Write a short whole-business policy for named sites and activities. Completing the required content prepares a draft. The wording is adopted only after the authorised role actually approves it and that role and date are recorded. Do not fill an approval date in advance. A filled draft is not adopted. An adopted record does not prove a reduction, an environmental management system, or a public claim that the firm is sustainable, carbon neutral or certified.

Read the SME overview that lists the nine headings. Use the procurement policy for buying rules. Write commitments for one event on the event policy. Check public wording before the policy is advertised.

What adopting the wording finishes

This is a whole-business document. It is not an ISO environmental policy and not the procurement policy.

record_status is incomplete, draft or adopted. Those labels are editorial template rules, not legal requirements.

  • incomplete means required content is missing: purpose, named scope, owner, at least one specific commitment, or review date.
  • draft means that required content can be read, but the authorised role has not actually approved the wording. Leave approval_role and approval_date blank until approval occurs.
  • adopted means the authorised role has actually approved the wording, and that role and date have been recorded afterwards.

A specific commitment names a real activity or rule. Become a sustainable business is wording to replace, not a useful commitment.

commitment_n_type is intention, operating_rule or target. An intention is a direction without a number, unit and date. An operating rule is a way of working and can be valid without a numeric result. A target has a number, a unit and a date and is still a target, not a measured achievement. There is no measured commitment category.

Write the one-page policy

Download both files. Save a copy of the blank file and type into that copy.

The files are plain text. They do not score the business. The same blank fields are:

organisation_name, purpose, scope, out_of_scope, owner_role, review_date, commitment_1, commitment_1_type, commitment_2, commitment_2_type, commitment_3, commitment_3_type, purchasing_pointer, travel_rule, waste_rule, will_not_claim, approval_role, approval_date, record_status.

A purchasing sentence is a pointer. Buying rules stay on the procurement policy.

Worked example: Northgate Services adopts wording

The example is fictional. Northgate Services is an invented 12-person office firm.

Field What was written Status
Purpose and scope Short whole-business rule for one leased office and the activities the firm controls there. Delivery contractors are out of scope. Named.
Commitment 1 Measure office electricity from supplier bills for April 2025 to March 2026. Intention. No number, unit and date target has been set.
Commitment 2 Keep paper and mixed recycling in the collector's named streams. Operating rule. Valid without a numeric result.
Commitment 3 Left blank. Become a sustainable business is wording to replace, not a third commitment. Not used.
Adoption Office manager owns the file. Managing director adopts the wording on 12 March 2026. Review date 12 March 2027. will_not_claim excludes carbon neutral and ISO 14001 certified. Adopted. Not a reduction and not certification.

Leave the approval date blank until the authorised role has actually approved the wording. If those approval fields are blank, the same wording stays draft.

Limits

Do not use this file as a buying policy, an event policy, or an EMS environmental policy. Do not copy another firm’s credentials. The SME guide’s example minus 10 percent kWh and 70 percent diversion figures are not required commitments. The CMA Green Claims Code applies to claims made to consumers, not to the act of writing an internal document.

Your next action

Put the first measured task on the 90-day tracker.

Sources