University awarded prestigious international environmental certificate

Wednesday, 10 May 2017

Following a thorough audit by the NQA, our London Road and Whiteknights campuses have been certified to the internationally-recognised environmental standard ISO14001:2015.  

Assessment criteria for the standard was recently revised, and the University excelled itself on meeting the new guidelines. In particular, our updated environmental management system (EMS) passed with flying colours and was awarded ‘no non-conformities’ –meeting every EMS assessment point and fulfilling all criteria. 

The NQA auditor praised the University and said:

“Well done on achieving certification to ISO 14001:2015 and for developing one of the best and most complete management systems I have seen.”  

The revised standard places an increased emphasis on leadership, commitment, continual improvement of environmental performance, and an embedded focus on sustainability in everyday business.  

The University was able to show that the EMS was effective by:

• Embedding environmental and sustainability into key business processes, e.g. via the Estate Strategy.
• Ensuring that sustainability is considered during the procurement process.
• Making staff aware of their collective and individual environmental impacts.
• Communicating areas of good practice and promoting the positive impacts that the University can and does have.
• Demonstrating continual improvement of environmental performance (35% carbon reduction and diverting 99% of waste away from landfill), as well as forward planning with long term strategic plans that take into account the influence of internal and external issues e.g. legislative changes, student population etc.
• Providing cost savings and a significant return on investment as demonstrated by the Carbon Management Plan.
• Maintaining compliance to legal and mandatory obligations by auditing, reporting and reviewing processes.

The prestigious certification validates the University’s commitment to environmental initiatives and sustainability – for external customers, research bodies, suppliers and interested parties, it signifies that environmental risks are being actively identified and addressed, and that compliance is a key consideration. 

For more information about the EMS process please contact Anna Glue (Sustainability Officer), or to report sustainability issues or achievements please contact Sustainability Services on ext. 6837 or via sustainability@reading.ac.uk.