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Environmental Certification
Since the early 1980s, there has been growing concern among governments and industry that the link between environment and trade has not been adequately defined. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, over 100 countries agreed on the need for further development of international environmental management programmes.
Governments have responded by reforming environmental legislation to encompass the concepts of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) - "development that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the needs of future generations".
The principles of ecologically sustainable development have gone a long way to create a feeling of responsibility or "due care" within industry. However it has been the response to ever more stringent legislation that has led industry to investigate ways of improving environmental performance. When pollution was free, businesses could ignore environmental problems. These days, with the harsh laws and greater penalties, businesses have changed their way of thinking. Pollution is now expensive and businesses have to find new solutions.
Directors and senior management need an effective management tool which will assure them their organisation's activities, products or services comply with legal requirements, and to demonstrate they have taken all due care to protect the environment.
An environmental management system (EMS) enables the organisation to define the structure, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources necessary to implement desired environmental policies, objectives and targets within an existing management framework.
An environmental management system according to ISO 14001 is “part of an organisation’s management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects” (ISO 14001:2004 Clause 3.8)
The benefits of an environmental management system
Reducing the amount of impact that an organisation has on the environment has become very important in society and in the marketplace. Hence there are many important reasons for why organisations decide to implement an environmental management system.
- Improved environmental performance:
While the environmental management systems standards do not guarantee optimal environmental outcomes, they do provide a framework to allow organisation to continually improve on the management system and its performance.
- Consultation:
A systematic approach to processes ensures that employees and other stakeholders are involved in the business and are aware of environmental impacts before they become much larger problems. An environmental management system should also assist in opening the lines the of communication and providing information for both internal and external parties.
- Compliance with regulations:
An environmental management system helps demonstrate that management is meeting its legal responsibilities in relation to legislation and regulation and is doing so effectively.
- Cost efficiencies:
A well-functioning environmental management system will deliver long term cost efficiencies. It will assist in targetting reduction in energy costs, waste charges and raw materials and documenting them accordingly. An organisation who also deals with land acquistions will also find that some banks may be more accomodating when they are able to see documentation of the environmental risk assessments.
Competitive advantage
Being able to demonstrate that your organisation is proactive in preserving the environment is a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition. Utilising the environmental management system your organisation should be able to improve its corporate image by showing that you are responsible for your environmental impact. Consequently this may increase the amount of consumers that use your products or services.
Case Studies on organisations who have environmental management systems:
Certification Standards:
Click on the headings below to find out more information about the particular standard.
Organisations are increasingly concerned with demonstrating sound environmental performance by controlling the impacts of their activities, products and services on the environment. They do so in the context of stringent legislation and increased concern from stakeholders. Although many organisations undertake environmental reviews and audits, these alone may be insufficient in providing assurance of meeting its legal and policy obligations. The International Standard, ISO 14001, addresses this issue by specifying requirements for an Environmental Management System (EMS) that form a framework for organisations to design and implement an EMS to suit their own business. EMS’s that meet the ISO 14001 requirements can be externally audited and certified by an accredited Certification Body such as NCS International.
Under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act 2007 if your organisation exceeds specified corporate group reporting thresholds, it must register for, and meet, new mandatory energy reporting requirements. Reporting obligations cover facilities under a corporation’s operational control in the areas of: greenhouse gas emissions; energy production; and energy consumption.
The Australian Forestry Standard embodies forest management performance criteria that supports continual improvement toward sustainable wood production in Australia. The Standard has received international recognition and stakeholder support including the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) which is well recognised in Europe. Importantly NCSI is also capable of delivering dual AS 4708 and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) recognition.
Certification against the Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard provides independent verification of wood or forest product from its origin in a certified forest through to its end use as a wood or forest product by the consumer, even accounting for virgin and recycled timbers.
The AWPCS is a certification scheme developed by AQIS to ensure that Australian treatment providers and wood packaging manufacturers produce wood packaging material that meets the requirements of ISPM 15. Under this scheme wood packaging manufacturers and treatment providers who meet the requirements of ISPM 15 will, after successful audit by NCS International, be authorised by AQIS to apply an internationally recognised mark to wood packaging material.
The Australian Ecolabel Program provided by Good Environmental Choice Australia Ltd (GECA) utilises standards of environmental performance for different product sectors to verify product compliance for the ecolabel.
Forest management certification involves an inspection of the forest management unit by an independent FSC-accredited certification body to check that the forest complies with the internationally-agreed FSC 10 Principles of Responsible Forest Management.
Plantation Timber Certification is a set of rules developed by industry for processor to provide confidence to customers that plantation softwood structural products and appearance grade products are consistently manufactured fit for purpose in accordance with product standards.
Sustainability Report Assurance
The term 'sustainability reporting' is used to describe a broad range of online and printed publications in which companies report on their economic, environmental and social performance. It is also known as triple bottom line reporting. There is growing stakeholder and governance pressure for independent assurance of the content of these reports.
Engaging a 3rd party firm such as NCS International to conduct independent assurance of reports against international standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), is becoming a standard way of doing business for reputable companies. Learn more about Sustainability Report Assurance with NCS International.
For further information on environmental management systems please call 1300 856 554 or email info@ncsi.com.au. To request a quote for any of the management systems above please click here.
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