We’re so excited to have more staff than ever before taking part in the Sustainability Champions programme this year! We have so many passionate and enthusiastic people ready to take on the challenges of embedding sustainable practices within the workplace, which just goes to show how committed our staff are. We can’t wait to see what they come up with over the next year.
Kedijah Eaves-O’Connor, Engagement Officer, King's Climate & Sustainability
25 October 2024
King's gets together to boost sustainability with relaunch of staff climate network
Staff from across the University attended the launch events to commit to driving sustainable changes across King’s
Staff from across King’s came together for a series of events to relaunch the Sustainability Champions scheme for the 2024-25.
Over 100 people from across the university attended the launches, coming together to share their ideas about how to enhance both social and environmental sustainability across King’s offices, residences and laboratories.
The events started with the Sustainability Champions together hearing about King’s Climate & Sustainability’s plans for the year ahead, including campaigns to reduce waste and travel emission, how they can get involved in Climate & Sustainability Month, and the Climate Action Network.
Kedijah Eaves-O’Connor, Engagement Officer for King’s Climate & Sustainability and leader of the Sustainability Champions, said:
Alongside the Green Impact (for office staff) and Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF, for labs) pathways, this year a new digital pathway was introduced in collaboration with the RMID e-Research Team called Green DiSC – the Digital Sustainability certificate – for computational researchers.
This new programme aims to reduce the carbon impact of computer-heavy research including bioinformatics, AI, machine learning and high-performance computing.
The Sustainability Champions scheme works to help King’s reduce its harmful effects on the environment and deliver against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through embedding sustainable practices within policies and operations at a departmental level.
In the 10 years since the scheme’s inception, the scheme has grown to over 400 members, with 59 teams around the University having been recognised at the Awards Ceremony in July 2024.
Guided by Students Organising Sustainability UK frameworks, teams work to meet a series of sustainability goals through developing projects and actions across key action areas such as Waste, Travel, Biodiversity, Community, and Energy, in line with the King’s Climate & Sustainability Action Plan.
The programme empowers staff to make positive and sustainable changes to their work environments, while providing staff development opportunities and wellbeing benefits.
Join the staff Sustainability Champions scheme
Find out more about Green DiSC and sign up to the scheme
LEAF & Green DiSC content: Caitlin Broadbent