Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the One World Scout Bureau’s (OneWSB) sustainability measures are standardised and implemented across all its support centres.

All employees of the OneWSB are representatives of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) and thus it is essential for employees to carry, support and implement the values embedded in the Scout Promise and Law. Environmental protection should be part of our commitment as OneWSB staff. WOSM representatives are expected to lead by example and environmental sustainability is no exception.

This policy is part of WOSM’s effort to implement a Climate Impact Strategy.

 

Expected Outcomes

• Encourage staff to develop a proactive attitude towards environmental sustainability and create a community of good practices across the OneWSB to develop an organisational culture that fosters environmental action and protection.
• All efforts in this area should support our organisational efforts of reducing our ecological footprint and enable staff to practice more responsible consumption habits (i.e. reduction in printing documents, recycling practices etc.)
• Our practices must be prioritised in the following manner:
  • Avoid: to avoid practices that can harm the environment, when possible
  • Reduce: to reduce practices that are not environmentally friendly
  • Compensate: to compensate the practice that lead to emissions, i.e. emissions that cannot be avoided without compromising delivering on the overall mission and vision of WOSM should be compensated according to the highest standard. e.g. offsetting flight tickets with tree planting through specialised agencies.

 

Scope

This Environmental Sustainability Policy applies to all Support Centres of the World Scout Bureau, global and regional including the staff members, volunteers involved in the operations, meetings and events related to the offices. The policy should embed environmental and sustainable practices into the heart of our organisation, governance and its daily operations.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Wherever the word “sustainability“ is mentioned in this policy it refers solely to environmental sustainability and requires responsible action from all OneWSB staff.

 

Sections of the policy

The WSB Environmental Sustainability Policy is divided into seven sections. Each section includes an introductory explanation of the section and outlines the actions required. Many sections overlap due to the goal the sections aim to achieve. The policy collectively highlights three main aspects:

• Inputs to the WSB (i.e. purchased goods and services)
• Daily management/conduct (i.e. food and energy consumption)
• Outputs from the WSB (i.e. waste produced, ecological impact)

 

WSB Environmental Sustainability Policy sections

 

1. Understanding and monitoring impact

The aim is to develop and standardise a OneWSB Environmental Sustainability culture and measures that are understandable and monitored by all WSB staff.

Actions:

• Establish and maintain an organisation-wide culture that embeds environmental responsibility, action and accountability into our strategy and business model.
• Establish and maintain the role of Environment Champion in each support centre who will oversee the implementation of the Environmental Sustainability Policy.
• Develop an annual OneWSB plan that aligns with WOSM’s World and Regional Triennial Plans and KPIs, the WSB Environmental Sustainability Policy, and WOSM’s Climate Impact Strategy, while giving some flexibility for each support centre’s needs and obligations.
• Integrate environmental training into staff induction for new employees joinging the
• Create a guiding document for workplace cleaning and maintenance support
• Contract external party to measure sustainable value in a series of categories. Each category addresses the most influential factors, including carbon emissions reduction, resilience; adaption to climate change; and ecological value and biodiversity protection
• Develop educational content about impacts of diets/food types (meat/dairy/palm oil/…) on the carbon emissions and health in general, and promote it among staff.
• Annually review the environmental sustainability measures, structure and responsibilities and adjust accordingly.
• Annual ecological footprint reporting – develop a yearly environmental audit to consider and report on all climate impact induced by OneWSB activities (travel, events ) in line with WOSM’s Climate Impact Strategy.

 

2.     Energy use and supply

To improve the way we use energy across the OneWSB it is essential to be mindful of our energy consumption. Energy conservation is the effort made to reduce the consumption of energy by using less of an energy service. This can be achieved either by an improved energy efficiency or by reducing the amounts of energy used.

Actions:

• Purchase energy-efficient equipment, when
• Reduce peak demand, the time when energy consumption is at its We can reduce our demand during this time by staggering work hours / start times, running heavy equipment during the evening and early morning hours, and conserving energy throughout the day.
• Use energy-efficient light
• Use servers that are more eco-
• Install renewable energy sources where
• Reduce phantom energy, by ensuring that equipment is unplugged and power strips switched off when devices are not in use.
• Inspire staff to be energy-efficient in their day-to-day work by developing incentives if they propose solutions to how the workplace can be more energy-efficienct.

 

3.     Green initiatives and people

The aim is to support staff and encourage them not only to follow the sustainability policy but become proactive with it across the OneWSB. We encourage staff to embrace the environmental sustainability principles and practices outside of the office as well, which will allow for easier implementation in the workplace. Through this policy OneWSB seeks to create incentives and embed environmental sustainability into staff choices and actions.

