Sustainability business specialist (integrated degree)

Degree apprenticeship (integrated degree) · Business and administration route · Standard ST0748 v1.1

Level: 7
Typical duration: 24 months (about 2 years)
Max funding band: £11,000
Route: Business and administration

Help organisations to manage the resources they use and the waste they generate according to environmentally friendly principles.

About the role

The broad purpose of the occupation is to help organisations, businesses, charities, the public sector and social enterprises to find new and innovative approaches to working and build resilience based on economically sound, socially friendly and environmentally driven principles. They will be responsible for developing and collaborating in the development of organisational sustainability strategies. They will implement and monitor sustainability strategies, influencing behaviour of stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, colleagues and consumers. The role is highly challenging and multifaceted and will reach across all areas of the organisation.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with numerous colleagues including a specialist subject manager or a senior manager within the organisation at executive or non-executive director level or within smaller organisations they may be at director or board level.

An employee in this occupation may lead a team or work in a matrix management structure to drive change. They would be required to liaise with external stakeholders on a variety of sustainable issues, for example Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), industry and regulatory bodies. An employee in this occupation will have joint or shared responsibility for implementing a sustainability culture throughout the organisation. This will mean they will need to work across functions throughout the organisation and will have a high level of autonomy to do so. In some organisations, they may lead a small team of dedicated experts, however in other organisations, they will work within a management structure with no line management responsibilities. The level of supervision they receive will be down to the size of the company and the individual structures of those companies.

How it compares

At 24 months (about 2 years), it is shorter than average for a degree-level apprenticeship (the average across all 172 Level 6+ standards is 39 months).

The funding band — the maximum an employer's levy can contribute to training costs — is £11,000, below the £21,500 average for degree-level standards. Apprentices never pay tuition either way.

What you come out with

MSc Sustainability — Level 7 (integrated degree)
Professional recognition: The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) — Associate Membership
Professional recognition: The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) — a shortened application route is available (alongside membership with a licenced professional body) to Registered Environmental Practitioner, recognising that all registration requirements have been met.

What you'll learn

The official standard defines 20 core duties, 19 knowledge areas, 15 skills, 8 behaviours. This is the actual assessed content of the apprenticeship — worth reading before an interview, because competency questions are usually written straight from these lists.

Core duties 20

Support the business to ensure legal sustainability compliance and embed a management system approach to sustainability performance improvement
Identify and collaborate in the setting of sustainability KPIs for the wider business/organisation
Develop and implement a comprehensive auditing programme
Manage environmental data and monitor the sustainability performance of own business and suppliers
Review sustainability management information, including incidents, and advise the company on performance, impacts, business risk and appropriate response
Train staff on sustainability principles, legislation, risks and opportunities
Maintain regular and effective communication with colleagues throughout the wider business on sustainability best practice
Act as the business champion to lead on addressing areas such as in work poverty, modern day slavery and inclusiveness
Reduce waste and, where practical, ensure materials are purchased from sustainable sources in order to reduce the environmental footprint
Advise the organisation on reduction of harmful emissions
Promote ethical business standards and practices internally to enable employees to make the right choice
Act as key business contact and actively engage with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), industry and regulatory bodies for sustainability issues
Lead on business transparency in the area of corporate reporting
Investigate and implement water, energy and materials reduction initiatives
Lead, manage and deliver sustainable business projects, such as carbon foot printing, impact assessments, change management, Kaizen and LEAN
Horizon scan to identify future trends, technologies, innovations and best practice
Collaborate with wider teams on the corporate social responsibility agenda and managing media outlets
Coach and mentor individuals in sustainable business process, both internally and externally
Develop a business case to clearly demonstrate return on investment
Take responsibility for and manage own professional development, keeping up to date with technical knowledge and skills, and record these through CPD records

