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Sustainability policy

Aims

The UK Centre for Legal Education will contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) within and across the legal education community. Our ESD work will, where appropriate, be undertaken in association with other parts of the Higher Education Academy, the professional bodies, the ESD Centres for Excellence and other relevant agencies and stakeholders.

In order to give added credibility to this curriculum related work, UKCLE will seek to align its own practices and activities with sustainability principles. The UKCLE team are therefore committed to minimising their environmental impact through continuous improvement in environmental performance and to contribute to the ethos of fair and equitable society locally and globally.

Operational practice

UKCLE seeks to ensure environmentally and socially responsible operational practice in all its activities. Accordingly, it is our policy to:

  • develop, implement and maintain a sustainability action plan
  • minimise consumption of resources – re-use, repair and then recycle wherever possible
  • reduce emissions arising from energy use, both in the office and from travelling
  • take environmental and social factors into consideration in procurement activity
  • educate, train and motivate staff to work in an environmentally and socially responsible manner and to play a full part in developing new ideas and initiatives
  • set and monitor relevant, measureable sustainability objectives and targets, and report progress regularly, both internally and externally
  • use all suitable opportunities to influence colleagues, partners, and suppliers to improve their own environmental performance
  • review the sustainability policy and action plan on an annual basis

Core activities

UKCLE will:

  • encourage colleagues to incorporate informed sustainability perspectives within their work
  • develop the capacities of academic staff to promote understanding of the principles of sustainability
  • expose colleagues to concepts of social, ecological and ethical stewardship
  • support and encourage interdisciplinary work on issues of sustainable development and ESD
  • promote awareness of legislative, economic, technical and market developments that assist progress towards sustainability
  • build partnerships and create information and learning networks for sharing experiences and knowledge of sustainability issues with stakeholders
  • provide input wherever possible to local, regional, national and international fora on sustainable development and ESD
  • support the contribution of electronic learning and communication to reductions in resource use
  • encourage participants in our events to consider travel CO2 emissions; we will aim to hold events at venues that have an environmental and social sustainability policy
  • produce our printed publications on recycled and low environmental impact materials where possible and run the Centre’s office in an environmentally friendly way

Management and evaluation

UKCLE’s Centre Manager is designated with overall responsibility for the implementation of the sustainability policy and action plan. Responsibility is shared by all the team, who will be encouraged to recognise their potential contribution to the achievement of a sustainable subject centre.

Progress towards the achievement of the above aims will be monitored and evaluated, and a brief sustainability report published and included as part of our annual report to the Academy.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010