Accelerate International Academy (AIA)

Environmental & Sustainability Policy

Policy Owner: Director / Designated Sustainability Lead
Approved by: Senior Leadership Team
Version: 1.0
Review cycle: Annual (or sooner if legislation changes)
Applies from: 20th May 2026

1. Policy Statement

Accelerate International Academy (AIA) recognises that all organisational activities have an environmental impact, including digital learning delivery, procurement, travel, energy use, and supplier engagement.

AIA is committed to operating in a manner that:

  • Protects and enhances the environment
  • Prevents pollution where reasonably practicable
  • Reduces carbon emissions in line with UK net zero ambitions
  • Promotes sustainable behaviours among staff, learners, subcontractors, and partners
  • Ensures compliance with all relevant UK environmental legislation and guidance

This policy aligns with recognised best practice frameworks used across UK education and training providers, including ISO 14001 Environmental Management principles, carbon reduction planning approaches, and the UK Government’s net zero strategy direction.

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

  • All AIA staff (permanent, temporary, freelance, and contractors)
  • All learners and participants in AIA programmes
  • Subcontractors, delivery partners, and suppliers
  • All operations including:
    • Online training delivery and digital platforms
    • Office-based activities and remote working
    • Events, workshops, and community delivery
    • Procurement and supply chain activity
    • Business travel and commuting

3. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

AIA will comply, as a minimum, with all applicable environmental legislation, including but not limited to:

  • Environmental Protection Act 1990
  • Waste Regulations (England and Wales) 2011
  • Climate Change Act 2008 (as amended)
  • Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) principles (where applicable)
  • Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) principles (where applicable to organisational size)
  • Local authority environmental requirements

Where appropriate, AIA will also seek to align with:

  • ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems principles
  • UK Government Net Zero Strategy expectations
  • Public sector sustainability procurement guidance

4. Environmental Commitments

AIA commits to continual environmental improvement through the following key areas:

4.1 Carbon and Energy Reduction

AIA will:

  • Measure and monitor energy use where applicable (office, digital infrastructure, suppliers)
  • Reduce unnecessary energy consumption
  • Prioritise energy-efficient digital systems and cloud services
  • Encourage low-carbon working practices (remote delivery, reduced travel)

4.2 Digital Delivery and Resource Efficiency

As a primarily digital training provider, AIA recognises the reduced environmental impact of online learning and will:

  • Promote paperless systems wherever possible
  • Minimise printing across all operations
  • Encourage digital-first learning materials and communications
  • Reduce duplication of resources and storage waste

4.3 Waste Management (Waste Hierarchy)

AIA adopts the UK Waste Hierarchy principles:

  1. Prevention
  2. Reuse
  3. Recycling
  4. Recovery
  5. Disposal (last resort)

We will:

  • Minimise waste generation across all operations
  • Ensure responsible disposal of any unavoidable waste
  • Encourage recycling and reuse within offices and events
  • Work with suppliers who demonstrate sustainable waste practices

4.4 Sustainable Procurement

AIA will aim to:

  • Integrate environmental considerations into procurement decisions
  • Prefer suppliers with clear environmental or ESG commitments
  • Avoid unnecessary consumption of goods and services
  • Consider lifecycle impact (not just cost) when selecting suppliers

4.5 Travel and Transport

AIA will:

  • Minimise business travel through digital alternatives (video conferencing)
  • Encourage public transport, walking, cycling, or low-emission travel where travel is necessary
  • Consider carbon impact when planning in-person delivery

4.6 Digital Environmental Impact Awareness

AIA recognises that digital operations still have environmental impact (data storage, servers, devices). We will:

  • Encourage efficient use of digital storage and platforms
  • Avoid unnecessary duplication of files and emails
  • Promote responsible device usage and lifecycle awareness

5. Environmental Management Approach

AIA will operate a proportionate Environmental Management System (EMS) based on continual improvement:

  • Plan: Identify environmental impacts and set improvement actions
  • Do: Implement controls and staff guidance
  • Check: Monitor performance and compliance
  • Act: Review and improve annually

Where appropriate, AIA will develop measurable environmental objectives such as:

  • Reduction in paper use
  • Reduction in travel emissions
  • Increased supplier sustainability compliance
  • Improved digital efficiency practices

6. Learner Environmental Responsibility and Engagement

AIA recognises that learners play an important role in reducing environmental impact. As a digital-first training provider, we integrate sustainability into programme design, delivery methods, and learner expectations rather than relying solely on standalone teaching.

