Environmental standard

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Environmental standards are legal, administrative or civil law provisions that help to transform the as yet unknown legal concept of environmental protection into a measurable quantity with defined standards through operationalization and standardization . Achieving environmental standards is a complex and lengthy process that takes into account scientific knowledge from various areas of research, beliefs and values, as well as the general social context. The various environmental activities have different goals and thus different standards.

The following consideration relates to the definition of the human environment, which differs from the natural environment . The human environment assumes that people interact permanently with their environment. This includes not only the natural elements such as air, water and earth, but also culture, communication, organizations and institutions. The people live together in an ethnological community. The setting of environmental standards should protect nature from further damage and seek to repair existing damage caused by the human way of life.

Environmental standards are set in the legal, administrative or private environment.

Development of environmental standards

In the discussion about environmental standards, two strongly anchored instincts influence the development process: on the one hand, the radical ecocentrism of humans and, on the other hand, a moderate anthropocentrism . These opposing forces create problems when setting environmental standards. Nevertheless, the idea of ​​changing the world and protecting or preserving it for future generations is the motto of this discussion. In recent years, people's sensitivity to environmental issues has increased, which is why the need for environmental protection has increased. This movement is supported by the advancement of scientific and medical knowledge, as well as by the improvement of measuring systems. These improvements will study the effects of human lifestyle on the environment, human and animal health. The development in the various research areas creates the basis for the implementation of environmental standards in recent years.

Environmental standards often define the desired state (e.g. the pH of the lake should be between 6.5 and 7.5) or limit value changes (e.g. no more than 50% of the natural forest can be damaged). The most common statistical methods have been used to determine certain conditions or limits that the standards should define.

When it comes to environmental issues, there is always uncertainty to be considered. The first step in developing a standard is to assess the specific risk. The expected value with regard to the occurrence of the risk must be calculated and then the possible damage classified. A distinction is made between three types of damage: changes due to physical-chemical environmental damage, ecological damage to plants and animals, and damage to human health. In order to determine an acceptable risk, given the expected collective benefits, the risk-related costs and the costs of risk avoidance must be socially balanced. In addition, risks have several dimensions, which should, however , be correlated at the end of the accounting process . The following steps should be taken into account in the accounting process:

  1. Definition of goals that serve the protection of life, health and the environment as well as the rational allocation of social resources.
  2. If these goals are implemented, an investigation of the possible outcomes should be carried out.
  3. Consider social costs or damage, including opportunity costs and benefits, that arise if one of the available options is no longer pursued.

In the weighing process, from the point of view of fairness, the distribution of risks and the resilience in terms of maintaining environmental productivity should be considered. In connection with the standards, an implementation rule was provided that specifies the circumstances under which the environmental standards should be considered violated. Penalties and other practices against countries that the standards do not meet should be part of this new legislation be.

Institutions that introduce environmental standards

Environmental standards have been set by various institutions. The pattern of standards was often based on the principle of voluntary self-commitment.

Government intuitions

U.N.

With 193 member states, the UN is the largest intergovernmental organization , which means that its environmental policy has a major influence on the setting of international environmental standards. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992, the member states first admitted their negative impact on the environment. During this and the following Millennium Declaration , the first development goals for environmental protection were set. Since then, the risk of disasters due to overuse of natural resources and global warming has increased dramatically. With the UN Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, a new agreement, the so-called Paris Agreement , with 17 goals for sustainable development was established. In addition to fighting poverty across the globe, the focus of the goals is on protecting our planet. These goals form the cornerstone for global environmental protection. The environmental areas of water , energy , oceans , ecosystems , sustainable production and consumption behavior and climate protection were covered by the goals. The goals contain information about the media needed to achieve them.

The follow-up and verification of whether the member states meet the targets set are questionable. The biggest problem is usually that many member states with external control by other members see it as an interference in their internal affairs. Caused by this implementation and the follow-up, only voluntary state reports are currently controlled. The main control is carried out by statistical values ​​called indicators. These indicators provide information about whether the goal has been achieved.

