Impact Report 2019

At IEMA, we take a holistic or ‘big picture’ view of sustainability. We support everyone working to tackle all environmental and sustainability challenges, from climate change and reducing waste, to driving efficiency and managing risk. For us, it includes impact assessment, environmental management and corporate sustainability.

The year 2019 saw climate strikes worldwide, further evidencing the urgency surrounding the climate and environmental emergency and it has been crucial that we put climate change at the top of the agenda. Into 2020, we have already witnessed drastic changes in the world due to COVID-19, experiencing huge impacts on society and the economy. Our commitment to sustainability and to addressing the climate emergency has been further bolstered during this time, through our work to put sustainability at the heart of the recovery and build back better, to support our society during this tumultuous time and ensure that we make transformational change post-COVID to achieve a low carbon future. We don’t underestimate these challenges. But, we believe that together we have a genuine opportunity to change things for the better.

It should come as no surprise that the increasingly strong mandate for change has translated into increasingly strong growth for IEMA’s membership, and growing demand for our courses and training. In 2019, we trained 775 people on the Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management and 81 people in the Certificate in Environmental Management in over 50 countries. Through our ESSW courses we had 855 people attend a course to improve their environment and sustainability skills in their workplace. By year end, we had collaborated with a further 26 new corporate partners under our Partnership Programme schemes to deliver initiatives and training, in order to upskill workforces and through our national events and the work of our regional groups, we provided over 100 events for members to connect and hosted 55 hours worth of webinars for continued professional development.

Our 15,000+ members are a diverse group and work in everything from business and industry and environmental consultancies to local government and academia. But, what you have in common is a passion to make a real difference. A real impact. We believe in the power of sustainability to make a real and positive difference for individuals, businesses, communities, society and ultimately our planet.