Do You Have an Environmental Management Strategy?

By Daniel Stouffer

Top notch multinational corporations have long been aware of their responsibility to a broad range of stakeholders, over and above those who might traditionally be the center of attention for the average business. Almost 80% of the world's biggest companies have a focused environmental management strategy as part of the overall goal to attain corporate sustainability.

In the carbon economy that is now emerging, every corporation regardless of its objectives must look inward and develop its own environmental management strategy. This is no longer a question of paying lip service to environmentalists, rather it is something that is now required by a whole range of stakeholders and is ignored at the company's peril.

The International Standardization Organization released a series of standards, known as the 14,000 series, which really formulated the idea of corporate sustainability. Each company was encouraged to realize the size of its footprint and to come up with a series of ideas and solutions to help it reduce the size and not put unreasonable strains on the environment as a whole.

The ISO has done a considerable service to the world in general by compiling its 14,000 series standards. Many thousands of organizations have adopted these as they move toward sustainability. However, it is generally seen that suggestions are not enough and that we all need to place considerable focus on reversing the already significant damage we can see all around us. As such, an environmental management strategy is long overdue from corporate boardrooms.

To begin an environmental management strategy, is to analyze fundamental areas of the organization. Stakeholders must be identified and their positions and requirements fully understood. The plan must proceed from there to undergo a full lifecycle analysis, involving every single element and understanding all operating principles.

Once an organization has completely understood its operations and revealed, maybe for the first time, its true cost of doing business, it is then ready to promote its environmental management strategy at full speed. Full understanding of all operational elements is required before environmental change can be addressed.

An environmental management strategy is now required of all businesses. Consumers are increasingly aware of the dangers facing us all in terms of carbon emissions and climate change and are turning to organizations for proof that they are also actively engaged in fighting the problem.

To be in compliance with expected legislation and to ensure that the company does not undergo reputational harm through inaction, each organization should consider the introduction of procedures, systems, software and solutions to help it accurately gauge its energy usage, resource usage, greenhouse gas emissions and waste management. With a clear understanding of its liabilities it can be a step ahead of the game and ready to make changes as when required. - 32387

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