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Additional context: Sustainable Business Plans Program

The City of Westminster Technical Working Group has a Sustainable City Charter that organisations in the area can commit to. It is a pledge containing eight areas for reducing carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings (non-domestic buildings currently contribute 71% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions), with the goal of having net zero buildings by 2040.

To become part of the charter, businesses must fill out an application, which includes outlining how they plan to address the eight areas — collaboration with other organisations, energy, procurement and purchasing, construction, deliveries, transport, waste, and implementation of the business’s charter commitments.

The application can be difficult for small businesses due to their limited resources, so the Sustainability Team at the University of Westminster is considering spearheading a program where sustainability-minded students would be paired with a small business that is interested in joining the charter to help them come up with and plan out their eight commitments and submit the application.

The student would need to do their research before initially meeting with the business so that they understand the sector the business is in, the sustainability issues that are prevalent in that sector, and how those issues could be realistically solved. 

Then, the student and the business would have an initial consultation to discuss what the business is already doing in terms of sustainability, where they could improve, and potential ideas for the eight charter commitments. Based on that meeting, the student would come up with options for the business’s eight commitments and a brief implementation plan for each option, meet with the business again to pitch those options, refine the plan for the chosen commitments based on the business’s feedback, and write a report on the plan that the business could refer to when filling out the charter application.