1a. Work with policy to define sustainability goals
It is important that service teams understand the outcomes that policymakers are seeking to deliver, including any goals relating to the environment.
In some circumstances, teams may have the opportunity to work closely with policymakers to define the goals and outcomes sought.
Lead Roles
Policy design, policy, service design
Sub-actions
1a. (i) Understand any policy goals relating to sustainability
1a. (ii) Engage in open policymaking where possible
(i) Understand any policy goals relating to sustainability
Policy might have broad goals for a service relating to sustainability, including economic, social or environmental outcomes.
As an example, some services in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) aim to boost material recycling or biodiversity. Many other services in government are primarily focused on social outcomes, and in those cases, the service team can focus on delivering those whilst simultaneously delviering a service that is as environmentally sustainable as it can be.
You should be clear about the outcomes your service will help achieve.
Environmental benefit:
Having clarity on policy goals relating to sustainability from the start helps ensure teams design to deliver these.
Read more
Co-benefits
There are a range of acts and strategies defining goals for environmental benefit that your service can align to:
(i) UK Climate Change Act, updated 2019
A Legal Duty to Act The Climate Change Committee
(ii) UK Net Zero Strategy
The Government’s main climate change policy document is the net zero strategy which sets out policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet our net zero target by 2050.
Net Zero Strategy, UK Gov
A Legal Duty to Act The Climate Change Committee
(iii) 5 Environmental Principles for Policymaking
Statutory duty under Environment Act for ministers to take account of consideration of environment in policy making.
Environmental principles policy statement, UK Gov
(iv) The 25 Year Environment Plan
The UK’s 25 Year environment plan focuses on a number of targets for air and water quality, waste, climate change, biosecurity, and protecting threatened plants, trees and wildlife species.
The 25 Year Environment Plan, UK Gov (v) The Sustainable Development Goals
The UK has committed to the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals which are a set of 17 goals ‘to promote prosperity while protecting the planet’. The SDGs focused on the environment include 12. Responsible Consumption and Production, 13. Climate Action, 14. Life Below Water and 15. Life on Land.
Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, UK Gov The SDGs Wedding Cake, Sustainable Development Goals
(vi) The Future Generations Act
The UK has committed to the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals which are a set of 17 goals ‘to promote prosperity while protecting the planet’. The SDGs focused on the environment include 12. Responsible Consumption and Production, 13. Climate Action, 14. Life Below Water and 15. Life on Land.
Future Generations Act, Wales The Longtime Project,
(ii) Engage in open policymaking where possible
Open policy making can help create policy based on evidence, participation and experimentation. It relies on collaborative methods to iterate policy that meets complex and evolving user needs.
Open policy making supports real world problem-solving, accountability, and ‘socially grounded decision making’.
Environmental benefit:
Open policy making helps us deliver the outcomes, including those relating to sustainability, sought by policy.
Read more
Co-benefits
• Scalability and cost: Microservices can be scaled independently to meet demand, which can save costs.
• Flexibility and speed: Microservices enable each service to be changed independently, reducing the risk and time associated with making coordinated changes across a monolithic application.
Further reading
• Microsoft, Microservice architecture style
• Atlassian, Advantages of microservices and disadvantages to know