Environmental statement

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Environmental declarations should present a company's environmental management system to the outside world in a short form and reveal key figures and environmental targets for the same. An assessment of the effects on the environment should also be given. An environmental declaration is mandatory as part of the environmental audit system specified in the EC Eco-Audit Regulation ( EMAS Regulation ).

Emergence

The declaration is drawn up by private (e.g. stock corporation or associations) or public (e.g. parishes or churches) bodies. They are created in connection with the results of an audit and form the interface between this audit system and the public.

For each site involved in the system of a company or public body, an environmental statement is drawn up after the first environmental assessment and after each subsequent audit or after each audit cycle.

content

An environmental declaration should be drawn up according to a scheme described in the EC Eco Audit Regulation. The form and scope of such a declaration can vary greatly. However, every environmental statement contains certain basic elements and must be published in writing. These basic elements include, in particular, representations:

  1. Description of the company's activities at the relevant location;
  2. Judgment on all important environmental questions in connection with the activities concerned;
  3. Environmental balance, which means a summary of the figures on pollutant emissions, waste generation, raw material, energy and water consumption and other significant environmentally relevant aspects;
  4. Other factors that affect corporate environmental protection;
  5. Presentation of the company's environmental policy, environmental program and environmental management system for the site in question;
  6. Deadline for submitting the next environmental statement;
  7. Name of the approved environmental verifier.

Benefits for companies

Environmental statements offer private or public organizations the opportunity to present themselves in a positive and environmentally friendly way. They serve to make the efforts of an organization to protect the environment transparent for its customer base and to stand out positively from the competition. A precise analysis of the environmental impacts often leads to cost savings, as it is recognized in which areas there is optimization potential, where and how, for example, raw materials and energy sources can be used more carefully and efficiently.

Benefits for private individuals

For the citizen, a certain degree of transparency is achieved with regard to the environmental impact and environmental protection efforts of the company. An overview of the environmental impacts is created in the environmental balance and presented to the public, and a willingness to act environmentally is visible. This makes it easier and more direct to make demands on the company to reduce its emissions by stakeholders . Overall, the benefit lies in open corporate communication.

Examples

A practical example of an environmental statement is the environmental statement from the Office for Urban Drainage of the City of Cologne. It shows how this organization strives to protect the environment. Here is an excerpt from it:

  • Effective, state-of-the-art process engineering enables a low level of pollution in the system outlet of the wastewater treatment plant. This enables wastewater treatment to be implemented at a high level at competitive prices. At the same time, the pollution of the waters is kept low.
  • The sewage sludge that arises in the plant can be used for agriculture due to its good quality with pollutant values ​​that are well below the limit values ​​and is therefore sensibly recycled.
  • By producing high-energy sewage gas with sewage sludge, 50% of the power requirements of the plants and 100% of the heating requirements can be covered.
  • Large parts of the organic residues that are not used internally are used thermally to generate energy, while the mineral residues from the sand traps of the plants e.g. B. be used for sewer construction.
  • The odor nuisance from the systems is reduced to a minimum through constant monitoring and, if necessary, through the use of odor-inhibiting additives

These are just a few examples of how the facts published in an environmental statement can have a positive effect on the image of a company and at the same time give customers a better insight into how an organization works.

As early as 1996, Lufthansa had adopted guidelines on environmental protection, which were binding for all employees and Group locations. The fuel consumption and emissions are shown in the reporting. The publication shows that the development over the years also reflects the economic influences. However, environmental goals and measures are presented very briefly. According to the prospects presented in 2008, Lufthansa intends to reduce its specific CO 2 emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared to 2006 .

criticism

Since participation in the environmental audit system is voluntary, there are restrictions on the comparison and assessment of companies. Only in the case of plants that are subject to approval within the meaning of the Federal Immission Control Act are binding, provided that the submission or creation of an environmental statement is part of the approval. In the case of cross-border environmental impacts and several locations of a company - especially in international corporations - the spatial delimitation is very difficult.

literature

  • Marion Steven, Erich J. Schwarz, Peter Letmathe: Environmental reporting and environmental declaration according to the EC Ecoaudit Regulation: Basics, methods and applications. 1997 ISBN 978-3-540-62011-2
  • Carlo Burschel, Thomas Claes, Hendric Hallay: Environmental policy in small and medium-sized companies. EG-Öko-Audit, DIN ISO EN 14001 ff., Environmental declaration , Carl Hanser Verl., 1999 ISBN 3-446-19196-8
  • Jens Clausen, Klaus Fichter: Environmental report, environmental statement. Practice of Credible Communication from Businesses ISBN 3-446-18247-0
  • Nicole Hroch, Stefan Schaltegger: How well do environmental statements and reports take into account key environmental issues? Comparative study using the example of information on CO 2 emissions and energy consumption for 1995/96 and 1998/99 . Lüneburg: Center for Sustainability Management (CSM), 2001 ISBN 3-935630-11-5 CSM Lüneburg
  • The way to the best environmental statement. Practical help for operational implementation ISBN 3-89644-067-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lufthansa Environmental Strategy 2020 ( Memento of the original dated August 19, 2010 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot /responsibility.lufthansa.com

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