Climate change

We aim to follow and to promote good environmental sustainability practice across all the Division’s voluntary networks, groups, and activities, to reduce the environmental impacts of our activities.

In order to protect human and ecological health, economic well-being, and global security, urgent and coherent actions are needed to limit and adapt to the climate change impact caused by human activities. To mitigate this impact, world leaders have committed to limit the increase in global average temperature. Organisations have an important part to play in achieving this goal, and the Division of Occupational Psychology confirms its commitment to sustainable environmental principles.

Concern for the environment and promoting a broader sustainability agenda needs to be integral to the Division's activities and its management. We aim to follow and to promote good environmental sustainability practice across all the Division's voluntary networks, groups, and activities, to reduce the environmental impacts of our activities.

We wish to support the following principles:

To comply with, and exceed where practicable, all applicable legislation, regulations, and codes of practice.
To integrate sustainability considerations into all our business decisions.
To ensure that all volunteers are fully aware of this statement and are committed to implementing and improving our performance.
To minimise the impact on the environment of all office and transportation activities.
To make clients and suppliers aware of our policy and encourage them to adopt sound sustainable management practices.
To review, annually report, and to continually strive to improve our sustainability performance.

In order to put these principles into practice we will strive to:

Avoid physically travelling to meetings where alternatives are available and practical, such as using teleconferencing.
Whenever feasible, use technology innovatively to deliver member benefits such as learning, networking, and development opportunities.
Schedule meetings efficiently to avoid multiple trips.
Minimise our use of paper and other office consumables, for example by double-siding all paper used, and identifying opportunities to reduce or recycle waste.
Raise wider awareness and promote environmentally positive and sustainable practices by members, workplaces, and organisations.

We aim to follow and to promote good environmental sustainability practice across all the Division’s voluntary networks, groups, and activities, to reduce the environmental impacts of our activities.

Janet Fraser - Chair BPS Division of Occupational Psychology

Regarding further, specific contributions of Occupational Psychology to environmental policy and sustainability outside the Division, occupational psychologists are experts in the key areas of employee motivation and behaviour change through effective communication and training in the following areas:

Designing tasks in an environmentally sustainable way.
Designing workstations, systems and conducting environmental impact and risk assessments.
Developing policies and procedures that lead to carbon reduction.
Engaging employees and giving them a voice in producing green polices and their implementation.
Engaging employees in Corporate Responsibility activities.
Motivating employees to implement green polices such as waste management and travel plans through effective behaviour change methodologies.
Setting organisational and personal objectives for carbon reduction.
Training managers and staff in green actions relating to energy use, waste management, reducing or eliminating pollution (water, air and noise).
Using effective change management principles.

Signed: Janet Fraser, Chair BPS Division of Occupational Psychology

Date: 15 June 2021