Policy controlled environmental management work
The environmental performance of the company is measured in terms of impact
on a set of environmental condition indicators. An analysis is made
of the environmental policy to find the relevant
environmental condition indicators. The
impact on the indicators from the company’s
environmental aspects is calculated by
means of quantitative cause-effect models. These models have been borrowed from
LCA methodology where they are called characterization models.
The working method is divided in eight steps as can be seen in the figure below.
Figure Policy controlled environmental management system.
The contrary arrows suggest that either direction is possible to follow. It
is possible to start the work at any step. Below is described one working path
with beginning at the formulation of the environmental policy.
Actions:
1. Formulate the environmental policy
The environmental policy is formulated. The policy expresses the company’s
viewpoint and aim with its environmental work.
Company Ltd example
2. Extract environmental condition indicator
An analysis is made of the statements in the policy to find the established
responsibilities of the company. Environmental condition indicators are
extracted as the consequences of the statements of the environmental policy.
These indicators are measures of the state of the environment and should be
quantitative and relevant for the company.
If possible, the work in the next step is simplified if the environmental
condition indicators are chosen among the indicators of existing impact
assessment methods (EPS
2000,
EDIP and
Eco-indicator 99) that have documentation and
ready-made characterization methods.
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3. Classify environmental condition indicator to environmental aspect
The environmental condition indicators are translated into environmental
aspects. This step is compatible with the classification step in the
ISO 14042
standard. The environmental aspects are the inputs and outputs from the
company’s activities that impact the chosen environmental condition indicators
(i.e. are linked to characterization parameters) together with the aspects that
are not covered by the policy but are still needed because of laws and
regulations, customer/supplier demands, internal use etc.
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4. Carry out inventory of quantitative status of environmental aspects
This step involves acquisition, processing and reporting of numerical
environmental data and modeling of the production system based on the
environmental aspects of interest. The list of environmental aspects from the
last step may be complemented with aspects that are not covered by the policy
but are still needed because of laws and regulations, customer/supplier demands,
internal use etc. This step corresponds to the environmental review and the
general measuring and monitoring according to
ISO 14001. Allocation is also made
at this step.
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5. Characterize environmental impacts from environmental aspects
The environmental effects of all the aspects of the company are quantified with
characterization methods. In this step the characterization methods that link
all aspects with the environmental condition indicators are prepared. There is a
choice of using existing methods, creating new ones, or adapting existing
methods to the company’s needs.
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6. Weigh environmental impacts with respect to priorities of policy and
objectives
A quantitative subjective prioritization is made of the effects on the
environmental condition indicators. The method with which this will be made is
chosen in this step. The priorities shall be based on the policy and can also be
used to identify the company’s significant aspects. The company can choose to
develop company specific priorities instead of using the weighting methods of
existing impact assessment methods such as EPS
2000,
EDIP and
Eco-indicator 99.
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7. Calculate the environmental performance
In this step, the actual calculations are performed. The current status of the
environmental performance of the company is measured in terms of impact on the
environmental condition indicators from the activities performed by the company.
The characterization factors and the priorities from the two previous steps are
used.
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8. Set/update environmental objectives
The results from the calculation of the environmental performance are used to
set environmental objectives and targets. The environmental objectives are set
at company level to avoid sub-optimizations at individual sub-units.
For more detailed description of the methodology, view the
manual.
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