As part of our commitment to achieving net zero, we’re offering free Carbon Literacy Training to all OU staff and students. This course gives participants an awareness of climate change and the impacts of our everyday actions. They can map their own carbon footprint, and learn how to reduce personal and work-place emissions.

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The hybrid working and digital transformation toolkit on Open Learn offers free online educational resources to promote new ways of working. These take a human-centred approach to developing your organisation. They can help your staff to thrive in a digital, hybrid world – as well as people entering work for the first time.

The collection draws on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to encourage more sustainable practices.

You can find other free courses and materials on OpenLearn’s Sustainability Hub.

The Wales Innovation Network (WIN) is made up of all universities in Wales, including the OU. It was established so that we can share our diverse research and innovation ideas with each other, helping academics come together so that our work has more impact. WIN has identified Net Zero and decarbonisation a thematic research area. The approach of the network follows the Five Ways of working in the Well-being of Future Generations Act and aligns with most of its seven well-being goals.

Throughout the year, we host monthly events and activities for staff to enhance their mental health and wellbeing, and promote a sense of community. Each initiative reflects the objectives of our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and our Five Ways of Wellbeing: connect, be active, take notice, keep learning and give.

We’ve embedded the University’s commitment to environmental and social sustainability by creating opportunities for staff to make changes inside and outside work. Some recent activities include:

• Bike Surgery (be active, take notice) – professional bike mechanics visit the Cardiff office to service staff’s bikes, at no cost to them. This encourages staff to ride bikes to the office, ensuring bike safety and repairing bikes that have then been passed on, which promotes recycling.
• Swap Shop (give, connect) – we’ve offered staff a chance to bring any unused and old but good-condition items to be rehomed among their colleagues.
• Coed Caerdydd, tree planting event (give, take notice, be active, keep learning) – we’ve invited staff to attend a tree planting event hosted by Cardiff Council during working hours. This initiative is one of many in the city's One Planet climate change strategy. The event is a part of a 10-year programme to increase the number of trees in Cardiff. We also continue to promote opportunities to take part in local community volunteering e.g., litter picking.
• Monthly Nature Walks – guided by a staff volunteer, these lunchtime walks from our Cardiff office offer an opportunity to get to know the city’s green spaces and wildlife, notice the changing seasons and catch up with colleagues.

We participate in sustainability projects happening across the university:

• SPARK – set up to help units create sustainable actions plans. Find out more here
• Responsible Futures – a change framework introduced across the whole OU to embed sustainability in the curriculum , which is audited by our own students
• Open Societal Challenges – this research programme was set up to bring academic teams together to collaboratively tackle key social issues.

We're founding members of The Nature Service. This was created to bring organisations together, and develop a response to the nature and climate emergencies. One of the service's aims is for everyone in Wales to be able to connect to nature for their wellbeing, skills development and careers. We want to see an eco-literate workforce, which includes career pathways, and training for young people from all backgrounds.

The service will help put things in place to meet Wales’ climate and nature goals. It will contribute to a greener economy, improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and create foundations for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation.