ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS): STANDARDS (Unit-5 Part -I)

ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS)

Learning Objectives: After studying this lesson, you will be able to understand:

• The concept of Environment Management System (EMS)
• Different EMS standards 
• Role of ISO 14001 for the Implementation of EMS
• The concept of environmental auditing
• Carbon Abatement Strategies
• India Green Rating Project
• Leeds- Design for Green Building

PART-1

Introduction

Environment provides resources as well as essential services to supports life of human beings. Now a days, resource conservation and management have become significant for the commercial establishment of an enterprise or company, industry and service sectors. Not all resources are of renewable in nature as well as after their consumption by different industries for making goods and other desired products; they are also generating lots of waste and pollutants in air, water and land. Therefore, degradation of the environment has been threatening the sustainability of human beings and its green planet earth.

In order to achieve sustainable development goal, enterprises, companies and industries must adopt resource conservation and environmental protection as an integral part of overall management and business strategy. The capability of corporations to manage their environmental performance is emerging as a strategic issue for many companies worldwide. There is an urgent requirement of more effective standards or tools (EMS- Environmental Management System) that a company must follow to assess their management practices and level of their effectiveness in meeting their environmental responsibilities. 

Implementation of an Environmental Management System by an organization or enterprise is a systemic approach to minimize environmental risk. With the rapid development of industrial economy in recent decades, global warming caused by carbon emission has raised wider concern around the world.  With the keen awareness of corporate social responsibility, an increasing number of firms are actively pursuing various certifications on environmental management like ISO 14001 is the most popular one. 

Environmental Management System (EMS)

EMS is a continuous improvement practice program may have some defined sequence steps drawn from established project management practices applied in business management. An EMS is regarded as an important management tool that aids a business. In general, the process of setting up an EMS can be outlined as follows:

•         Analyzing the environmental consequences of the operations;
•         Designing a set of policies and objectives for environmental performance;
•         Establishing an action plan to achieve the objectives;
•         Monitoring performances against these objectives;
•         Reporting the results appropriately;
•         Reviewing the system and strive for continuous improvement. 

An EMS can be implemented in any organization/company or industry-big or small, private or government in different ways depending upon the needs and objectives. Hence, its implementation is flexible which make it useful at all relevant levels in achieving environmental goals. ISO 14001 specifies the standard for establishment and maintenance of an EMS in any organization. The Ford Motor Company was one of the first MNCs to embrace ISO 14001 series guidelines for all of its manufacturing facilities. General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota and other automobile manufactures around the World adopt EMS and certify them through International standards. 

Motives of Adopting EMS (Why to have EMS is important for any firm?)

An Environmental Management System of an organization helps to: 

1. Develop and maintain a well-organized management structure that ensures compliance with regulations and environmental legislations.
2. Provide a framework through which harmful impacts of organizational activities on environment can be minimized.
3. Improve established project management practices.
4. Enhance employee awareness regarding environmental issues and responsibility.
5. Enhance consumers support, sound image in public and market.
6. Reduce the cost associated with environmental management practices due to increased efficiency.   

Environmental Clearance & Certification

Environmental Management System Standards

It was after the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1992, that environmental management matters too for achieving sustainable development. Later on, the EMS was introduced to help the organizations coping with their environmental issues in a more standardized and effective manner. The concept of external certification expanded with the introduction of the British standard with the introduction of the British Standard (BS-7750) in the early 1990s, followed by the development of European Standard, EMAS in 1993, and the ISO 14000 series in 1996. So the two most frequently used guidelines for EMS design and certification are ISO 14001 and EMAS.

a) ISO 14001: The constituent standards of management systems are organized by the international Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Geneva. In 1996, at the request of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) four years earlier, the International Organization for Standardization introduced ISO 14001, the first of the ISO 14000 family of environmental management systems (EMS) standards. ISO 14001 provides guidelines by which corporations or other organizations design and implement an EMS. It presents the elements of an EMS that organizations are required to conform with, if they seek third party certification. The Plan-do-check-Act is the basic cycle behind all the ISO standards.  

  

1.      Plan: EMS implementation through ISO:14001 guidelines.

2.      Do: Life cycle assessment and management of environmental aspects.

3.      Check: auditing and evaluation of environment performance.

4.      Act: continuous improvement by maintain EMS.

Some of the important features of ISO 14001 are as follows:

• Among all the ISO 14000 series, the ISO 14001 is the only one auditable, granting environmental quality certification to organizations (Reference: Disterheft et al., 2012).
• Since the official launch of ISO 14001 in 1996, more than 320,000 organizations worldwide have certified their EMSs through this standard (till 2014)
• It is in accordance with environmental laws of the country that adopt it, because this type of Environmental Management System (EMS) was written to be applicable to all types and sizes of organizations.
• In addition, the standard must be adjusted to the different geographical, cultural and social conditions (Reference: Cary and Roberts, 2013).
• Its first version was released in 1996, published and based on the British Standards (BS) 7750. Seeking to improve the standard, updates were made in 2004 and 2015.
• It is the most widely accepted as a standard tool for managing environmental welfare of the organization.
• As per qualitative analysis, China, Italy, Japan, the UK and Spain are the main countries in numbers of ISO 14001 certificates issued.  

b)   The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS): It is similar to ISO 14001 in its components and requirements but the only difference is that EMAS applicable only at the site level, while ISO can be applicable at the facility, company and organization levels.  


