Reference Material and Standards

From Open Sustainability

Activity: Reference Material and Standards

Objective

Reference Material and Standards involves conducting detail research on the issue and ways to address. This review should involve any work that has been done within the organization in the past and also the body of work in the public domain.

Major Deliverables

• Issue briefing paper
• Resource list

Tasks

Review reference material

Objective: To conduct a thorough search on the issue at hand to ensure that all options to address are looked at, and the best available option is selected. This review may be conducted by an external expert if sufficient understanding of the issue is not available in-house.

Input:

• Existing information in the organization on the issue
• Specialist websites
• Case studies

Output:

• Summary of background review
• Summary of applicable standards
• List of reference material used

Develop project brief

Objective: Prepare a briefing note for management and for the project team. This should include an overall summary of the project, summary of background information, success factors and impact to the organization.

Input:

• Summary of project review
• Risk and opportunities

Output:

• Project brief

Choose project standard

Objective: Following a standard when completing the project can make it easier to understand exactly what needs to be done. Also following a recognized standard adds credibility to the final product. Stakeholders want assurance that what an organization says they do they actually do. Certification to a standard gives comfort that a third party has checked an organizations performane and deemed it in compliance.

The standard chosen needs to reflect the project at hand. There may be a few standards available for each issue and an organization will need to determine which is the best fit for them. Some example of standards in various subject areas are:

• Timber and paper products - 
  • Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
    
  • Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC)
    
  • Sustainable Forests Inititative (SFI)
    

• Carbon Offsets -
  
  • Gold Standard (GS)
    
  • Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS)
    
  • The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards (CCBS)
    

• Ecolabels -
  
  • Green Seal
    
  • Environment Product Declaration (EPD)
  • The Blue Angel

Input:

• Summary of project review
• Summary of applicable standards
• List of reference material used

Output:

• Summary of feasibility of meeting selected project standard

Develop resource list

Objective: Create a dynamic repositoty of references and information used for the project within FISDev. Procedures written up in FISDev should link to the corresponding list.

Input:

• Summary of project review
• Summary of applicable standards
• List of reference material used

Output:

• Project resource list

Core Supporting Assets

Yellow Flags

• Insufficient knowledge of person conducting reviews may involve project following a lesser standard.
• Insufficient time allocated for review resulting in a too narrow a body of work assessed.
• Preparing summaries and Resource list are not always high priority for team but best completed throughout the project.

Key Resource Requirements

• Project Manager
• Sustainability Program Manager