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Environmental management systems

An environmental management system helps an organisation to achieve and maintain a measurable improvement in its environmental performance. It allows you to demonstrate your compliance with your environmental policy.

The main elements of an environmental management system are:

  • identifying those who have responsibility for environmental management, including senior managers
  • identifying and documenting all known and suspected environmental effects associated with your company
  • preparing a plan which
    • defines your environmental performance objectives and a timeframe for achieving them
    • clearly states the obligations and accountability of managers and staff for environmental performance
    • provides mechanisms for ensuring compliance
  • establishing a process for regularly checking the adequacy of systems and procedures in relation to the environmental policy and management plan
  • undertaking regular environmental audits to identify how well you are complying with your policy and meeting your objectives, and areas that require corrective action
  • reporting publicly on your environmental performance against your company’s policies and environmental performance measures through an annual environmental or triple bottom line report.

An environmental management system will operate most effectively when incorporated into, or added to, your existing business management systems. It should be tailored to meet your needs. For example, the level of detail should be related to the nature and scale of environmental impacts arising from your organisation’s activities, products and services.

To demonstrate that they are effectively managing their environmental responsibilities, some companies choose to be audited against a recognised standard by an independent auditor, to achieve formal certification.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has developed an internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001. This specifies the core requirements for an environmental management system, against which certification bodies can audit compliance with the standard.

Last updated: 25 July 2005