Taking steps - WYCC pledge

Lucy Davies, Marketing and Communications Manager.

It's been a full year since I kicked off this Green Blog with our intentions to become more sustainable and share our journey along the way in the hope of inspiring and supporting others.

The team has achieved a lot in a year.

Not only are we all carbon literacy certified, but four of the team have recently trained to become facilitators and will be training organisations across the region to grow awareness and understanding of the actions we can take to reduce our carbon emissions. Watch this space!

We've worked closely with colleges and partners to invest in 'green skills' in the region through the Strategic Development Fund - helping colleges to work together to embed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their every day, while also helping Electric Vehicle and Retrofit specialisms grow with expertise and equipment at our West Yorkshire colleges.

We launched the Green Skills Service, a dedicated space to share news, events, resources and training opportunities for businesses looking to become more sustainable either through specialist training or to grow awareness of climate change in relation to their businesses. We know there is still work to do to help such a wide range of businesses to find a starting point, and we're working with a range of partners to develop the right offer.

Today, we're publishing WYCC's Climate and Sustainability Pledge - our official approach to becoming more sustainable. Putting this together took more work than we first thought! We wanted it to be a team effort that we all buy into and understand, and keep it realistic while stretching our current activities and business to develop in more sustainable ways.

Our pledge is by no means a document that we will allow to gather dust. We are constantly striving to lead by example, learn from others and grow into becoming a sustainable business that can help others on their journey too. The pledge will be reviewed as we grow and change.

And here it is ...

West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges Climate and Sustainability Pledge

We pledge to

• Strive to empower employers and learners with courses and skills, that progress their careers and wellbeing, and that participate and benefit the green economy and transition to net zero.
• Educate WYCC staff to be aware of the climate emergency, environmental issues and issues that intersect with the climate emergency.
• Support partner colleges with the development of green curriculum and sustainability practices.
• Progress to become net zero in line with the Luminate Education Group.

Our operations. We will

• Engage and collaborate with partner colleges, regional stakeholders and employers to address the climate emergency, whilst facilitating funded projects focused on green skills, sustainability and the green economy.
• Encourage the sustainable and ethical procurement of materials and resources for WYCC operations and supply chains.
• Plan events and delivery using methods to minimize our carbon footprint taking into consideration the venue, travel, products used and food waste.
• Utilise the #GreenWY campaign tag throughout WYCC media channels to identify and share ‘green’ messages and promote good practice that contributes to net zero.

Our culture. We will

• Raise awareness about the climate emergency and our role in addressing it, through our activities with partner colleges, employers and stakeholders.
• Commit to upskilling all members of WYCC staff with knowledge, training and qualifications in sustainability and the environment including aspiring to become carbon literate.
• Partake in volunteering that addresses the climate emergency.
• Inspire others by sharing our progress, journey, challenges and achievements.

Want to join us?

This October we are the headline supporters of the first ever North Green Skills Conference and we're hoping to bring debate, discussion and good practice to an even wider Northern audience. Tickets are available now, come and join us!