Energy
Waste
Water and Sewage
Transport
Green Blue
Buildings & land use
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Tool Summary Tool Characteristics Tool Application Source of Tools Opinion of Tools

Tool summary

Name of the tool
Environmental Management System

Description of the tool
An environmental management system (EMS) defines, explains and documents for a company:
• the environmental policies, objectives, programmes, procedures and legal requirements to be adhered to;
• The roles, responsibilities and competence of actors in ensuring that environmental policies, objectives, programmes, procedures and legal requirements are adhered to;
• Internal and external environmental communication measures;
• How the organisation ensures that actors have the relevant environmental knowledge and skills;
• The environmental impacts of its activities and how they are monitored and evaluated;
• How the organisation ensures and checks that its environmental policies, objectives, programmes, procedures and legal obligations are adhered to and what is to be done if they are not;
• It is the organisational context within which environmental performance can be improved on a continuous basis.

The most prominent framework for EMS is the ISO 14000 series. EMS´s can be implemented according to the ISO 14001 standards, or the European Community?s EcoManagement and Audit Scheme, EMAS, or alternatively companies can implement their own EMS developed for their specific operations and processes

EMSs are created and implemented once a firm is in operation. A global tool, it is designed for implementation at an internal (organisational) level to investigate environmental factors, and implement them into a companies existing economic procedures.

Environmental management systems are valuable for the following reasons:
• directs companies to continuous improvement in environmental performance;
• environmental impacts and environmental compliance can be measured and monitored;
• waste minimisation, energy efficiency, reduced materials consumption and reduced transportation costs are encouraged;
• among regulators, customers and the public, a companies corporate image can be raised;
• employees environmental awareness levels can increase;
• financial performance and market share could increase;
• provides a mechanism to incorporate the environment into the business decision-making process. (EUROPA, 2004)

Specific topic
An Environmental Management System for a company

Sector/s of use

Waste

Energy

Water

Transport

Green/Blue

Building & Land use

1

1

1

1

0

M

M - main sector, 1 - sub sector and 0 - n/a

Scale of applications

Component

Building

Neighbourhood

City

Region