BSBSUS401 - Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Assessment Task 1: Tata Steel Case Study

1. Explain how Tata Steel’s approaches to CSR and its priorities that help the
company make ethical and sustainable decisions

Answer:

An organization's dedication to maximizing long-term beneficial effects while minimizing

short-term negative consequences on society is reflected in its social responsibility efforts. It
is a key component of Tata Steel's mission to serve as "the global steel industry benchmark
for respect creation and corporate citizenship." Tata Steel is concentrating on addressing
the maintainability challenges. This suggests that it honestly accepts its responsibility for the
environment and its communities, balancing these considerations with the requirement to
generate a profit. It has established frameworks to fulfill international standards for
ecological management, such as ISO14001.

Integrity, understanding, excellence, unity, and responsibility are the five defining
characteristics of Tata Steel's ethics. These characteristics are evident in everything the
company does and guide its moral behavior. This moral approach naturally leads to Tata
Steel taking responsibility for managing the maintainability challenges.

Tata Steel incorporates moral and environmentally friendly standards into every facet of
its business. Steel has the advantage of being totally recyclable, but it is made using a
method that emits CO2. Tata Steel is utilizing cutting-edge techniques and technology to
reduce these emissions. For instance, it has developed technology that allows it to reuse the
gases produced at its Port Talbot facility to generate power that meets 10% of its demands.
As a result, there is now less need for natural gas to generate electricity, which also lowers
CO2 emissions by almost 300,000 tons.

The five main areas that support Tata Steel's vision for combating climate change have
received continuous attention and funding. These goals include continuing to reduce
emissions rates, investing in low-carbon steel production technologies, developing new
goods and services that emit less CO2 throughout their entire lifecycles, actively involving
the entire workforce in this challenge, and setting an example for the world's steel
industries.

Tata Steel is operating responsibly, but when it comes to the decisions made by the
people who will ultimately utilize the steel it produces, it is critical that reasonable
judgments be made. This entails taking into account all environmental, social, and economic
factors in addition to CO2 emissions. It also entails adopting a "life-cycle" perspective when
making decisions and evaluating things based on how they are created, utilized, and
eventually disposed away.

2. Based on this case, explain how sustainable practice can help a business to compete

Answer

Maintaining and enhancing a company's reputation always benefits from doing the right
thing. In a global market that is competitive, Tata Steel's reputation as an ecologically
conscious and responsible company is enhanced by sustainable business practices.
Additionally, Tata Steel creates and markets goods that are both long-lasting and have
added advantages. One of the greatest materials to employ to guarantee sustainability is
steel. Steel is a special substance because it is actually recyclable; when steel is recycled,
new steel is produced, not something less desirable. Steel may be recycled repeatedly since
it does not degrade when it is done. The most recyclable substance on Earth is steel. Steel is
a very "clean" material because the impact of producing it may be seen as an investment in
a resource that will be used again rather than just once.

3. Analyze why LCA is a more accurate type of analysis than just looking at the carbon
footprint of the ‘use-phase’ of a material

Answer

Life-cycle analyses examine how a product affects ecological systems over the course of its
whole life. They take into account the effects of producing a substance, using it, and then
discarding the finished product. Tata Steel is able to demonstrate through LCA that steel
frequently offers the most environmentally efficient material option. An effort to identify
the most economical mixtures of materials and technology to create low- and zero-carbon
buildings is one example of how LCA was used. Zero carbon structures can produce all of
their own energy using low-carbon technologies like solar panels. Additionally, low-carbon
footprint materials are used in their construction.

4. Evaluate the contribution of Tata Steel to sustainable and ethical business practices

Taking on sustainability responsibilities and keeping ethics in mind in every organization has
several advantages, including improved reputation, a larger customer base, production
efficiency, and an impact on profitability and shareholder trust. Tata Steel is currently
subject to laws or regulations that support moral behavior. For instance, rules against
pollution that set and enforce limits on CO2 emission levels have been implemented. The
business strives to go above and beyond what is legally required by providing benefits
whenever possible.

Beside these sustainable and ethical business practice

 Improved brand recognition

 Vibrant customer base
 Evaluation of environmental effects
 Creating difference from rivals
 An inspired workforce
 Sustainable decision-making methods that are superior.

5. If Tata Steel was operating in Australia, what environment regulations will apply to the
company?

Answer:

1. Energy

Tata Steel is unable to significantly cut energy use given the size of its production system.
However, tata steel can control the amount of time and energy used, contributing to
environmental protection and realizing the company's objective of becoming an
environmentally friendly corporation.

