Eco Management and Audit Scheme

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The EMAS logo

The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme ( EMAS ), also known as the EU Eco-Audit or Eco-Audit, was developed by the European Union and is a community system of environmental management and environmental auditing for organizations that want to improve their environmental performance . The EMAS regulation (eco-audit regulation) assigns a decisive role to the responsibility of the economy in dealing with its direct and indirect environmental impacts. Companies, service providers, administrations, etc., but also other types of organization, including supranational organizations, can be certified .

EMAS is considered one of the so-called New Environmental Policy Instruments (NEPI) 'new environmental policy instruments' .

auditing

Organizations participating in EMAS have to publish an environmental statement in which they a. report on their impact on the environment (direct or indirect), their environmental performance and their environmental goals . The environmental statement is checked for correctness by an independent environmental verifier who is subject to state monitoring and must be updated annually. Every three years at the latest, the environmental verifier checks, as part of the so-called revalidation, etc. a. the environmental management system, compliance with the environmental policy, as well as legal compliance and a consolidated environmental statement.

Organizations that successfully pass the verification by the environmental verifier can be entered in the EMAS register (in Germany this is recorded by the competent chambers of industry and commerce as well as the chambers of crafts) and are allowed to use the EMAS logo for their operational environmental protection.

Strengths and potentials

The great strength of EMAS lies in the measurement and publication of the company's environmental impact in order to improve it in terms of sustainable development. This works both in terms of pure environmental protection and from the point of view of improving eco-efficiency, which, for example, can increase economic and ecological performance by reducing superfluous material flows (eco-efficiency).

Weaknesses and problems

The implementation of EMAS involves the same difficulty as all management systems - it requires a high level of willingness to learn and organize throughout the company. A reorganization simply ordered by management or external consultants will be of little success if the willingness to change is not supported by the entire company, but rather the certification is only understood as a cosmetic seal.

EMAS does not cover many areas of companies or organizations. The system could still be optimized for large events. The Evangelical Church Congress is an EMAS-certified major event.

Development of EMAS

With the Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1836/93 of June 29, 1993 on the voluntary participation of commercial companies in a community system for environmental management and environmental auditing , the EU created a concept for the first time to help commercial companies to Improvement in their environmental performance should be given. The basis for this regulation is the fifth environmental action program of the European Community of February 1, 1993, in which an improvement in the state of the environment should be achieved through new environmental policy instruments. In order to be able to assess the effectiveness of the EMAS regulation, a review of the regulation was determined five years after its entry into force. On October 30, 1998, the Commission submitted its first proposal for a revised EMAS regulation, which was finally approved by the European Parliament and the Council on February 14, 2001, after being revised several times and a conciliation committee was set up. On April 24, 2001, Regulation (EC) No. 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 19, 2001 on the voluntary participation of organizations in a community system for environmental management and environmental auditing (EMAS) was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities released. This regulation is referred to as EMAS II for short and came into force on April 27, 2001.

Further development - EMAS II

The aim of both the old and the new EMAS regulation is to continuously improve a company's environmental performance. EMAS II tried to eliminate the main points of criticism of EMAS. Among other things, there were the following changes:

  • Extension of the existing area of ​​application (commercial companies) to so-called organizations . These are companies , corporations , operations , companies , authorities or an institution or parts or combinations thereof, with or without legal personality , public or private, with their own functions and administration.
  • In order to improve the connection to the industrial standard ISO 14001 , the requirements for environmental management mentioned there were part of EMAS II.
  • Companies with different locations can now be validated in one procedure.

Amendment - EMAS III

On January 11, 2010, a new EC regulation (No. 1221/2009, referred to as EMAS III for short ) came into force, with which the previously applicable regulations were combined and changed.

content

The most significant change brought about by EMAS III concerns the relief for small and medium-sized companies . You only need to update your environmental statement every two years (instead of annually) and only have it validated by an expert every four (instead of three) years. In addition, the EMAS III regulation specifies the requirements for the content of the environmental declaration, extends the scope of the regulation to companies outside the EU and obliges the member states to support the spread of EMAS.

Emergence

The amendment is based on a proposal by the European Commission in 2008. The aim of the commission was to maintain the high EMAS standard and at the same time to increase the attractiveness of the system and thus the number of registrations. However, after the amendment was passed, EU standardization experts from consumer associations criticized that a company could comply with all EMAS regulations without achieving good environmental performance.

