Environmental management system

Environmental management system (EMS) refers to the management of an organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented manner. It includes the organisational structure, planning and resources for developing, implementing and maintaining policy for environmental protection. The term can also refer to software systems for organizational environmental management.

An Environmental Management System (EMS):

• Serves as a tool to improve environmental performance
• Provides a systematic way of managing an organization’s environmental affairs
• Is the aspect of the organization’s overall management structure that addresses immediate and long-term impacts of its products, services and processes on the environment
• Gives order and consistency for organizations to address environmental concerns through the allocation of resources, assignment of responsibility and ongoing evaluation of practices, procedures and processes
• Focuses on continual improvement of the system

What is the EMS Model?

An EMS follows a Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle, or PDCA. The diagram shows the process of first developing an environmental policy, planning the EMS, and then implementing it. The process also includes checking the system and acting on it. The model is continuous because an EMS is a process of continual improvement in which an organization is constantly reviewing and revising the system.

This is a model that can be used by a wide range of organizations — from manufacturing facilities to service industries to government agencies.

What are ISO, ISO 14000, and ISO 14001?

ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization, located in Geneva, Switzerland.

ISO 14000 refers to a family of voluntary standards and guidance documents to help organizations address environmental issues. Included in the family are standards for Environmental Management Systems, environmental and EMS auditing, environmental labeling, performance evaluation and life-cycle assessment.

In September 1996, the International Organization for Standardization published the first edition of ISO 14001, the Environmental Management Systems standard. This is an international voluntary standard describing specific requirements for an EMS. ISO 14001 is a specification standard to which an organization may receive certification or registration. ISO 14001 is considered the foundation document of the entire series. A second edition of ISO 14001 was published in 2004, updating the standard.

ISO14001 is the dominant environmental management system in the world.

How are these standards developed?

All the ISO standards are developed through a voluntary, consensus-based approach. ISO has different member countries across the globe. Each member country develops its position on the standards and these positions are then negotiated with other member countries. Draft versions of the standards are sent out for formal written comment and each country casts its official vote on the drafts at the appropriate stage of the process. Within each country, various types of organizations can and do participate in the process. These organizations include industry, government (federal and state), and other interested parties, like various non-government organizations. For example, EPA and states participated in the development of the ISO 14001 standard and are now evaluating its usefulness through a variety of pilot projects.

Legislation and standards

The Environmental Liability Directive [ELD] 2004/35/EC is one of the most important instruments that your business will need to comply with and must be included in you EMS. It came into force across Europe during 2009 and for example it became law on the 1st March 2009 converting the various national Pollution Prevention Guidelines (PPGs) such as the UK PPG11, PPG18 and PPG21 into requirements where failure to comply can result in fines and more significantly reformation / reinstatement costs which can run into many millions of Euro or Dollars. Within this Directive is a requirement to mitigate the effects of events such as spills and firewater, the latter is the runoff from fires.

Within the European Union (EU) legislation was introduced to encourage businesses to voluntarily adopt ISO 14000.

Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001, allowed voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

The implementation of a robust EMS, which may incorporate ISO 14001, should lead to improve environmental performance, including better and more consistent legal compliance.

The ISO 14000 standards reflect different aspects of environmental management. The following list outlines the broad coverage of each:

• Environmental Management Systems:
  • 14001-2004, 14002, 14004
• Environmental Auditing:
  • 14011
• Environmental Labeling:
  • 14020, 14021, 14022, 14023, 14024, 14025
• Life Cycle Assessment:
  • 14040, 14041, 14042, 14043

Financial

• Cost savings through the reduction of waste and more efficient use of natural resources (electricity, water, gas and fuels.)
• Avoiding fines and penalties from not meeting environmental legislation by identifying environmental risks and addressing weaknesses.
• Reduction in insurance costs by demonstrating better risk management...

Operational and internal

• Improved overall performance and efficiency.
• Able to monitor and reflect (audit) your business and see which areas need intervention

Other meanings

An environmental management system can also be classified as a system which monitors, tracks and reports emissions information, particularly with respect to the oil and gas industry. Environmental management systems are becoming web based in response to the EPA's mandated greenhouse gas reporting rule, which allows for reporting GHG emissions information via the internet.

There are several software tools that allow an organization to track, report, and manage their organizational and product-based environmental impacts using a life-cycle assessment (LCA) based approach. These include:

• GaBi and SoFi by PE International
• SimaPro by PRé Consultants
• LinkCycle by LinkCycle LLC
• Quantis Suite by Quantis International

Literature

Boiral, O 2007, ‘Corporate Greening Through IS0 14001: A Rational Myth?’, Organisation Science, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 127-146.

Burden, L. 2010, How to up the EMS ante, <http://environmentalmanagementsystem.com.au/improve-your-ems-and-environmental-performance.html>

Clements, R.B 1996, Complete Guide to ISO 14000, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River.

Florida, R., & Davison, D. (2001). Gaining from green management: Environmental management systems inside and outside the factory. California Management Review , 43 (3), 64-85.

Gastl, R 2009, CIP in Environmental Management, English management summary of: Gastl, R 2009, Kontinuierliche Verbesserung im Umweltmanagement - die KVP-Forderung der ISO 14001 in Theorie und Unternehmenspraxis, 2nd Edition, vdf, Zurich-Switzerland.<http://www.envirocip.com/downloadables/summary-of-basic-cip-concept.html>

See also

• ISO 14000

External links

• ISO 14000 essentials

Other benefits can be found on the Envirowise website, a UK Government funded portal.