Written by our assessment team: what the criteria mean in practice, the evidence that works, and where learners get caught out.
What this unit is really about
Unit 309 has two halves that learners often treat as one. LO2 is a PESTLE analysis of your organisation with recommendations — the commercial context. LO3 is a review of workplace practices for environmental and social impact with proposals communicated to stakeholders — the sustainability action. Both are required, and they are different pieces of work.
The spec is generous on format for LO3: evidence can be presented as an audit, a sustainable risk assessment, a template or in any other format that covers the criteria. Take the offer. A one-page audit grid of your area — energy, waste, travel, procurement, water, social impact — with current state, impact and improvement opportunity does most of LO3 in a form you can actually complete.
The evidence that works
| Learning outcome | Evidence that works well |
|---|
| LO1 — commercial and social context | Sector purposes and aims, types of sustainability, why sustainable working matters, Net Zero in an organisational sense, and CSR principles |
| LO2 — insights supporting decisions | Key factors affecting your organisation, a labelled PESTLE, an evaluation of what it shows, and recommendations for future opportunities and challenges |
| LO3 — sustainable practices | Your audit or review of workplace practices, an evaluation of sustainable practices relevant to your organisation, practical improvement recommendations, and evidence of communicating proposals to stakeholders |
Criterion 3.4 requires communication to stakeholders — so keep the email, the slide, the meeting minute or the team briefing. A recommendation that never left your notebook does not meet it.
Getting the terminology right
This is a subject where loose language is common and assessors notice:
- Net Zero means balancing the greenhouse gases you emit with an equivalent amount removed, not simply "reducing emissions". Note whether your organisation's target covers only its own operations and energy, or its supply chain too, and whether it relies on offsetting.
- Sustainability has three pillars — environmental, social and economic. A portfolio treating it as environment-only will struggle with the social impact criteria.
- CSR is the organisation's responsibility to society; ESG is how investors and regulators measure it. Level 3 does not need the distinction laboured, but do not use them interchangeably as though they were the same instrument.
For PESTLE, the trap is an internal SWOT wearing a PESTLE label. PESTLE is external: political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental. Your staff turnover is not a PESTLE factor; the local labour market is. And criterion 2.3 asks you to evaluate the impact — a filled grid on its own is analysis, not evaluation, so add the judgement of which factors matter most and why.
Useful reading
