This L7 apprenticeship can equip practitioners in a variety of industries, including the public and private sector, to lead on sustainability, environmental management, resource management and ethical decision-making in keeping with the Green Agenda. Apprentices will help innovate and drive ambitions for social and environmental change and make these a reality that are embedded and implemented across their organisations. This apprenticeship is part of a pathway which currently includes the L4 Apprenticeship Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practitioner, which UEL will begin offering in September 2023. Though there is not currently an apprenticeship standard in this pathway at L5 or L6, UEL’s undergraduate degree in Sustainable Development and Social Change offers an opportunity for continuity from L4 through to L7.

The roles and responsibilities of businesses are changing rapidly; society increasingly expects that organisations should act responsibly, using their resources in an environmentally friendly way and making decisions with social sustainability in mind. They are responsible not just to their shareholders but also to their wider stakeholders and the broader community. Sustainability Business Specialists help to drive this by delivering an organisation’s sustainability strategy releasing the power of business to contribute positively toward social and environmental outcomes.

UEL's Sustainability Business Specialist apprenticeship will build practitioners’ ability to engage with their chosen field by developing a strong theoretical base for understanding the principles underpinning sustainability and resource management (the sustainable development goals, climate justice, environmental politics, ethical practice, theories of intersectional inequality, compliance and reporting). In tandem, apprentices will be supported to develop the practical skills needed for developing and implementing a sustainability strategy (compliance, current legislation and the Green Agenda, strategic planning, project management, stakeholder analysis, negotiation, and data management).