Other

Use grants to fund investment in environmentally friendly practice

Objectives

Transform the day-to-day running of the organisation by raising funds from various sources to (in)directly pursue sustainable environment Objectives

Green Value indicator

Project activities are implemented by staff working in a physical environment. When an organisation fails to improve its infrastructure, it may face higher running costs as a result of low energy efficiency, higher ecological footprint due to obsolete working methods, or high CO2 emissions as a consequence of badly organised workflow.
There are various targeted grants that organisations can benefit from, which will allow them to invest in improving the work processes and environment.

Explanation

Internal project management can be affected by how the organisation operates and the physical environment where the project activities are implemented.
Organisation management should explore available grants, which will co-fund (rarely fund fully) investment in physical infrastructure or work processes to make them more eco-friendly.
There might be funding available from:

Your local authority (town, region, state level)
Your country’s central government specific funds
European Union funding through its programmes
NGOs managing grant programmes on behalf of a donor
Crowdfunding
Sponsorship in exchange for advertising
Companies’ funds as part of their social responsibility

PROS/CONS of the action

Pros:

When a cost/benefit analysis is conducted, where various factors are included: financial, but also environmental, staff well-being, reputation, etc, actions taken will ultimately lead to an improved business model, higher productivity and lower long-term costs, and most importantly the results will benefit the environment.

Cons:

Most grants usually require the organisation to partly fund the improvement initiative.

Certified

Depending on the grant, the improvement of infrastructure or work processes can be accompanied by certification, which in turn opens new business / work opportunities when such certification is required. Explore ISO 14001 - EMS

Link to useful sources

European Union grants:

UK portal for exploring public and private grants:

UK Government portal for exploring public grants:

UK online hub listing various available grants to start-ups: footer