6.1 Learner Expectations

All learners participating in AIA programmes are expected to:

  • Engage with digital-first learning materials rather than requesting printed resources
  • Use online collaboration tools responsibly to avoid unnecessary duplication of files and emails
  • Consider environmental impact when completing project work (e.g. choosing digital outputs over physical materials where appropriate)
  • Participate in sustainability-related discussions or activities embedded within the curriculum where relevant
  • Follow any environmental guidance provided during workshops, events, or in-person sessions

These expectations are introduced during onboarding and reinforced throughout programme delivery.

6.2 How AIA Supports Environmentally Responsible Behaviour

AIA actively supports learners to adopt sustainable behaviours through:

Digital-by-default learning design

  • All core learning materials are delivered digitally
  • Submissions, feedback, and collaboration take place online to minimise resource use

Low-waste programme structure

  • Programmes are designed to avoid printing, physical handouts, or disposable materials wherever possible
  • Learners are guided to use accessible digital alternatives (notes apps, shared documents, LMS tools)

Behavioural “nudges” within learning platforms

  • Prompts encouraging file efficiency (e.g. avoiding duplicate uploads)
  • Encouragement of structured file naming and storage to reduce digital waste
  • Guidance on efficient use of video and data-heavy content where relevant

Sustainability integration into learning content

  • Where appropriate, employability and enterprise tasks include consideration of environmental impact (e.g. sustainable business ideas, ethical decision-making, resource efficiency)

6.3 In-Person Delivery (Where Applicable)

Where face-to-face delivery or events take place, AIA will encourage learners to:

  • Use public transport, walking, cycling or low-emmission travel where possible
  • Minimise single-use materials
  • Dispose of waste responsibly using provided recycling systems
  • Avoid unnecessary printing of materials provided digitally in advance

6.4 Learner Awareness and Development

AIA will:

  • Introduce and reinforce environmental responsibility through programme communications
  • Where relevant, link sustainability to employability skills (e.g. workplace responsibility, digital efficiency, professionalism)

6.5 Inclusion and Accessibility

AIA recognises that environmental practices must be inclusive and accessible. Learners will not be disadvantaged by sustainability measures, and reasonable adjustments will be made where required (e.g. printed materials for accessibility needs).

 

6. Roles and Responsibilities

Senior Leadership Team

  • Overall responsibility for environmental performance
  • Approval of objectives and policy updates
  • Allocation of resources

Sustainability Lead (or nominated officer)

  • Implementation of this policy
  • Monitoring environmental actions
  • Reporting progress to leadership
  • Ensuring staff awareness and engagement

Staff and Contractors

  • Comply with environmental requirements
  • Apply sustainable practices in daily operations
  • Report inefficiencies or environmental risks

Learners

  • Behaviour is shaped through design, expectations, and delivery systems
  • Engage with sustainability expectations in programme delivery
  • Follow digital and resource efficiency guidance

7. Training and Awareness

AIA will:

  • Provide environmental awareness information to staff
  • Embed sustainability themes where relevant in learning delivery
  • Promote responsible digital and operational behaviours
  • Encourage continuous improvement culture

8. Monitoring, Reporting and Review

AIA will:

  • Review environmental performance at least annually
  • Track relevant metrics where feasible (energy, travel, paper use, procurement impacts)
  • Maintain records of environmental actions and improvements
  • Update this policy in response to:
    • Regulatory changes
    • Organisational growth
    • Operational risk changes

Where proportionate, AIA may publish a simple annual sustainability statement.

9. Continuous Improvement Commitment

AIA commits to a culture of continuous environmental improvement, ensuring that sustainability is embedded into organisational decision-making, delivery, and growth.

We will strive to:

  • Reduce environmental impact over time
  • Improve awareness and engagement
  • Collect feedback from learners, staff and partners on ways to improve
  • Strengthen sustainable procurement and operations
  • Support the UK’s wider net zero transition

10. Approval

This policy has been approved by the Senior Leadership Team and is endorsed as part of AIA’s commitment to responsible and sustainable education delivery.