Environmental management and EMS
Good environmental management is crucial to successful business management - resulting not only in a better environment for all but also in efficiency gains and financial savings for your organisation.
Good environmental management is crucial to successful business management - resulting not only in a better environment for all but also in efficiency gains and financial savings for your organisation.
For organisations, environmental management describes their multi-faceted inter-connections with the environment: air, ground, water, land, natural resources energy, wastes ... It is also about how environmental issues are approached, integrating a sense of social responsibility.
For some, legislative compliance is the main driver; for instance, environmental management and developing an environmental management system (EMS) is part of obtaining an environmental permit.
Environmental management brings many benefits, such as risk reduction, resource-efficiency and cost-savings. Good environmental management also often brings a sense of pride to an organisation' staff and enhances its public image.
An Environmental Management System (EMS) shapes good environmental management. It defines the organisation's policies, objectives and procedures - integrating the control of environmental risks and the pursuit of resource efficiency into everyday business operations.
Operating an EMS not only facilitates compliance with environmental legislation but also saves money. In these difficult times, excellent environmental management practices have become crucial for all organisations.
An EMS can win (or safeguard) business: in some markets, procurers expect their suppliers to have in place some form of EMS.
ISO 14001 is probably the best-known standard for environmental management, laying out its fundamental principles and a methodology to develop an environmental management system (EMS). A new version of the standard was published mid-September 2015 (ISO 14001:2015). This revised ISO 14001 is articulated around 5 key areas:
Gaining certification against ISO 14001 - or other environmental management programmes - will give external credibility to an organisation's environmental efforts.
EuGeos will assist you to choose the most relevant standard to achieve your objectives.
System development isn't everything: systems need to work in practice. Implementation and performance are key. The EMS must be 'yours': carefully designed to integrate your business model and support your objectives. That's why we involve key personnel throughout the organisation during the implementation phase, so that your EMS has everyone's support and is effective in operation.
Traditional environmental management concentrated on those aspects directly controlled by the organisation, mostly on-site. Life cycle thinking expands this horizon to consider impacts across the entire life/journey of the product (or service) from sourcing raw materials to design, manufacture, use and end of life management.
Therefore, colleagues in procurement, design, sales and marketing also have a role to play in environmental management.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) will support life cycle thinking.
An effective EMS should include an element of reporting - even if this remains internal.
At EuGeos we help you to identify relevant performance indicators and ensure that your internal information management is consistent with the demands of public environmental reporting.
Contact us now:
Working with EuGeos, you know that your EMS will enhance your business performance rather than being a pointless paperchase. And of course, we also ensure that your EMS works to prevent potential damage to the environment - and helps you save money.
