Eco Management

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Eco Management Audit Scheme Presentation for
Councillors
Julia Brown, Birmingham City Council
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EMAS - Eco Management and Audit Scheme

• Voluntary European Regulation
• Provides a framework for an Environmental
  Management System
• Seeks for organisations to manage their
  significant environmental effects and to publicly
  report progress on its environmental achievements.

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7 Key Stages of EMAS
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• Statement of what the Departments/ Councils
  intentions and commitments are concerning the
  environment.
• For EMAS, the policy needs to include elements
  concerning compliance with relevant environmental
  legislation and commitment to continuous
  improvement

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2. REVIEW

• The Review is probably the largest stage in the
  development of an Environmental Management
  System. It will include
• Analysis of our activities / products / delivery
  of services and their impact upon the
  environment
• Identification and prioritisation of significant
  environmental effects.
• Identification of relevant environmental
  legislation

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3. PROGRAMME

• Review of existing, and development of new
  objectives, targets and management programmes
  that
• Aim to prevent, reduce or control the significant
  environmental effects and
• To meet the requirements of the Environmental
  Policy Statement.
• May result in Corporate, Departmental and Section
  specific objectives and goals.

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4. MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• Development of manual, procedures and work
  instructions to ensure that
• we effectively manage our environmental effects
• we can demonstrate compliance with the
  requirements of the EMS and
• that objectives and targets are being met.
• The Management System should also contain
  reference to associated documents and their
  locations.

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5. AUDIT

• Audits will identify if the
• EMS is effective,
• systematically implemented,
• maintained and
• if it delivers useful information to management.

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6. STATEMENT

• Informing interested persons, the public, about
• who we are,
• what we do,
• what our significant environmental issues are,
• data on pollutant emissions, wastes, raw
  materials, energy, water,
• our policy statement and
• our programmes to achieve environmental
  improvement.

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7. VALIDATION
Seeking the services of an external, certified
verifier to validate the public statement and to
confirm that the system meets the requirements of
EMAS.
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EMAS BENEFITS

• Systematic approach
• Increased credibility as a regulator and promoter
• Financial Savings
• Increased credentials for environmental grants
• Compliance with legislation

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EMAS BENEFITS

• Staff involvement and commitment
• Public transparency
• Report on findings and publicise achievements
• Proactive management
• Improved Environmental Performance