2. Water

Tata Steel may decrease water use by organized and effective water management, as
contrast to energy. Businesses will make advantage of tools that reduce water usage. By
evaluating the quality of the water used, Tata Steel must also manage the water source used
and make sure it does not contaminate the water source. The industry-specific water
standards and test criteria, which can be found in state or territory regulations, are in
compliance with Australian government policies. A selection of tests for water quality are
offered by the national measuring institute.

3. Waste Management

Waste management focuses on improving raw material utilization and maximizing each
stage of the production process. Think about a waste material at every stage, from
production to disposal. This is strongly tied to the manufacturing process, which occasionally
involves the use of chemicals and scrap steel and iron that may end up in the environment.
When possible, waste management involves sorting out each form of garbage and
processing it at company-owned facilities.
Task 2: Investigate and Report on Resource Usage

1. Research and provide information on the compliance requirements for the company
with reference to the relevant legislations and codes of practice (relevant to company’s
business).

Answer:

Businesses must abide by rules surrounding their financial transactions, hiring policies, and
safety measures in order to operate legally. Information systems have the power to improve
and change how an organization approaches environmental sustainability. It involves
utilizing the Internet, personal computers, iPhone applications, carbon tracking software,
information visualization, etc. to green businesses and enhance the environment. However,
the ecology is impacted by computers due to their energy consumption, waste, etc. to
implement strategies that use resources sustainably and to lessen the impact on the
environment. The environmental sustainability policy addresses concerns related to
environmental management, which include:

 Use of energy.
 Ozone depleting chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions.
 Use of suppliers, goods, and materials.
 Resource recovery, construction waste, and office waste.
 The utilization of potable water and waste water.

2. Provide a summary of key environmental and energy efficiency issues (minimum three
issues) specific to industry practice.

Answer:

The key concerns with the environment and energy efficiency are Climate change, Pollution,
Consuming resources, Disrupting ecology and Health Hazards

Climate Change

The adverse consequences of human behavior, including the greenhouse effect, urban heat
islands, global warming, the coal industry, etc., are what are causing climate change. There
are many negative effects of climate change, including the emergence of new diseases, the
permanent suppression of plant growth that is necessary for human survival, melting of the
polar ice caps, changes in the seasons, and changes in the general weather pattern. A total
of 66.5 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions were caused by the provision and
transportation of energy.

Pollution

One of the environmental concerns is pollution. Technology production and use can all
result in pollution of the air, water, heat, and sound. The two main polluting sources are
industry and automobile exhaust. Toxins including plastics, heavy metals, and nitrates cause
pollution. All forms of pollution are mostly brought on by people and their behaviors. Urban
runoff, ocean dumping, and oil spills are the main causes of water contamination. At least
two factors make air pollution a worry for energy security: indoor air pollution from
traditional stoves used for cooking and heating causes early deaths in women and children,
and outdoor air pollution worsens human health and increases hospital admissions.

Consuming Resources

Technology is produced using non-renewable resources, such as precious metals like gold.
Many others, including coal, are used to produce the electricity needed to operate
technology. Even certain renewable resources, such as trees and water, are becoming
poisoned or depleted more quickly than they can regenerate.

Disrupting ecology

The natural cycles of the ecosystem can be significantly impacted by activities like clearing
land where animals once lived to make way for factories and letting pollution infect the food
chain.

Health Hazards

Cancer is spurred on by the usage of toxic substances that are harmful to human health, and
technology addiction can result in additional health issues including obesity and carpal
tunnel syndrome.

3. Key business processes and practices that impact on the environment (relevant to the
business)
The interaction between technology and the environment has a negative impact on the
entire globe. All life on this planet, including animals and marine life, has been impacted by
technology, which is referred to as having an environmental impact. Technology's effects on
the environment have come at a high cost to people. Depending on how they affect nature
or the environment, technology's characteristics and impacts can be both positive and
negative. Every person needs a healthy environment to support their lives, everywhere in
the world. All life on earth is suffering as a result of the uncontrolled use of high-tech
applications, which threatens the ecological balance of the planet. As humanity got more
civilized, new technologies were created to make living more convenient and comfortable.
Weapons were created and utilized in battles between countries that were primarily
focused on demonstrating which country possessed the best high-tech arsenal.

