CIEH Environmental Awareness Certificate

The programme covers the following;

The qualification covers the following topics:

• Environmental issues

• Pollution

• Business and the environment

• Energy and water

• Waste management

• Transport

• Environmental law

• Environmental management

A Environmental impacts
Candidates should understand the primary local and global environmental impacts of their organisation and be able to:
i Identify environmental issues in their day-to-day life.
ii Explain the following terms and basic causes and consequences of:
• resource depletion
• waste
• climate change
• air, water and land pollution
• loss of biodiversity
• sustainability.

B Pollution
Candidates should understand the key terms and definitions of pollution and be able to:
i Describe the main causes of air, water and land pollution.
ii State and demonstrate an understanding of the impact of pollution on humans, ecosystems, species and property.
iii Define the terms ‘source’, ‘pathway’ and ‘receptor’ in the context of environmental risk management.

C Environmental law
Candidates should understand the basic principles, key concepts and importance of environmental law and be able to:
i Describe the role of the main environmental regulators in the UK.
ii State the consequences of infringing environmental laws.
iii Suggest ways to ensure that an organisation complies with environmental laws.

D Business and the environment
Candidates should understand how their jobs link to a range of environmental impacts and be able to:
i Recognise and demonstrate the environmental effects of organisations, such as:
• inputs to an organisation, such as energy, water, goods and raw materials
• the operations conducted by an organisation, such as transportation and purchasing, and the site
• outputs such as the products and services of the organisation as well as waste and pollution.

E Environmental management
The candidate should understand the business benefits of adopting an environmental management system and be able to:
i Give examples of the benefits to an organisation of adopting environmental management systems.
ii Outline the procedure for conducting a simple environmental review.
iii Describe what an environmental management system is and the stages involved in its implementation.
iv Describe the function of an environmental policy within the context of an environmental management system.
v List the names of accredited environmental management systems.
vi Develop a basic environmental action plan for a work area.

F Energy use and carbon management
The candidate should understand how important gas, electricity and transport are to the operation of even the smallest business and be able to:
i Describe the link between energy use and climate change.
ii Outline the procedure for conducting a simple review of energy consumption.
iii Identify simple measures for reducing energy consumption at work.
iv Explain how and why people, goods and materials move around.
v Identify the environmental impacts of the transport in terms of climate change, air and noise pollution and resource depletion.
vi Suggest alternative ways to travel to work and organise the transport needs of an organisation.

G Water use
The candidate should understand that as well as being required for life, water has many industrial uses and be able to:
i Describe the key issues associated with water use.
ii Outline the procedure for conducting a simple review of water consumption.
iii Identify simple measures for reducing water consumption at work.

H Waste management
The candidate should understand that waste is a resource and be able to:
i Describe the environmental effects of a range of waste disposal methods.
ii Explain why waste should be viewed as raw materials that are not being used efficiently.
iii Outline the procedure for conducting a simple waste audit.
iv Give examples of waste minimisation using the waste hierarchy.
v Explain the benefits of waste minimisation to the environment and the organisation.
vi Define the terms ‘waste’, ‘duty of care’ and ‘producer responsibilities’.
vii Describe the key types of waste including ‘controlled’ and ‘hazardous’.

I Emergency planning
The candidate should understand that different types of emergency have different impacts on the environment and be able to:
i Give examples of the different types of emergency situation that might have an impact on the environment.
ii Describe how prior preparation and provision of training and resources can mitigate any effects.
iii Describe the reporting requirements of pollution incidents to regulatory agencies.