Level 3 covers a wide range of activities, most of which are complicated and not routine. People working at level 3 have a lot of responsibility, work individually, and have some control and guidance of other people's work.

Many people consider that people working at level 3 are crucial if the culture of the organisation is to adopt environmental concerns. They are seen as the drivers of change, the communicators with the shopfloor. They translate the policies into practice, find the appropriate methods to implement change. Yet they are largely ignored when the awards are handed out.

The Environmental Practitioner Programme™ starts from basics. It asks what tasks would an Environmental Practitioner carry out. Then it determines the competences to carryout that task, and what evidence would demonstrate that somebody is competent.

There are Underlying Principlesthat inform the competencies, which give rise to all the activities, learning outcomes and assessment criteria used in the Environmental Practice @ Work Programme. They have been tested and are appropriate to level 3 .