European Union

In the “ Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ”, the EU integrates a voluntary commitment to the environment. Title XX, Article 191.1 states that: "The Union's environmental policy contributes to the achievement of the following objectives:

  • Preservation, protection and improvement of the environmental quality,
  • Protection of human health,
  • careful and rational use of natural resources,
  • Promotion of measures at international level for dealing with regional or global environment; Problems and especially the fight against climate change. "

All environmental measures were based on this article and resulted in a variety of environmental laws . The European Union covers the topics of air , biotechnologies , chemistry , civil protection , climate change , environment , health , industry and technology , international , land use , nature and biodiversity , noise , protection of the ozonosphere , soil, sustainable development, waste and water .

In addition, the " European Environment Agency (EEA) " advises the member states on environmental issues, including standards.

See also: European Union environmental policy

Nation states - example USA

In the United States of America , standards are developed on a decentralized basis . The standards have been developed by more than a hundred different institutions, many of which are private intuitions. It is a system of pluralism that is mainly market influenced and partially fragmented. Two specific examples can be found below:

Ambient standards of the USA

The environmental standards, also known as the U.S. National Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , should measure how many pollutants are in the air. The Clean Air Act initiative sets environmental standards to ensure that people breathe clean air. In addition, this regulation helps protect the public good from known pollutants that could potentially harm it. In addition, enforcement of these established standards is intended to prevent further deterioration in air quality. States can set their own environmental standards; however, these must meet the national standards so that they can be implemented without further ado. The NAAQS regulates the six criteria of air pollutants : sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), particles (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and lead (Pb). To ensure environmental standards are met, the EPA uses the Federal Reference Method (FRM) and Federal Equivalent Method (FEM) systems. The number of pollutants in the air is measured and it is checked whether the sum total of pollutants is within the limit values.

US emissions standards

Emission standards are national regulations administered by the EPA. It controls the number of pollutants that are released into the atmosphere. These standards were introduced to maintain or improve air quality and human health and to regulate the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. The standards will be implemented in two phases, with the ultimate goal being to collectively save Americans $ 1.7 trillion in fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6 billion tons. Similar to the environmental standards, individual states can also tighten the regulations according to their taste. California, for example, has set its own emissions standards through the California Air Resources Board (CARB) . The emission standards also regulate the number of pollutants released by heavy industry and for electricity.

The technical standards set by the EPA do not necessarily force the use of certain technologies, but rather define a minimum level of performance for different industries. In addition, these regulations enable more precise data acquisition so that the standards can be carried out based on this information. The EPA often promotes technological improvements by setting standards that cannot be achieved with current technologies. These standards are always based on the industry leaders to drive general improvement in the industry as a whole.

Impact of a NGO

International organization for standardization

The International Organization for Standardization is an organization that develops a large number of voluntary standards. With 163 member states, it has a very large reach. The standards established by ISO have often been translated into national standards by various member states. Around 363,000 companies and organizations worldwide have the ISO 14001 certificate , a standard for environmental management that was created to improve the environmental performance of an organization and legal aspects, as well as to achieve environmental goals. Most national and international environmental management standards include the ISO 14000 series.

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is one of the best known non-governmental organizations that deal with biodiversity and the environment. With its activities, Greenpeace has a major global impact on environmental issues. Activities that capture specific environmental problems raise public awareness and enforce that governments or companies adjust or set environmental standards. The main focus is on forests, ocean, climate change and toxic chemicals. With regard to toxic chemicals, for example, Greenpeace is setting a standard together with the textile sector. You developed the 2020 concept, which has the idea of ​​banning all toxic chemicals from textile production by 2020.

WWF

The WWF is focused on figuring out how to make it possible to achieve the maximum yield in agriculture while maintaining biodiversity. In doing so, they try to educate society, protect the environment, and create policy changes and incentives to achieve their goals.

economy

Environmental standards in business are set by external motivation. First, companies must comply with the environmental laws of the countries in which they operate. In addition, environmental standards are based on a voluntary commitment by companies. This means that the environmental standards of the companies they implement in their operations should exceed the requirements of government regulations. If companies set further standards, then this happens in connection with the fulfillment of the wishes of the stakeholders . When setting environmental standards, three interest groups or stakeholders have the main influence. The first stakeholder, the government, has already been mentioned and is the most influential member, followed by the influence of customers. Nowadays there are more and more people who consider the environmental factor in their purchase decision. The third stakeholder is industries that force companies to implement environmental standards. When companies are involved in industries, they have to comply with the rules of conduct for that industry. This code of conduct is often used to improve the overall image of an industry .

