Certification

Sustainability certification that covers key environmental and sustainability issues

Today, simply reporting a carbon footprint is no longer enough to win stakeholder confidence. Your customers, staff and the wider community expect you to take action and improve on environmental and social factors.

Many businesses are already taking responsible action which is not known to customers and other stakeholders without a certification to communicate this achievement.

Accreditations providing framework for sustainability efforts aimed at larger businesses, such as the Environmental management System ISO 14001, are often expensive and time-consuming for small businesses to obtain.

Your route to sustainability without breaking the bank

Smart Sustainability certification is an affordable and transparent route to a sustainable business. It’s an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your sustainability initiatives and progress across various sustainability issues and to gain competitive edge.

The certification recognises impact across five key sustainability topics and provides a framework towards real action, tangible impact and measurable results.

Working with Avieco has given us simple and practical tools and helped us to build a behavioural change programme that inspired our team to get more involved and take ownership.

Claire Sheldrake

HR Director, CNET Networks

Key sustainability topics covered by Smart Sustainability certification:

Carbon footprint
Waste management
Social responsibility
Sustainable procurement (service business only)
Sustainability of products (products business only)

What will you achieve through Smart Sustainability certification?

Certificate for level achieved
To demonstrate achievement with:
Bronze (Comply) – the foundation of business sustainability
Silver (Complete) – business sustainability in practice
Gold (Champion) – leading with business sustainability
Emblem for level achieved
Emblem, in various e-formats, showing certification level at Bronze, Silver or Gold. This can be used on your website, email signature and other company documentation.
Scoring summary report
PDF report outlining summary of points awarded in each topic, and recommendations for improvement
Support and guidance to help your business achieve its sustainability goals

Smart Sustainability certification is simple and easy

Achieving Smart Sustainability certification is an easy 5 step process, with support and guidance throughout your sustainability journey:

Set intent and plan – Kick-off with sustainability and certification experts, to decide which topics to respond to, what you want to achieve, and a time-bound plan to get there.
Take action and collect evidence – Take action in line with the guidance for each sustainability topic and collect suitable evidence to prove action.
Submit draft evidence questionnaires – Complete online questionnaires for each topic and upload required evidence. Feedback will be provided on draft submission prior to final submission, allowing time to rectify response.
Submit FINAL evidence questionnaires – Finalise evidence following feedback, and submit final responses to online questionnaires along with suitable evidence.
Achieve certification – On successful completion, you will receive certification deliverables including certificate, emblem and scoring summary report. Market your success to your employees, customers and stakeholders!

Avieco gave us clear direction, we’ve made cost savings, gained promotional opportunities and got our staff involved.

Franck Nicolas

Office for Public Management

Benefits of Smart Sustainability certification:

Showcase responsibility and commitment in sustainability to your stakeholders, customer and employees
Futureproof your business through resource and cost savings
Improve employee engagement and retention
Differentiate your brand from competitors through leveraging marketing benefits
Quantify your environmental and social impact
Improved sustainability management
Identify areas of priority action for your business
Improved tender responses

Avieco is one of the leading certification bodies in the UK. Under our previous brand name Carbon Smart we have certified over 1,500 organisations to date. We have helped businesses demonstrate corporate responsibility through sustainability action, as well as reduce their bottom line through resource and cost savings.

With the new Smart Sustainability certification, businesses will demonstrate greater impact, with an emphasis on driving action and measurable results across multiple sustainability topics, and not just carbon footprint.

Avieco really helps us to measure and improve our environmental impact, from flights and fleet to waste and electricity! We are delighted to have improved from Silver to Gold and are looking forward to continue making improvements throughout our business to help improve the environment.

Courtney Asser

Contracts Assistant, Stone & Ceramic Ltd

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Building a culture of sustainability – both inside and outside the organisation

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Let us inspire you

I was impressed with the thoroughness and level of detail that our data set was analysed in. Presenting an extensive data set in an easy to use format was of great value in communicating the outcome of the work internally, and prioritising areas of the supply chain for future action.

Alan Sweeting, Global Health, Safety and Environment Senior Manager, Allen & Overy LLP

Avieco supported us in collating and organising data to develop a robust risk assessment process. They have been easy to work with, responsive to our requirements and pragmatic in their solutions.

Gijs Voskuilen, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Bunzl

Avieco has been the preferred environmental consultant since the beginning of our journey to become a sustainable company. Dentsu Aegis has worked with Avieco’s experts on various areas, such as carbon footprint reporting and assurance support, and recently also advised us how to switch our global network to renewable electricity. The team’s expertise on environmental sustainability is impressive, and the work delivered is always of highest standard.

Lars Holm, Global Senior Manager CSR, Dentsu Aegis Network

Avieco informatively led us through the processes needed to reduce our carbon footprint. With their clear and concise advice we have been able to effectively reduce our energy and waste levels. Avieco made the complex notion of energy efficiency into a manageable and achievable reality

Nigel Pink, Group Engineering Manager, Dominos UK & Ireland Ltd

Avieco delivered exactly the workshop we needed to get our sustainability team and regional leads on the same page when it comes to ‘market-based’ reporting. It’s a challenging area to tackle for a global business – particularly when we operate in a number of markets where there is little or no choice in terms of energy purchasing. Avieco has given us the knowledge and tools to ensure we get our disclosures right – they really exceeded my expectations for what we could achieve in one afternoon!

Dr Julia Rowe, Group Sustainability Advisor, Johnson Matthey

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