The winner of the AGCAS Sustainability Impact Award 2022 is the Birmingham City University. 

The Higher Level Skills Match Extension (HLSME) project, part-funded by the European Social Fund, matches SMEs within the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) to student and graduate talent, and provides fully-funded upskilling workshops to support business growth. To encourage sustainability and environmentally friendly activity, senior stakeholders in the HLSME project team have produced a Sustainability Implementation Action Plan to assess how the team can reduce its carbon footprint and waste, which includes actions such as: continuing to hold large meetings virtually, providing workshop delegates with reusable materials such as stainless-steel bottles and re-purposing project materials within the university.  

Judges comments 

‘The sustainability action plan is a step towards a more sustainable operating model that has clearly had an instant impact within the university, with potential for wider impact locally as more SMEs are engaged in the HLSME project.’ 

The winner was announced at the AGCAS Awards for Excellence showcase webinar on 22 June 2022.