What are sustainability plans?
Cooperatives or other legal formulas linked to the social and solidarity economy defend the value of our own Sustainability of our projects in a much wider framework than that of economic capacity. But do we know exactly what we are talking about?
A sustainability plan collects the set of practices within the strategy and modus operandi of our entity linked to guaranteeing a Long -term positive impact on society, the environment and the economy. In this sense, a sustainability plan is not only to achieve financial benefits to make the project viable in the short term, but also has on the roadmap the economic, social and environmental impact it will have in its immediate environment.
In addition to the economic, environmental and social dimensions, sustainability plans also incorporate as a criterion the horizontal and democratic governance fostering the Transparency and accountability.
These plans, in addition to designing a present and future development strategy, also guarantee a series of exercises or Evaluation measures to make the results of our practices visible. This gesture is essential for our desires to improve in all aspects mentioned not only in this, good words and intentions but truly Specifies in measurable and valuable actions.
It is in this context of accountability that environmental policy certificates appear. These certificates are documents issued by relevant entities that, after one exhaustive examination of applied policies Internally in our entities they are capable of ensuring that the desired impact is real and palpable. These types of certificates also emit improvement reports, which we can enter as guides to optimize the resources and actions we allocate to our sustainability plan.
There is different types of certificatesincluding:
– ISO 14001: that evaluates the Sustainability Plan as such, the proposed milestones, the capacity to comply with them by both the staff and the resources to be used, or the control and evaluation systems of the plan.
– EMAS environmental verification: A community system of environmental management and audit that allows the participation, voluntarily, of organizations inside and outside the community. Here you can see more information about the EMAS certificate.
– ISO 50001 energy efficiency: It certifies an optimal energy management system, helping organizations to properly manage the energy aspects of their activity, services, facilities and products.
– Iso carbon footprint 14064: It is the basis for counting the greenhouse gas emissions of an entity.
From Coópolis we want to accompany the cooperatives that wish it in the process of improving their strategy of sustainability and impact on the environment. For this reason, the accompaniments and workshops are promoted from the eco -social transition circle.
The next February 19all entities that wish can Participate in the meeting ‘Fer of your Cooperative Punta de Llança of the Ecosocial Transition’where we will address, among others, how and when to make the sustainability plan of our projectas well as knowing what certificates exist and what benefit we can get to improve our management.