Technologies harm the ecosystem, upsetting natural equilibrium and spewing out
excessive pollution that leads to deadly diseases. Even while technology often has negative
effects, the introduction of green technology will also have some good effects. Great
concepts and energy-saving methods have been made possible by green technology. With
remarkable success, green technology has brought new methods of producing heat and
energy. Instead of using traditional wood burning techniques, solar panels are used to
capture the UV rays of the sun. Electricity is created by processing the energizing strength
and powers of wind and water flow, which can reduce the need for coal, oil, and uranium.
The release of greenhouse gases, which have adverse effects on the sustainability of life in
humans, animals, and fish, has another effect of technology on the environment. These
gases have contributed to issues like global warming, glacier melting, rising sea levels,
extremely high air pollution, and other issues.

4. Assuming that a typical desktop computer uses 868 kW of electricity per year and other
business equipment uses approximately 650 kW of electricity per year, work out total CO2
emission (calculator provided here:
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html) for 180 computers
and 45 assorted equipment.

Answer:

 One computer uses 73kwh per month which is the CO2 emission is 946 lbs.
  One year of the usage of this computer is 11,245 lbs
 One assorted equipment uses 54kw per month, which is 700 lbs of CO2 emission;
 One year of the usage of this assorted equipment is 8,421 lbs
 180 computers per month will generate 170,280 lbs and one year will be 2,024.100
lbs
 45 assorted equipment will generate 31.500 per month and 378.945 lbs per year.

5. Use the data to work out an environment/emissions footprint in a typical business

process or a work

Answer

Measuring Carbon Footprint

You may start to understand how tweaking a few regulations here and there can drastically
reduce the overall carbon footprint by determining how much pollution an organization
produces as a result of its operations. A greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions assessment can be
used to calculate a person's carbon footprint. Once a carbon footprint's size is established, a
plan of action can be developed to reduce it, for example through technical advancements,
better process and product management, modified green public or private procurement
(GPP), carbon capture, consumption strategies, and others.

Using Less Energy

(Buildings Are the Biggest Energy Users) More energy efficiency certificates than ever are
available for the construction sector.

Investing in renewables

There are options if implementing new energy-efficient building initiatives is not possible or
if a company cannot afford to install solar panels on buildings. One method of lowering a
carbon footprint is by carbon offsetting, which is the mitigation of carbon footprints through
the creation of alternative projects like solar or wind energy or reforestation.

Learning to Adapt to Climate

Cities and towns around the nation are already noticing the effects of climate change. As a
result of focusing their efforts on climate change mitigation, hundreds of towns have
successfully decreased their greenhouse gas emissions and alleviated the effects of climate
change.

Municipalities are starting to evaluate their susceptibility to the changes that are already
occurring and to plan policies that protect their inhabitants and their businesses,
nevertheless, as the effects of climate change become more obvious.

6. Suggest strategies that can help improve the current work practices

Answer

The sustainability of the company will be enhanced by lowering its environmental impact.
The following are some strategies to measure workplace sustainability:

 Use energy management settings to enable you to turn off your equipment during
off-peak hours, long weekends, and on holidays. When you need to purchase new
equipment, do your homework and select the most energy-efficient options that fall
within your budget. Reduce landfill waste by recycling outdated or damaged
equipment.
 Improve your efficiency and competitiveness.

 Practice ethical business practices

 Boost financial returns and lower risk for shareholders
 Attract and retain employees -Improve consumer sales and loyalty
 Grow supplier commitment
 Strengthen community ties
 Contribute to environmental sustainability

There are many environmental regulations that a firm may need to adhere to:

 When waste is given over, fill out a waste transfer note or consignment note and
make sure it is stored safely and securely, processed properly, and collected by an
authorized organization (such as your local government or a licensed private waste
contractor).
 Manage your business waste for recycling by separating paper, card, plastic, metals,
and glass prior to collection. Comply with laws governing emissions into the air. For
recycling, the majority of food enterprises also need to separate food waste.
 Be careful not to create a statutory nuisance that might harm someone's health or
irritate your neighbors. This includes activities such making noise, smoke, fumes,
gases, dust, odor, light pollution, or compiling trash.
 Before allowing trade effluent, such as waste chemicals, detergents, cooling or
cleaning water, to enter the sewerage system, get permission from your water
company.
 Make sure you abide by rules governing the use and storage of hazardous materials.
 Make sure that any hazardous waste that your company generates is accurately
identified, categorized, and disposed of or retrieved at a facility that has the
necessary authorization.
 If your company's operations pose an immediate threat to the environment, you
should inform the appropriate enforcing authority and take action to minimize the
harm. You must take corrective steps to remediate any environmental harm your
business actions may have caused.
 If your company's operations pose an immediate threat to the environment, you
should inform the appropriate enforcing authority and take action to minimize the
harm. You must take corrective steps to remediate any environmental harm your
business actions may have caused.
Assessment Task 3: Develop an Environmental and Resource Efficiency
Improvement Plan

Part A: Planning and Implementation

Purpose and Objective

The strategy will show how to increase corporate environmental performance while
boosting output and cutting costs. Because minimizing waste will minimize the size and
expense of any subsequent treatment process and/or disposal charges, resource efficiency
is frequently a quick and inexpensive solution to tackle problems.