Implementation in Germany

In Germany, essential parts of the EMAS regulation are implemented through the Environmental Audit Act (UAG). UAG is u. a. regulates the approval and supervision system for environmental verifiers. It also constitutes the Environmental Verification Committee (UGA), which has the task of advising the Federal Environment Ministry in the area of ​​this voluntary eco-audit, issuing guidelines for the application of the Environmental Audit Act and promoting the spread of EMAS in Germany. The following interest groups are represented in the UGA: business, environmental auditors, federal and state environmental and economic administration, trade unions and environmental associations. The 25 honorary members are supported in their work and their commitment by a full-time office based in Berlin.

Universities could only participate in EMAS after an expansion ordinance in Germany in 1998. The first university registered according to EMAS was Zittau / Görlitz University in March 1999. EMAS at universities also took up the artec sustainability research center at the University of Bremen and promoted the topic of ecological and technological innovations through demanding environmental management in May 2006. This also resulted in EMAS concepts and projects, such as environmental management and the continuous improvement process ( CIP ).

In June 2007, the German Evangelical Church Congress was the first major series event in Germany to receive the EMAS environmental certificate. The scientific support was provided by the research facility of the Evangelical Study Community

Implementation in Austria

In Austria, the EMAS regulation is regulated in a similar way to Germany, and the Federal Environment Agency is responsible for this , prescribed by the Environmental Management Act or the EMAS regulation.

distribution

The number of organizations that can be validated according to EMAS is declining slightly in the old EU member states and is increasing slightly in most of the member states that have joined the EU since 2004. The “peak” of EMAS validations was in 2001 and 2002, with Germany (followed by Italy and Spain) still having the most EMAS validations. In Germany, a total of 1,224 organizations (with 1,873 locations) are validated according to EMAS, which means that an upward trend is continuing. Across Europe, 10,447 locations with 3,341 companies are registered in the EMAS registers of the EU countries (as of December 15, 2014).

The reasons for the slow increase in EMAS validations are varied and ambiguous.

  • Lack of international acceptance of EMAS:

The international standard ISO 14001 is recognized worldwide and was applied by 285,844 companies and organizations worldwide in 2012. EMAS has also been applicable internationally since the amendment in 2009 (EMAS III), but with 10,447 registered locations of 3,341 companies and organizations it is far below the number of ISO 14001 users.

  • Substitution by ISO 14001:

Especially in the introductory phase of the environmental management system (EMS), the additional effort for EMAS was an obstacle for most companies and organizations, so that EMAS and ISO 14001 were inevitably understood as substitutes. It turns out, however, that these two environmental management systems will be used more and more frequently in a complementary manner. EMAS is increasingly being understood as the “Premium Standard” of the UMS and is primarily used for self-initiated improvement of environmental performance. ISO 14001, on the other hand, serves primarily to satisfy external requirements. This development puts a comparison of the two EMSs in a different context.

  • Furthermore, EMAS II is based on an environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001 and extends the requirements to include binding legal compliance and content-related accountability through the environmental statement. The registration procedure is somewhat more extensive than with ISO 14001. The economic benefit for the company is the same or even higher, since EMAS validation is to be taken into account in public procurement projects and also includes ISO 14001 certification.

specialization

Based on the environmental audit according to the EMAS regulation, the environmental audit " The Green Gockel " has been developed in the Evangelical Church in Württemberg and in the Evangelical Church in Baden . It is specially tailored to the framework conditions and the structure of a church community.

Another specialization is the EMASplus sustainability management concept . Its structure and process follow the EMAS standards. EMASplus also includes an improvement cycle that includes not only “the environment” but also “economy” and “social issues”, ensures transparent information for the public via the sustainability report and can be validated by independent experts. In the three-year test phase from 2004 to 2006, the concept was tested in over 40 church and social economy companies. An EMASplus guideline based on this enables the integrated certification of sustainability management according to EMAS and ISO 9001.

