Environmental Management: Principles and practice

participating). Participants write and adopt an environmental policy which
includes commitments to: meeting all legislative requirements and ensuring
continued improvement of performance; implementation of an environmental
programme with objectives and targets derived from a comprehensive review
process; establishing a management system (which includes future
environmental audits) to deliver these objectives and targets; issue public
environmental statements (EMAS does not insist on full publication of audits).
Originally it had been planned to make full public disclosure compulsory but
this was abandoned. An accredited third party verifies all these things (see
Journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences 4(3) —May 1995, pp. 4–
7). If these terms are broken, the organization may be suspended from EMAS,
and so lose their right to a special logo (green credentials), which means loss
of publicity advantage and possibly increased insurance premiums or supplier,
investment, or sales-outlet boycott (see Figure 4.1).
Criticisms of EMAS include the charge that its auditing criteria are vague
(Karl, 1994); that it disrupts the activities of an organization; that it may reveal
trade secrets and; perhaps cause public or workforce hostility. There are signs
in the UK that small companies find the cost of BS7750 more of a challenge
than do larger companies. There are also calls for EMAS to increase the focus
on sustainable development (Spencer-Cooke, 1996).
Europe is improving EMAS by introducing strategic environmental
assessment to all plans, policies and programmes (Barton and Bruder,
1995:11) (see chapter 3). There were also plans at the time of writing to
expand EMAS to make it more compatible with the ISO 14001 series. If the
EEC adopts an Environmental Charter, eco-audit will become more
widespread, possibly even compulsory.
ISO14000
The International Standards Organization (ISO) has been seeking to develop a
standard (or rather, a series of standards, some advisory, some contractual)
broadly compatible with EMAS and BS7750. ISO[DIS] 14001 was introduced
in 1996, and the series also incorporates ISO14004. ISO14001 provides
information on the requirements for an EMS, and ISO14004 has the elements
needed and guidance on implementation of an EMS.
The ISO1400 series are roughly equivalent to BS7750 and EMAS, but
more user-friendly and easier to understand, and seem likely to gain world-
wide adoption (for details see Rothery, 1993; Baxter and Bacon, 1996;
Jackson, 1997; Sheldon, 1997). These ISO standards are related to the
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ISO9000 series (roughly equivalent to BS5750) which are widely used by
business world-wide and deal with quality systems (TQM) registration. The
ISO 14001 standard is taking over from BS7750 and is periodically updated
(details are usually published in ENDS—see list of journals at the end of chapter
1 (Knight, 1997)).
technical and economic benefits, and are designed to ensure that an environmental
policy and environmental objectives are adopted and followed (standards like BS7750
or EMAS require an EMS to be established and maintained). Hunt and Johnson
(1995:89) argued that EMSs:
♦
help to develop a proactive environmental approach;
♦
ensure a balanced view across all functions;
♦
enable effective, directed environmental goal-setting;
♦
make the environmental auditing process effective.
An EMS usually requires a participating body to publish an environmental
policy statement and regularly update it. The standards used to eco-audit typically
test whether the body:
♦
has identified overall aims;
♦
understands constraints on achieving aims;
♦
identifies who is responsible for what;
♦
sets an overall timetable for achieving aims;
♦
has determined resource needs;
♦
has selected a project management approach;
♦
has a progress monitoring system.
EMSs rely on independent certification of compliance with set eco-audit
standards to encourage more careful planning. EMSs can in practice be difficult to
pursue effectively as a result of real-world institutional politics, funding problems,
data shortages, need for industrial secrecy, health and safety issues. There is a
need to improve the sustainable development aspects of eco-audits. Figure 4.2
illustrates a basic EMS approach. The EMAS approach is presented in Figure 4.3;
see also Box 4.2.

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FIGURE 4.2 Basic environmental management system approach
Source: Based, with modifications, on Hunt and Johnson (1995:6, Fig. 1.2)
FIGURE 4.3 The basic provisions of the European Union’s EMAS
Source: Hunt and Johnson (1995:74, Fig. 4.2)

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