Environmental resource management

Environmental management is the aspect of management of an organization ( company, government agency, etc.), the legal action with the operational and regulatory environment ( protection) of the employed organization. It is used for securing a sustainable environmental impact of company products and processes on the one hand and the behavior of employees and stakeholders on the other. These include, inter alia,

  • The environmental policy of the organization, such as an identification and activation of the intersection of ecologically and economically advantageous measures
  • Environmental protection, such as technical measures to reduce the environmental impact, prevent unacceptable environmental damage and utilizations, contributions to the prevention and restoration
  • Environmental performance ( the measurable values ​​concerning the environmental impact (s ), eg emissions, waste water, soil contamination, etc.)
  • Compliance with the regulatory requirements and the legal limits
  • The normalization responsibility, that is a support of an ecology -oriented behavior normalization of stakeholders

Method

The environmental management is using the environmental management system to the requirements of the management of an organization ( and thus also the regulatory / legal requirements ) in terms of environmental protection. For this purpose, appropriate requirements ( specifications ) in the management manual, set in various instructions and / or in process descriptions, their implementation and monitoring is then carried through the environmental management system.

The environmental management system in turn can be composed freely or according to a preset, for example, the environmental management standard ISO 14001 or EMAS. Recommendations for environmental management ( and for the environmental management system ) can be found in the designed as a guide standard ISO 14004 (environmental management systems: General guidelines on principles, systems and support tools ). Both the ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 have been published in November 2004 in a revised version. The environmental management and the environmental management system are closely interlinked. In the published in November 2004 Environmental Management Standard EN ISO 14001:2004, only the term environmental management system is used.

The environmental management standards ISO 14001: 2004 ( bzw.EMAS ) are very similar in structure to the (ISO 9001) standard for quality management systems ( quality management). Quality management systems can therefore be relatively easily extended to environmental management. This is called " Integrated Management Systems" ( Integrated Management System). The same applies to regulations of work safety, such as the standard OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Safety and Health Administration ).

The usual in environmental management so-called specification documents ( management manual, instructions, descriptions, etc.) set in addition to the requirements necessary to achieve the objectives of the company's environmental policy and the respective responsibilities (responsibilities ). It often takes a modular design of the management documentation.

As in the general management practice, environmental management planning, execution, control and possibly optimization (: Plan-Do- Check-Act PDCA ) includes:

  • Planning ( plan): definition of objectives and processes to achieve the implementation of the environmental policy of the organization
  • Execution (Thu): the implementation of processes
  • Control ( check): Monitoring of processes in terms of legal and other requirements and goals of the environmental policy of the organization; possibly publication of environmental performance ( the success of the organization in terms of its environmental protection measures)
  • Optimization (Act): If necessary, the processes must be corrected (adjusted) are; the ISO 14001 standard and the EMAS regulation speak of a continuous improvement of processes, that is, the organization should optimize their processes continuously

Ecology and competitiveness of enterprises, it is an important management task for companies.

These can be distinguished on the following five ways:

  • Policy restrictions ( esp. in areas of energy, waste, hazardous materials, risks and traffic) or incentives ( ecological compensation in agriculture)
  • Public: Exerts pressure and can cause a change in thinking (eg: CFC-free refrigerators, asbestos)
  • Environmental risks: insurance pay attention to environmental influences, not to insure everything, lending
  • Customer: Offensive and defensive ecological activity, supplier audits, consumers want clean technology in the production process of a product, etc.
  • Ecology offensive strategy: Substitution of oil, differentiation, opening new market segments, environmental protection is not only a mere cost factor

Cost versus productivity factor (operational level):

Companies see environmental protection often only as a cost. However, active environmental management can reduce costs and increase productivity. In order to realize potential savings, the approach of Cleaner Production has proven. Here the causes of the waste and emissions are systematically analyzed and organizational and technical approaches for improvement identified.

Potential risk versus differentiation potential ( strategic level)

However, risks for existing products and technologies, provides differentiation and profiling options

Ecological transformation process:

Ecological stresses

Be transformed by

Ecological claims

Market / policy / public

Lead to

Ecological competition fields

Current: save costs and resources are visible to all

Deferred: Not directly visible only upon close inspection

Potential: Not yet on the market seen promising opportunities

Conclusion: In terms of a short upshots can be conclusively stated: The environmental problems of today and also to environmental competition fields of tomorrow. It is uncertain how quickly this happens and by whom is initiated and promoted this transformation process. Innovative companies recognize this: You identify environmental competition fields in time, actively promote their expansion and use them with appropriate strategies. This means that environmentally induced changes no fate for companies but a management task with its own risks and rewards.

Management process Wastewater
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