ISO 14001 consists of Six Essential Components 

     An EMS is a formal set of procedures that defines how a facility will manage its impacts to the natural environment. They are based on a continuous-improvement model that expects firms to periodically revisit and update their environmental improvement goals to ensure that negative environmental impacts are minimized. The certification has seemed a feasible option particularly among firms operating in environmentally sensitive industries such as paper and pulp industry as well as chemical based industry. The ISO 14001 is an international based environmental management system (EMS) of which the subscribed firms follow the standard of five main components which include-

      1. Commitment and Policy:

     For the implementation of a successful EMS system it is essential for an organization to have a written environmental policy appropriate to the nature, scale and environmental impacts of its activities, products and services. An environmental policy is usually published as a written statement and a corporate commitment for improving environmental performance. It is the prime duty of the top management that the environmental policy of the company must conform to all applicable national laws, regulations and other requirements related to its environmental aspects. The policy documented must include pollution prevention as one of its policies and principles of actions to reduce such impacts. It should be a public document properly analyzed and revised depending upon the objectives and targets of the organization. Last but not the least it must have a commitment towards continuously improving environment performance.  

      2. Planning:

     For appropriate planning first different environmental aspects should be identified and recognized by well-specified processes. The identification of the environmental impacts arising from the environmental aspects will form the foundation of the targets and objectives for the corporate environmental plan. Moreover, the company must identify and evaluate all legal (national & international) and other requirements related to the environmental aspects of an organization in any ways. The plan of action of the organization describes all the measures taken over by an organization in order to achieve all the targets and objectives within the framework of applicable legislation. The action plan required to express the environmental policies of the organization into objectives and targets and identifies the activities to achieve them, defines the responsibilities and commits the necessary human and financial resources for implementation. 

      3. Implementation and Operation:

     Successful implementation of EMS would need commitment of all the employees. Environment awareness of the staff in general and training for those involved in EMS brings benefits to the organization. Proper communication channels are essential to inspire the employees and to influence external interested parties. All the documents related to EMS such as environmental policy, objectives, targets, important elements and other required records shall be controlled by making proper procedure. It is the responsibility of each organization to make emergency preparedness operations and periodically testing them in order to avoid accidents or other hazards. 

      4. Checking and Corrective Action:  

     According to this every organization shall establish and implement a set of procedures to monitor or check their environmental impacts on regular basis. The equipment should be calibrated and maintained time to time for better environmental performance. The corrective and preventive actions must be taken up and recorded as per the standards. In addition to this the organizations are required to conduct audits to at planned intervals verify the EMS implementation. Senior management shall implements such programmes by selecting auditors, giving employees proper training and providing appropriate time for conducting audits. The outcomes of audits must be documented and properly implemented. 

      5. Management Review:

    Top management must periodically review the EMS to evaluate its sustainability and effectiveness. The review should be conducted by means of preplanned meetings. 

    

     6. Continual Improvement: After reviewing appropriate changes in the policy, targets and corrective actions shall be done by the management with the obligation of continuous improvement in organizational environmental performance.

Certification Body: It is an independent organisation which verifies that a company’s EMS conforms to specific standard such as ISO 14001. Such a body is called certifies. If the system conforms to standard, the company will be awarded certificate. It is advisable to select certification body which has been accredited by government agency or other impartial organization with credibility.

Benefits of ISO 14001:

·         Portraying a good environmental image of the company;

·         Improving the need for the company to comply with laws and regulations;

·         Improving environmental associations of the company

·         Inducing the company’s internal problems with encouraged supports from their employees. 

·        ISO certification leads to increased competitive advantage and increased financial performance in           addition to improved reputation and reduced business cost.

·       Studies suggested that adoption of ISO:14001-certified EMS leads to a significant improvement in          environment quality, solid waste generation and reduces pollutant emissions. 

Other  way to understand the topic using following links:

EMS ISO-14001

Environmental Management System

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

EIA refers to review of potential impact of a project to be launched by an organization. It includes:

a)      Assessment of existing environmental status

b)     Analysis of various factors of ecosystem like trees, ponds, wildlife

c)      Analysis of adverse impacts of the project to be started

d)     Impact on people in the neighborhood

Self-Assessment Questions 

1.      Explain how an industry benefits from an Environmental Management System?

2.     What is ISO 14001? Describe its salient features and its importance in protecting environment.

3.      Explain different types of Environmental Management System Standards.