Key Stake Holders

Overall, consumers are more positive about their own capacity to have a beneficial impact
and have a better grasp of it. In fact, many consumers think their purchases have a
moderate-to-significantly positive influence on social or environmental issues. Investors now
have a potent instrument in the form of shareholder resolutions to force businesses to
address their social and environmental impact. Sustainability managers see to it that their
organization upholds and strives for fresh, inventive, and cost-effective ways to stay green.
You will be in responsible of creating, carrying out, and maintaining organizational or
company environmental strategies.

Finding ways to involve every employee, from top executives to assembly workers,
personally in ongoing corporate sustainability initiatives is the key to building a thriving and
sustainable business.

Supply chain leaders will need to make sustainability a non-negotiable component that is
just as vital as quality in order to adopt responsible sourcing.

Analysis of current sustainability issues

1. Emission of hazardous gases: The production process is mostly responsible for their
greenhouse gas emissions.

2. Electronic waste (sometimes known as "e-waste") is any outdated or discarded electronic

device. Each year, more than 20 million tons of e-waste are created.
3. Harmful substances: Electronics frequently contain beryllium as well as the neurotoxic
chemicals benzene and n-hexane from their factories' final assembly processes.

Efficiency Targets

Utilize less heating and cooling to reduce greenhouse gas production by lowering the
amount of energy required to heat and houses, adding insulation to walls and installing
weather stripping or caulking around doors and windows can reduce heating bills by more
than 25%. When sleeping at night or away from home during the day, turning down the
heat and maintaining a comfortable temperature at all times.

Install a programmable thermostat to save roughly 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually
by adjusting it merely 2 degrees in the winter and up in the summer. Utilize more recycled
materials: Aluminum: Aluminum that has been cleanly separated is quite precious.
Cardboard: By separating and recycling cardboard, it reduces waste.

Relevant legislations

Top 5 environmental legal cases in Australia: Queensland, Tasmania Flying Fox Case,
Tasmanian Dam Case (Franklin Dam Case), Antarctica Japanese Whaling Case, Queensland's
Nathan Dam Case, Victoria's Hazelwood Power Station Case

Australian Capital Territory

-Environmental Protection Act 1997.

New South Wales

-Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

Queensland

-Environmental Protection Act 1994.

South Australia

-Environment Protection Act 1993.

Victoria

-Environment Protection Act 1970.

Western Australia

-Environment Protection Act 1986.

Strategies for achieving efficiency targets

1. Create smart, integrated public policy

It is certainly difficult to create sound public policy on environmental challenges. However,

the uncertainty brought about by governments' inaction makes it even more difficult for
businesses to plan. One corporate executive asserted, "It's not a question of how businesses
should address climate change. It concerns how to handle situations where governments fail
to communicate their climate change policy clearly.

2. Communicate sustainability goals throughout the organization

It is not simple to integrate sustainability into a company. In many businesses, sustainability

or corporate social responsibility (CSR) is still mainly compartmentalized; it may be the
purview of a single department or even a single individual. Even with greater business unit
integration of sustainability, communication problems still exist:

One executive stated that one of the company's main issues is properly communicating the
company's sustainability strategy so that everyone, regardless of their function, understands
and supports it.

Resources Needed

 Technology: For the company to recycle the waste materials and make them
valuable once more, more sophisticated technology is required. Recycling garbage is
one way to help the environment. The technology can, however, lower production
costs.
 Human Resource: To use the automated machines and recycle the garbage, the
company requires more technical expertise.
 Financial Support: The business requires additional funding to purchase more
equipment and conduct more research and development.

