of building structures in an environmentally responsible, cost effective and resource-effective way. Green building practices such as using eco-friendly construction materials complement classical building practices seeking a sustainable and high-performance building life cycle.
The discipline of project management, the activities which comprise this area and the variables implied in it, such as time, resources, requirements, deadlines, and responding to unexpected events.
The characteristics and properties of different textile and fabric materials. These include strength, flexibility, elasticity, softness, durability, heat insulation, low weight, water absorbency/repellence, dyeability and resistance to chemicals. Moreover, the influence of chemical composition and molecular arrangement of yarn and fibre properties and fabric structure on the physical properties of textile fabrics; the different fibre types; the materials used in different processes and the effect on materials as they are processed.
Principles and conditions of organic and sustainable agricultural production.
Types of plastic materials and their chemical composition, physical properties, possible issues and usage cases.
The branch of urban planning that aims to improve, social, economic and environmental conditions of a city.
Series of steps taken in order to produce a car or any other motor vehicle such as the design, the chassis and body assembly, the painting process, the interior assembly and the quality control.
Concepts of by-product and waste. Types of waste and European waste codes industries. Solutions for by-products and wastes recovery, reuse and recycling across different sectors.
The composition, structure, and properties of substances and the processes and transformations that they undergo; the uses of different chemicals and their interactions, production techniques, risk factors, and disposal methods.
The set of commonly shared principles in regards with communication such as active listening, establish rapport, adjusting the register, and respecting the intervention of others.
The trends and major driving factors in the energy trading market, energy trades methodologies and practice, and the identification of the major stakeholders in the energy sector.
Principles of water re-use processes in complex circulation systems.
Apply safe and healthy packaging policies; maximise the use of recycled or renewable source materials; implement clean production technologies.
Use specific software for data analysis, including statistics, spreadsheets, and databases. Explore possibilities in order to make reports to managers, superiors, or clients.
Analyse data that interpret correlations between human activities and environmental effects.
Identify, select and apply procedures and regulations to verify the compliance of specific requirements of EU eco-labelling.
Evaluate supplier performance in order to assess if suppliers follow the agreed contracts, meet the standard requirements and provide the desired quality.
Analyse and evaluate the energy consumption in a systematic manner in order to improve the energy performance.
Develop and coordinate recycling programs; collect and process recyclable materials in order to reduce waste.
Apply plans that address the management of environmental matters in projects, natural site interventions, companies, and others.
Incorporate strategic public policy goals into procurement procedures, such as green public procurement (GPP) and socially responsible public procurement (SRPP). Contribute to reducing the environmental impact of procurement, to achieving social goals and to improving value for money for the organisation and for society at large.
Supervise waste water treatment according to environmental regulations.
Establish new trainings and staff development provisions to support staff knowledge in food waste prevention and food recycling practices. Ensure that staff understands methods of and tools for food recycling, e.g., separating waste.
Evaluate requirements and advise on systems for environmental risk management. Ensure the customer does his part in preventing or limiting adverse environmental impact through the use of technology. Ensure required licenses and permits are obtained.
Advise business or public organisations on public relations management and strategies in order to ensure efficient communication with target audiences, and proper conveying of information.
Advise organisations on the implementation of waste regulations and on improvement strategies for waste management and waste minimisation, to increase environmentally sustainable practices and environmental awareness.
Apply the process of combining systems thinking methodologies with human-centred design in order to solve complex societal challenges in an innovative and sustainable way. This is most often applied in social innovation practices that focus less on designing stand-alone products and services to designing complex service systems, organizations or policies that bring value to the society as a whole.
Contribute to develop effective strategies for energy management and making sure that these are sustainable for buildings. Review buildings and facilities to identify where improvements can be made in energy efficiency.
Research and evaluate methods, equipment and costs for reducing and managing food waste. Monitor recorded measurement data and identify areas for improvement relating to food waste prevention.
Determine key performance indicators (KPI) for reducing food waste and managing in line with established standards. Oversee the evaluation of methods, equipment and costs for food waste prevention.
Develop policies such as staff meal or food redistribution to reduce, reuse and recycle food waste where possible. This includes reviewing purchasing policies to identify areas for reducing food waste, e.g., quantities and quality of food products.
Develop strategies which aim to increase the efficiency in which a facility treats, transports, and disposes of hazardous waste materials, such as radioactive waste, chemicals, and electronics.
Check the impact of manufacturing machinery on the environment, analysing temperature levels, water quality and air pollution.
Manage and plan various resources, such as human resources, budget, deadline, results, and quality necessary for a specific project, and monitor the project's progress in order to achieve a specific goal within a set time and budget.
Search for information or people using databases.