Environmental report

This article treats the environmental report as a representation of the environmental activities of companies and public institutions. For other meanings of the term, see Environmental Report (disambiguation) .

An environmental report is a publication in which a company or a public institution describes its goals, measures and results in the field of environmental protection . In addition to companies, z. B. regional authorities (cities, districts) or educational institutions and the ministries mainly responsible for environmental protection tasks out environmental reports.

Environmental reports are usually published annually and are generally voluntary. An environmental report forms part of the information policy of organizations, but is also an element of marketing , with which companies and public institutions present themselves and their understanding of the natural environment and their environmental performance.

Goals, measures, structure

Environmental goals and measures or information about these and their results also play a role in the assessment by investors . In recent years, there has therefore been an increasing trend towards presenting environmental reporting as part of sustainability reports.

The environmental report does not have a predefined content structure, but in addition to a description of the organization, it usually contains an imprint of the corporate environmental policy it has formulated or the environmental guidelines it has set itself, in the case of companies with examples of practical implementation from individual plants or company areas. Often, the environmental program is also included, in which the measures in the area of ​​operational environmental protection are listed and the degree of target achievement or the planned period of implementation are specified. In the case of public institutions, the external effects of their environmental policy and measures to protect the environment are particularly relevant.

Input / output balances

The annex to the report usually also contains an input / output balance sheet (including environmental balance sheet ) in which the quantities of materials (raw materials, energy, water) and emissions (water, air, soil) consumed by the organization during the balance period are listed. In some companies or public institutions, this data is based on a systematically implemented material flow management .

EMAS

For organizations that have set up an environmental management system in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14001 or the European Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS regulation), the environmental report is a conclusive continuation of the environmental declaration required there .

Ranking

Between 1994 and 2000 there was a ranking of environmental reports in Germany by the Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW) and future eV Since 2005 sustainability reports have been compared in this ranking .

Demarcation

The environmental report and the company environmental balance (input / output balance) contained therein must be distinguished from the life cycle assessment , which describes the environmental impact of a product.

The Environmental Information Act (UIG) committed in § 11, the Federal Government , periodic basis of not submit more than four years, an environmental status report. This report should contain information about the environmental quality and the existing environmental pollution in the federal territory. At the end of 2015, the report was published with the title Environmental Report 2015, Towards a Modern Environmental Policy . The report was published in 2019 with the title Environmental Report 2019, Environment and Nature as the Foundation of Social Cohesion .

Special obligations for environmental reporting, for the collection, transfer and publication of specific data for the purposes of environmental policy , by companies, public institutions and authorities are regulated in Regulation (EC) 166/2006 of the European Parliament and in several national environmental laws and regulations. This is where the legal basis for a European Pollutant Emissions Register ( E-PRTR or EPRTR) is created.

See also

• Sustainability report
• Environmental advice
• Environmental report (land-use planning)
• Strategic environmental assessment

literature

• German Institute for Urbanism (Ed.): Municipal environmental reports (=  Difu reports . Volume 3 ). German Institute for Urban Studies, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88118-283-7 .
• Thomas Loew, Klaus Fichter: Environmental reporting in Germany and Europe (=  IÖW series of publications . Volume 138 ). Institute for Ecological Economic Research, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932092-38-4 .

Web links

Examples of environmental reports from companies and other institutions

• Environmental report of RWE AG 1998. (PDF) Retrieved on July 16, 2006 . 
• Environmental report of the city of Ludwigshafen 2014. Accessed on May 16, 2017 . 
• Environmental report of the University of Hanover 2002–2004. Retrieved July 16, 2006 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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 for the repeal of Regulation (EC) No. 761/2001, as well as the decisions of the Commission 2001/681 / EG and 2006/193 / EG (EMAS III)
2. ↑ Environmental Information Act (UIG) of December 22, 2004 ( BGBl. I p. 3704 )
3. ↑ Environmental Report of the Federal Government 2015. On the way to a modern environmental policy. October 22, 2015, accessed May 16, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Environmental Report 2019 - Environmental protection must involve everyone. September 18, 2019, accessed September 18, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of January 18, 2006 on the creation of a European register for recording the release and transmission of pollutants and amending Directive 91/689 / EEC and Directive 96/61 / EC of the Council , published on February 4, 2006.