An environmental policy is a written declaration that explains a company’s goals and principles for dealing with the environmental consequences of its operations. Top management must be involved in the policy’s development and comprehend its concepts and commitments. It is not required to have an environmental policy, but an increasing number of businesses do.
If you intend to adopt an environmental management standard, such as the European Union Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), BS 8555, or ISO 14001. You will require an environmental policy.
ISO 50001 follows the same management model of continuous improvement as ISO 9001. It provides a framework of requirements for organizations to design an energy-efficiency policy.
It’s particularly critical if you already engage with or plan to collaborate with large organizations, or if you need to show customers and other stakeholders that you’re serious about managing your environmental impacts responsibly.
This guide explains the advantages of having an environmental policy. It gives recommendations for the best format and content. It also provides helpful advice on how to keep your environmental policy up to date, expand its scope to encompass corporate social responsibility and sustainable development, and integrate the policy into your business.
The advantages of environmental policy
An environmental policy should serve as the foundation for any environmental changes achieved by your company. Your company can profit greatly from an environmental policy.
Environmental policy advantages
Some of the business advantages of an environmental policy are as follows:
assisting you in remaining legal;
educating employees on their environmental obligations and responsibilities;
increasing cost control;
lowering the number of incidents that result in liability;
saving resources and energy;
increasing your environmental impact monitoring;
increasing the effectiveness of your procedures.
The advantages are not limited to internal activities. You can create favorable relationships with external stakeholders including as investors, insurers, consumers, suppliers, regulators, and the local community by proving your dedication to environmental management.
This can lead to a better business image as well as financial rewards such as higher investment, customer sales, and market share.
Implement your environmental policy
It is vital to remember that simply enacting an environmental policy will not result in these benefits.
You must ensure that your environmental policy is integrated into your business and that its substance is implemented. You could, for example, implement an environmental management system (EMS) or a less formal environmental improvement program.
Integrate an environmental policy into your company
Creating an effective environmental policy is the first step in incorporating environmental management into your company. You should be able to make your environmental strategy work for your company while simultaneously saving money and providing other benefits.
How to integrate an environmental policy successfully
You can incorporate an environmental policy into your company by doing the following:
incorporate environmental management progress and developments into your management meetings;
considering environmental investments in corporate strategy, such as capital spending or training;
incorporating environmental performance into key performance indicators as well as typical metrics such as turnover, profit margin, and so on;
highlighting your environmental policy and progress toward goals and objectives in your marketing brochures and other client communications;
incorporating environmental obligations into job descriptions and recognizing people’s responsibilities in professional development;
collaborating with your suppliers to lower your organization’s expenditures and environmental effect.
Putting your environmental policy into action
A systematic method, rather than a series of one-time steps, is the most cost-effective way to implement your environmental policy. Using a formal environmental standard, such as ISO 14001 or the European Union Eco-Management and Auditing Scheme, is the most thorough technique (EMAS). Both of them necessitate the implementation of an environmental policy. EMAS also demands the availability of environmental reports.
If you don’t have the time or money to create a formal EMS, you might create an action plan outlining how your environmental policy will be implemented. Your action plan could include information on what activities will be taken to help your company accomplish its environmental objectives and targets, when they will be taken, and who will be responsible.