Program Overview

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Championing Sustainability

Driving Impact and Innovation for a Greener Business Future

Key details

• Location: Online
• Course duration: 2 weeks

Course overview

Develop the skills and knowledge to drive sustainability within your organisation, influence positive change, and create a personalised action plan that reduces your negative impacts, boosts your positive impacts, and enhances your business’ performance.

Sustainability is no longer just a business trend – it’s a necessity for long-term success. This two-week online course empowers professionals and organisations across sectors to embrace sustainability as a strategic opportunity. Designed for individuals passionate about making a difference, this programme combines practical tools, sustainability frameworks, and expert-led insights to help you identify focal points and deliver measurable change within your organisation.

Tuition fees per individual:

• £50 per learner (CIOS resident)
• £100 per learner (out-of-county participants)

Course details

With a focus on actionable strategies, you will explore the principles of sustainability, learn how to assess and reduce carbon emissions, and understand how delivering and communicating initiatives can create a competitive edge. The course will also guide you in successfully engaging stakeholders, advocating for governance changes, and driving change in high-impact areas such as supply chain improvements.

Whether your role or business sits specifically in the visitor economy or lies within other sectors, this course will give you the tools to champion sustainability and implement innovative solutions in your professional context.

You will:

• Develop a clear understanding of sustainability principles and their relevance to business success.
• Learn leadership strategies to drive sustainable change within your role or organisation.
• Gain tools for assessing and reducing your carbon footprint while improving sustainability across the supply chain.
• Explore sustainability frameworks, including Doughnut Economics, carbon emission measurement tools, and benchmarking strategies.
• Understand how to promote sustainability to stakeholders and customers in an authentic manner.
• Create a personalised, actionable plan to embed sustainability within your organisation.

Course outline

Week One: The Foundations for Sustainable Change

• Introduction to Sustainability in Business Explore sustainability principles, the challenges of unsustainable practices, and how businesses can lead change.
• Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage Discover how businesses leverage sustainability to boost brand reputation and attract customers.
• Understanding Your Impact Use tools like carbon footprint calculators to assess your organisation's environmental footprint and identify areas for improvement.
• Sustainable Supply Chains Learn how to build resilient, circular supply chains that minimise waste, reduce carbon emissions, and promote ethical practices.

Week Two: Benchmarking, Promoting, and Action Planning

• Measuring and Benchmarking Sustainability Performance Understand key metrics, tools, and benchmarks to evaluate and improve sustainability initiatives.
• Advocating for Sustainability Learn how to engage stakeholders, establish governance structures, and communicate sustainability authentically.
• Creating Your Action Plan Develop a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) action plan tailored to your role and organisation.
• Reflection and Next Steps Present your plans, discuss opportunities for ongoing improvement, and access resources to continue your sustainability journey.

What you'll learn

• Build the knowledge and leadership skills to become an effective sustainability champion.
• Implement practical strategies to reduce negative environmental impacts, boost positive ones, and measure your performance across multiple sustainability themes.
• Explore real-world case studies to understand successful supply chain initiatives, approaches to communication, and wider best practices in sustainability.
• Develop and share a tailored action plan aligned with your role and organisational goals.

How you’ll learn

This online course is designed for flexibility and engagement, enabling you to study alongside your professional commitments. You’ll spend approximately 4 hours per week completing:

• Recorded lectures and guided learning materials.
• Interactive activities, including sustainability assessments and case study discussions.
• Weekly live webinars with subject-matter experts Greg, Marcus, and Jake.
• Forum discussions to share reflections, ideas, and action plans with peers.
• Optional quizzes to reinforce your understanding.

All materials and discussions will be accessed via our dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

How you'll be assessed

The course concludes with a multiple-choice quiz to test your learning. A 70% pass rate is required to earn your certificate of completion, and you’ll have unlimited attempts within a 30-day access period after the course ends.

Please note: While this course does not offer university credits, it equips participants with valuable skills to drive sustainability within the workplace.

Course team

Dr Greg Borne

Course Leader, International Business Management MSc

I have over 20 years experience in researching, teaching and implementing multiple dimensions of sustainability.

Marcus Simmons

Course Leader, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management MSc

Marcus is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur who in 2016 swapped the board room for the classroom and now teaches entrepreneurship and innovation.

Jake Causley

Sustainability Coordinator

Jake is an enthusiastic sustainability advocate with over 5 years of experience in driving environmental initiatives.

Resources and support

The following resources are available to participants enrolled on our online short courses:

• Access to a dedicated virtual learning environment (VLE) with course materials, discussions, and announcements.
• Weekly webinars for live interaction with tutors and peers.
• 24/7 VLE support.
• Online learning community for collaboration and feedback.
• Ongoing access to curated sustainability tools and resources.

How to apply

Various dates will be available for this course. To register your interest, please enquire with us directly.

Tuition fees per individual:

• £50 per learner (CIOS resident)
• £100 per learner (out-of-county participants)

Eligibility criteria:

• Participants must be aged 18 or over.

Fees, costs & funding

Tuition fees per individual:

• £50 per learner (CIOS resident)
• £100 per learner (out-of-county participants)

You will be required to pay the course fee in full upon receiving confirmation of your place to study on the course. You will be sent a link to make the payment online. Full instructions will be available on how to make the payment.

Computer Specification:

You will need access to a laptop/desktop computer. It is an essential piece of equipment that you will need right from the start of the course.

Our VLE only requires an operating system that can run the latest compatible web browsers. Your computer operating system should be kept up to date with the latest recommended security updates and upgrades.

We recommend one with as fast a processor as you can afford (8GB of RAM minimum) and a reasonably sized screen (13" minimum, 15" is optimum), plus the following minimum computer specifications:

Windows:

• Windows 10
• At least an i7 processor
• No less than 8-16 GB Ram
• Graphics Card (nVidia 1080 minimum, not Intel Iris integrated graphics) with at least 2GB
• 256GB hard drive space minimum
• 1920 x 1080 display resolution or higher (most displays offer a higher resolution than this)

Apple MacBook:

• Mac OS 10.15 or newer
• At least an i7 processor
• No less than 8-16GB Ram
• Graphics Card
• 256GB hard drive space minimum
• 1920 x 1080 display resolution or higher (most displays offer a higher resolution than this)
• A dongle to plug additional resources into the laptop is also required for all modern MacBooks

Other digital equipment/software:

• 16 -32 GB memory stick so you can back up your work regularly (approx. £10-20)

Internet Speed

Along with compatibility and web standards, our VLE has been carefully crafted to accommodate low bandwidth environments. It is recommended to have a minimum Internet speed of 512kbps.