Actions:

• Green wall/corner: to establish in each support centre and green wall or corner that inspire staff and visitors of the premises to be eco-friendly by nature.
• Encourage individual showcases of best practices carried out at home or
• Green Award: to establish an annual staff award at each support centre for those who brought forward different initiatives and displayed good environmental practices throughout the Criteria of the award will be determined by each support centre.
• To sign up for any national, regional and world standardised certification in the area of environmental sustainability
• Increase biodiversity in the surrounding: g. Greenery roof supported by WOSM, green funds created by WOSM … etc.)
• Offering Environmental Education training for teams and individuals (cleaning team, neighbouring institutions, suppliers … ) with our Environmental Sustainability partners.
• A sustainability criteria for selection of outsourced services should be included when possible
• Encourage carpooling and useof public transport
• Environmental pledge signed by each of the employees during their
• Organise events for staff encouraging sustainability including but not limited to:
• Sustainability Day (quarterly) during which staff are encouraged to come to work by public transportation or car pool and bring their lunch from home in reusable containers
• Organise a Scout camping weekend that is environmentally friendly once a year for staff and their families

 

4.     Waste

The aim in this section is to highlight regular practices to reduce the waste produced by OneWSB offices through.

Actions:

• Provide recycled paper and recycling bins in all offices and at all
• Replace paper towels with reusable
• Install half flush feature in the
• Install paper-free hand drying solutions in the
• Whenever paper is installed for hand drying, encourage minimum use of it and raise awareness of more sustainable ways of using it.
• Provide eco-friendly
• Encourage employees to use re-usable items by bringing them to the office and carrying them when going on missions
• Adopt ‘paperless’ events, where event material and information is saved on event
• Ensure that food orders are enough for the exact number of people, and find sustainable ways to avoid food waste.
• Where possible, cleaning company to weigh the amount of waste produced by the WSB per month and share the data with WSB.
• Place a specific container for disposable batteries or any electronic items and ensure staff are aware of it.
• Limit the number of refrigerators used in the
• Raise awareness on how to efficiently wash your
• Team challenge, the team that has been wasting less wins a
• Avoid unnecessary printing, print in B/W instead of colour and set ‘duplex printing’ feature to print on both sides of paper.
• Avoid producing physical documents if possible or order in small
• Purchase eco-friendly cleaning products and
• Wash cloths and mops rather than
• Dispose or recycle electronic items (computers, screens, ) with the appropriate ecological process recognised in the city and in line with the IT policies.
• Consider installing water-saving

 

5.     Travel and transport

As youth events, trainings and international meetings are within our job, it is best to find ways to do this more sustainably. This should focus on minimising the negative impacts of travel and ideally be beneficial to place we are travelling to.

Actions:

• Consider the most sustainable form of transport to get to your
• Take direct travels where Target offsetting airlines and/or calculate the carbon footprint and make a donation (offsetting). Include the offsetting cost in the travel budget.
• Use the most sustainable form of transport when you’re at your Try to choose walking or cycling-distance venues for activities.
• Choose a locally-owned accommodation and/ or check for green certifications at hotels and
• Choose maximum room occupancy (sharing accommodation) where culturally acceptable and suitable to the format of event.
• Avoid daily change of towels and sheets during accommodation in hotels, and use of air conditioning only if necessary.
• Volunteer at a local NGO or join community tourism projects during your
• Eat in restaurants and cafes owned by locals
• Avoid takeout food that generates plastic waste from
• Pack light.

 

6.     Suppliers and contractors

This section should guide the appointment of contractors and suppliers to collaborate with the OneWSB in alignment with sustainability principles.

Actions:

• Have defined criteria and guidelines that need to be taken into account for the recruitment of a new contractor or supplier.
• Always ask the contractor for an environmentally friendly proposal
• For the organisation of events, including food and venues, check the WOSM Guidelines for sustainable events.

 

7.     Communication and Joint Initiatives

This section will explore ways to communicate our actions internally, with our partners, and with our internal and external stakeholders.

Actions:

• Update and manage website content, expanding sustainability in the World Scout
• Update carbon footprint calculation
• Maintain an internal communications campaign for learning new sustainable habits for staff to incorporate inside and outside the workplace.
• Ensure any sustainability achievements are reflected on social media and news pieces to promote these actions to young people and other external audiences.
• Regularly report on achievements and actions to the SMT, our stakeholders and our partners. These should be included in WOSM’s Annual Report.
• Regular attendance and contribution to environment-related meetings in the
• Host meeting/event that is Environment related benefit the public

IMPORTANT NOTE: The policy is complementing all other HR policies and documents, as well as the WOSM guidelines for organising sustainable events.

 

 

Implementation of the Policy

The following points will ensure an effective implementation of the WSB Environmental Sustainability Policy:

• Appointing a WSB environment champions group that consists of at least one staff from each WSB support centre. This group will work with each support centre to follow and thrive in the implementation of the
• An induction of the champions group and the admin staff to implement the
• Create an implementation plan for each support centre that is customized and aligned with the general 5 year plan. This plan will be agreed with the SMT and consider a significant budget for implementation.
• Define the criteria and steps to find an external monitoring agent for sustainability in each support

 

 

Log Sheet
Category	Human Resources
Edition No	#1
Approved By	Senior Management Team (SMT)
Approval Date	November 2021
Effective Date	November 2021
Policy holder	Director, Human Resources