BSAVA achieves Bronze Accreditation from Investors in the Environment (iiE)

3 November 2022

The BSAVA has achieved Bronze Accreditation from Investors in the Environment (iiE). The iiE accreditation required BSAVA to provide evidence that it has met a range of criteria, with set targets to help reduce its environmental impact.

In 2020, BSAVA set up a Sustainability Working Group (SWG) of dedicated staff and volunteers, with a remit to explore the feasibility of BSAVA becoming carbon neutral as an organisation, both at the Association’s HQ (Woodrow House) and association wide.

The iiE annual audit consists of an assessment of five key areas of the organisation’s Environmental Management System (EMS). This includes environmental policy, resource management and monitoring, progress against targets, action planning and communications.

It was noted that BSAVA has made good progress on several sustainability initiatives involving their membership, including:

• Excellent consideration of the environmental impact of the printing of their publications and steps taken to print with sustainability in mind.
• Detailed documentation of how resources are used at head office and some progress made in resource use reduction.
• Good examples of efforts to reduce some of the environmental impacts of the annual Congress event.
• Contributing to the development of the VetSustain Carbon Calculator, running the Sustainability Working Group to encourage action and sharing sustainability learning amongst the wider membership.

Carl Gorman, Chair of the SWG said: “I’m pleased that the concerted efforts that BSAVA have been making for sustainable working have been rewarded with our iiE Bronze award. We will continue our drive towards not only carbon neutral status but enhancing all areas of sustainability for BSAVA and the veterinary profession. A prime example is our commitment to making Congress 2023 carbon neutral.”

Amanda Stranack, CEO of the BSAVA continued: “‘I would like to congratulate the Sustainability Working Group and all the staff who contributed to achieving this accreditation. This is a first step on the road to greater sustainability for BSAVA and has provided good insight into what we have achieved so far but also where the future opportunities to reduce our impact lie.”

To find out more about the BSAVA’s Sustainability initiatives, including the full accreditation report from iiE, visit our sustainability website page.