Knowledge 19

The global social, environmental, economic and ethical pressures affecting business, government and society
The social, economic, philosophical, political, technological and regulatory environment and potential levers to drive change
How different cultures, customs and business practices impact on how the organisation works on a global scale
How life cycles analysis or whole lifestyle costings work, including foot printing
How to build sustainable communities for the future
Utilising continuous improvement techniques such as Kaizen and LEAN to drive the sustainability agenda within the organisation such as through the reduction of waste or recycling
How to identify probable sustainability issues at each stage of the end-to-end supply/value chain and how they can be resolved or mitigated
The principles of being the best "neighbour" in the local community taking into account issues such as emissions, engaging with the local community, road access
How to identify sustainability key stakeholders and their roles
The design of environmental systems to meet ISO 17021 and how to embed them within the business to drive standards in line with ISO 14001 and customer codes of practice
How external factors can influence consumer behaviour and how they can be overcome
Sustainable technologies relevant to own sector
The principles and practices of internal and external audits as specified in ISO 19011
The macro environmental factors which influence the sector such as climate change, water resource and pollution and their impact on business/organisational practice
Key principles which identify the "Ethical Business" and how to put it into practice
How the organisation design and structure can drive or hinder sustainability practices
How to communicate sustainability messages effectively internally at all levels of the organisation or externally to key stakeholders
Transformational leadership and change management in areas such as creating a vision for the future, motivating and inspiring others to engage with the vision and coaching and mentoring others and building a team to achieve the vision
How to research, critically evaluate and present business information; utilising statistical/analytical skills to interpret primary/complex data

Skills 15

Conceptualise and resolve ethical, corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues within the business
Devise and implement achievable and viable sustainability strategies for the organisation
Critically evaluate sustainability issues and trends which may impact on business performance
Analyse sustainability performance data and develop the appropriate business response in line with ISO 14001, legislative and customer codes of practice
Assemble and drive resource efficiency including auditing in line with ISO 19011 and ISO 17021 and consulting on energy, water, waste, materials, packaging.
Contribute, collaborate and, where appropriate, show leadership on a global procurement Standards and Governance strategy, breakthrough ideas, best-in-class approaches, bringing the outside inside including innovation and sustainability, and managing the sourcing cycle and supplier relationship management system effectively by liaising with the procurement function
Formulate and co-ordinate a business response on sustainability issues to internal and external stakeholders
Collaborate on, lead and/or manage organisational sustainability projects, such as life cycle analysis or foot printing to drive change throughout the business
Identify, influence and manage key stakeholders across different business functions
Support the organisation at all stages of the internal and external audit process
Contribute and collaborate in the leadership, coaching and management of a multidisciplinary team, collaborating with and influencing other sustainability colleagues and the wider business to achieve organisational sustainability objectives
Identify, assess, and prioritise sustainability risks within the organisation and utilise resources to mitigate, control and monitor the probability and/or impact of such events
Design, implement and evaluate the internal and external environmental audit schedule in line with ISO 19011 and ISO 17021 to drive improvements
Appraise the impact of current global economic issues to the viability of sustainability projects and its impact on profitability
Directly influence and input into the corporate social responsibility agenda for the organisation

Behaviours 8

Problem solving: take a holistic approach to solving complex problems
Integrity and respect: listens to others and seeks to build understanding; embraces the diversity of colleagues and makes complex issues easy for others to understand
Networking: establishes internal and external networks to keep current knowledge of sustainability trends and issues up to date
Personal effectiveness: demonstrates a high level of self-awareness and is emotionally intelligent; adapts behaviour easily dependent upon situation and impact to achieve desired result
Influencing and negotiation: acts as a subject matter expert to inspire others to achieve business goals; adapts language and communication medium to seek agreement; proactively communicates clearly, concisely and on a timely basis; is inventive about win-win options to gain majority consensus
Ethical: demonstrates, and champions in others, a healthy respect for key moral principles that include honesty, fairness, equality, dignity, diversity and individual rights
Responsiveness to change: flexible to changing demands; resilient under pressure
Innovation: demonstrates curiosity to foster new ways of thinking and working; seeks out opportunities to drive forward change and improvements for the business

Live vacancies

No live vacancies for this course as of 2026-07-24 — new adverts appear on Find an apprenticeship daily, and many degree apprenticeship employers recruit on their own careers sites instead.

Universities registered to deliver it

6 universities are on the government provider register for this standard. Registration means they can deliver it — live vacancies depend on employer partnerships each recruitment cycle.

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Official sources

Occupational summary, duties, knowledge, skills and behaviours reproduced from the ST0748 apprenticeship standard (last updated 2025-05-14) — contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always check the official page before applying: standards get revised.