Another approach to disseminating EMAS is the EMASEasy concept, which is specially tailored to small and very small businesses.

criticism

Clear criticism of EMAS comes from the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation, Regional Association Southern Upper Rhine. The certification of nuclear power plants and nuclear reprocessing plants and of companies and corporations that have a massive impact on the environment, manufacture environmentally harmful products, accelerate climate change or endanger human life in the event of a disaster is criticized. According to BUND, EMAS certification serves these companies as a green wash, as an opportunity to put on a “green PR coat”.

literature

  • Doctoral network Öko-Audit eV (Ed.): Environmental management systems between aspiration and reality. An interdisciplinary discussion of the EC Eco Audit Regulation and DIN EN ISO 14001 . Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 1998, ISBN 3-540-64690-6 .
  • Gastl, René: Continuous improvement in environmental management. The CIP requirement of ISO 14001 in theory and business practice . vdf-Verlag, Second Edition, Zurich, 2009, ISBN 3-7281-3034-6 . www.cmrg.ch/kvp-publikation.htm.
  • Corporate environmental management systems. Requirements - implementation - experiences. Baumann / Kössler / Promberger ISBN 3-7073-0795-6 .
  • Kleesiek, Wolfgang: Deregulation and substitution of environmental law for EMAS registered organizational locations, Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin, 2007, ISBN 3-503-09383-4 .
  • Jordan, A.; Wurzel, R.; Zito, A.; Brückner, L .: 'New' Environmental Policy Instruments: An Evolution or a Revolution in Environmental Policy? In: Dies .: New Instruments of Environmental Governance? National Experiences and Prospects , London, 2003, pp. 201-224., ISBN 0-7146-8300-0 .
  • Cierjacks, Arne; Diefenbacher, Hans; Teichert, Volker: Environmental Management of Large Events: A Guide Using the Example of the German Evangelical Church Congress. FEST , Heidelberg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-88257-051-9 .
  • Teichert, Volker with the collaboration of Rolf Grimm: Environmental management in schools. FEST , Heidelberg, 2000, ISBN 3-88257-045-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European Parliament wants to improve its own greenhouse gas balance by 30%. ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: europarl.europa.eu , November 10, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.europarl.europa.eu
  2. ↑ Andrew Jordan et al. (Ed.): New Instruments of Environmental Governance? National Experiences and Prospects. Routledge Chapman & Hall, London / Portland 2003, ISBN 0-7146-8300-0 .
  3. ↑ Federal Environment Ministry (BMU); econsense (ed.); Schaltegger, S .; Herzig, C .; Kleiber, O .; Klinke, T .; Müller, J. (authors): Sustainability management in companies. From the idea to practice: management approaches to implement corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability. 3rd edition Berlin / Lüneburg: BMU, econsense, Center for Sustainability Management, 2007 CSM Lüneburg (PDF; 1.6 MB).
  4. ↑ Environmental commitment. German Evangelical Church Congress
  5. ↑ Regulation (EEC) No. 1836/93 of the Council of June 29, 1993 on the voluntary participation of commercial companies in a community system for environmental management and environmental auditing
  6. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 19, 2001 on the voluntary participation of organizations in a community system for environmental management and environmental auditing (EMAS)
  7. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1221/2009 of 25 November 2009 on the voluntary participation of organizations in a community system for environmental management and environmental auditing and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 761/2001, as well as the decisions of the Commission 2001/681 / EG and 2006/193 / EG
  8. ^ Fiala, Franz: Environmental Management: Patterns for Green Coats. In: Umwelt aktuell 10.2009, p. 5.
  9. ↑ Hartwin Maas: Environmental management and CIP at the University of Bremen. In Gegenlicht, May 2004, p. 8
  10. ↑ Federal law on accompanying regulations to the EMAS regulation (Environmental Management Act - UMG). Federal legal information system (RIS). Retrieved November 18, 2019 .
  11. ↑ EU Commission website on EMAS, statistics and graphs section. ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 17, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ec.europa.eu
  12. ↑ ec.europa.eu ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 15, 2015 (JPG file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ec.europa.eu
  13. ↑ Umweltbundesamt.de ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 15, 2015 (JPG file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.umweltbundesamt.de
  14. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1221/2009 of November 25, 2009 , Articles 1 and 3, Paragraph 3.
  15. ^ Neugebauer, Friederike, 2012: Journal of Cleaner Production Volume December 37 , 2012
  16. ↑ EMASEasy
  17. ↑ BUND RVSO: Criticism of EMAS certificate for nuclear power plants , March 11, 2018.