Environmental Management Systems provide a practical framework within which an organisation’s environmental impacts can be managed and comply with relevant laws and regulations. There are recognised national and international standards that provide accreditation and external recognition of the standards achieved.

A third party certified EMS is becoming an increasingly important part of any well run organisation and demonstrates commitment and ability to properly manage environmental impacts to stakeholders.

The benefits of an EMS include:

Provision of a formal, structured and systematic approach to reducing environmental impacts, engaging the entire organisation at all levels.
Ensure compliance with environmental legislation and regulation via a standardised approach.
Save money in key impact areas by driving continuous improvement in reducing environmental impact and consequent financial risk.
Provide assurance of environmental performance to key stakeholders: the implementation of an EMS offers supply chain, marketing and reputational benefits.

There are the following three main routes to achieving an EMS within the UK.

ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
BS 8555 Phased Implementation of an Environmental Management System

The EMS most used in the UK is ISO 14001.

ISO 14001 is the corner stone standard of the ISO 14000 series. It specifies a framework of control for an Environmental Management System against which an organisation can be certified by a third party.

It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy, determining environmental aspects and impacts of products/activities/services, planning environmental objectives and measurable targets, implementation and operation of programmes to meet objectives and targets, checking and corrective action, and management review.

The overall aim is to establish an organised approach to systematically reduce the impact of the environmental aspects which an organisation can control.

The starting point for an EMS is Environmental Auditing to the Baseline Review standard and many of our clients have commissioned this and then committed to an EMS at a later date.

The Green Consultancy can provide advice on the choice and design of an EMS to suit your organisation and prepare the organisation to apply for an accreditation.

BSI logo The Green Consultancy is an Associate Consultancy of The British Standards Institute and also provides consultancy on the new Energy Management System Standard BS EN 16001 and associated Energy Reduction Verification Kitemark.