The environmental standards set by companies themselves can be divided into two dimensions. Starting with the company's environmental policy, which can include environmental management, audits , controls or technologies. In this dimension, the regulations tend to interact with other functional areas, such as B. to be closely connected to Lean Management . In addition, it can be seen that multinational companies have a tendency to establish harmonized rules for environmental regulation nationwide and thus often achieve a higher level of performance in environmental standards. The second dimension is the outward message that is spread in the form of advertising and communication . It is often criticized that companies focus more on the second dimension in order to satisfy the stakeholders. In doing so, the companies concentrate above all on the public impression they want to make on society with their self-commitment standards. Thus, more attempts are usually made to increase sales figures through good, targeted marketing, while the real implementation of environmental measures plays a subordinate role. As a result, departments in the company that pursue these goals usually have problems. On the one hand, they lack the necessary time and, on the other hand, they lack the financial means to ensure real implementation. Furthermore, many companies believe that the cost of protecting the environment is too high compared to the positive effects achieved, and investing in protecting the environment is not considered profitable. Nevertheless, it can often be observed that companies often set environmental standards after a public crisis. The critics are often given greater importance after the crisis. In some cases, companies have already set environmental standards in order to avoid public crises.

See also

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  1. ↑ a b K. Pinkau: Environmental Standards: Scientific Foundations and Rational Procedures of Radiological Risk Management . Springer Science & Business Media BV, 1998, ISBN 978-1-4419-5027-7 , pp. XVII-XXXIII, 1-45.
  2. ↑ a b c Setting Emissions Standards Based on Technology Performance . Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  3. ^ V. Barnett: Setting Environmental Standards: The Statistical Approach to Handling uncertainty and variation . Chapman and Hall, 1997, pp. 1-40.
  4. ↑ Peter Guttorp: Setting environmental standards: A statistician's perspective . In: Environmental Geosciences . 13/4, December 2006, pp. 261-266.
  5. ↑ Jens Martens: The 2030 Agenda Global Future Goals for Sustainable Development . In: Global Policy Forum . 2017.
  6. ↑ UN Sustainable Development Goals - can ISO standards help? Yes! . Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  7. ↑ The implementation of the global 2030 agenda for sustainable development . 2015. Accessed November 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  9. ^ Claire Stam: Study: Only 16 states fulfill Paris climate commitments . October 29, 2018. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
  10. ↑ a b The German Bundestag “Elaboration on Environmental Standards in Canada, the USA and the EU”, 2016
  11. ^ Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union . Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  12. ^ Treaty on European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union . Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  13. ^ Markus Steigenberger: International and European environmental policy . March 30, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  14. ↑ 40 CFR 50.2 - Scope. . Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  15. ↑ 40 CFR Part 50 - NATIONAL PRIMARY AND SECONDARY AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARDS . Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  16. ↑ J. Gilliam: Reference and Equivalent Methods Used to Measure National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) Criteria Air Pollutants - Volume I . July 13, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  17. ↑ Erik Haites: NOx and SOx emissions trading in Ontario . In: ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE . September 2000, p. 26.
  18. ^ Regulations for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Passenger Cars and Trucks . Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  19. ^ Patrick E. George: How the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Works . Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  20. ^ A b Dennis A. Rondinelli: International Environmental Standards and Corporate Policies: An Integrative Framework . In: California Management Review . 39, case 1996.
  21. ↑ ISO 14001 - environmental management system standard . November 7, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  22. ^ Kristin Lorey Fricke: Greenpeace International . Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  23. ↑ Brea Reimer: Biodiversity . 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  24. ↑ Caroline Deidenbach: environmental standards . Retrieved November 12, 2018.
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