Implement Strategy
  Change the company culture: Encourage employees to avoid wasting any materials
during production. Create a list of ideal values and conduct. Like Have leaders
outlined the values and actions they want to see? Make sure that people can relate
culture to normal conduct and truly comprehend it. Creating behavioral descriptors
for each value you specify and explaining how they would convert into practicable
behaviors at all levels—from secretaries to middle managers to executives—requires
this.
 Train staff new technique: Old personnel should be taught how to handle garbage to
increase efficiency.
 We think that a great onboarding process for new workers boosts employee
confidence and increases output. Make sure they are having fun right away
throughout training to assist them emotionally relate to the objectives of your
business.
 Employ talents: Hire fresh personnel who understand how to increase the
effectiveness of material reuse. It takes more than just finding the appropriate
person to "perform a job" to attract talent in 2022. Many millennials desire more
than just a paycheck; they desire evidence that the time and effort they are investing
are having an impact, whether it be on a single client or the entire planet. While not
every company's objective will have an impact on the entire world, CEOs should be
aware of and able to demonstrate how their organizations are making a positive
difference in their respective fields, towns, sectors, etc. To draw in the ideal
candidates—those who are aligned with your mission and desire to advance it—play
up these qualities to potential hires.

Cost of Implement (approx.)

 R & D cost: 1 million

 New equipment cost: 2 million
 Training cost: 0.5 million
 Employment cost: 0.5 million

Monitoring Tools
The goal of green accounting is to incorporate environmental expenses into business
operations' financial performance. Green accounting should be included in the new model
that policymakers use because it has been claimed that gross domestic product overlooks
the environment. Green accounting's main goal is to assist firms in managing any potential
trade-offs between conventional economic goals and environmental goals.

Part B: Monitoring & Evaluation

Communication Plan

 Employees: Live Meetings: Gathering of team members at the same location

 Shareholders: Conference call- A conference call where numerous persons speak on
the phone
 Management: Video conferences are similar to audio conferences but feature
participants' live video. For video conferencing, several laptop computers feature
built-in cameras.
 Customers: Advertisements- Use advertisements to promote new culture—recycling.

Procedures

 Increasing public knowledge of the policy measures and promoting environmentally

friendly behavior.
 Providing details on personnel duties and responsibilities, daily operational needs,
reporting procedures, and penalties for noncompliance.
 Putting together step-by-step instructions for performing particular tasks.
 Routinely updating personnel and outside stakeholders on progress.

Benefits of LCA

A real LCA considers all the inputs and outputs over the course of a good or service's life,
including inputs of energy and materials as well as environmental emissions.

Some manufacturers have used inferior LCAs that pass for LCAs but are actually other
sorts of analysis. Cradle-to-gate, a partial LCA that essentially entails the extraction of raw
materials and production of a finished good, is one such instance. It does not consider the
functionality of the material or component in use, disposal at the end of its useful life, or
even delivery to the consumer. Sometimes, they serve as the foundation for an
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).

A product's embodied energy is the energy used in its production and delivery to the
construction site. It varies from an LCA in that it disregards disposal and operational
consequences.

Benchmarks indicators

The number of quantitative tools available for evaluating sustainability has increased
significantly over the past two decades. These tools include measures of resource use like
life cycle assessments, indicators of consumption like the ecological footprint, and indicators
of the effectiveness of environmental governance like the Environmental Performance
Index. A list of quantitative "tools" is provided below. The methods given here are solely at
the global level because it would be too impossible to list all those accessible at various
organizational levels.

Indices

 A sustainability index is a composite indicator of sustainability that includes

information from several sources.
 Air-quality rating
 Index of Environmental Sustainability
 Index of Environmental Vulnerability

Metrics

Many environmental problems ultimately relate to the human effect on those global

biogeochemical cycles that are critical to life.

 Water cycle
 Carbon cycle
 Phosphorus cycle
 Nitrogen cycle
 Sulphur cycle
 oxygen cycle
Key Stakeholders and responsibility

 Customers: In favor of the business becoming more environmentally friendly

 Management: Create a solid plan to enable the business to become more
sustainable.
 Employees: Adhere to the management's strategy as best you can.
 Shareholders: monitor the development of sustainability

Process of feedback

 Listen to the feedback given.

 Be aware of your responses.
 Understand the message.
 Reflect and decide what to do.

Deming’s PDCA Cycle

 Plan - get a detailed plan for more effective trash management.

 Do: Increase R&D spending to obtain more advanced technology
 Check: Verify that all of the waste items are recyclable and have a value.
 Act – If the solution was helpful, implement its company-wide.

New Targets

 Emit less greenhouse gas during the recycling

 Emit less energy during processing
 Less reliance on technology when not necessary, to save energy consumption.