Corvinus Symposium Conclusions
July 21, 2008 by Brian Butler | Filed under: 2, 3-Effectiveness of Environmental Management Systems
Conclusions of the Workshop on Environmental Management Systems Environmental Management Systems have been around since the middle ofthe 1990’s and became mainstream tools of managing environmental issuesin the corporate sector since then. There have been much researchrelating to the motivation factors and barriers/benefits and costs ofmanagement systems. Motivation factors to implement an EMS include thepush of the supply chain, market advantages (image related), a betterposition to obtain financial funding and last but not least animprovement of corporate environmental performance. While the first companies implementing an EMS were ‘champions’ ofenvironmental management, these days in many industrial sector it is amust to operate management systems: ‘we do want to be in the sameleague’. This approach, however, often brings poor results regarding theenvironmental performance of the companies.
Management systems may assist businesses: EMS is a tool, which if usedwell may contribute to a number of company objectives, but when usedwith little commitment (from top management and staff) then may not havemuch contribution to corporate environmental performance.
A company should implement an EMS only if it creates value for thecompany.
EMSs have a number of limitations with regard to a sustainabledevelopment path for the corporate sector. Management systemsconcentrate on processes and often do not take the whole life cycle of aproduct/service into account. Also, management systems are not wellsuited to take indirect impacts into account (this explains therelatively low implementation level at institutions of education, localgovernments, etc.).
To improve the performance of an EMS communication is very important,both internally and externally. Regulatory benefits should be providedto motivate corporations to implement management systems.The environmental manager has an important role in understanding what istruly required by an EMS to be successful and how to fill it withcontent, instead of building up an ‘empty’ system, which is burdensomeand does not bring tangible benefits for the company, its stakeholdersand the environment.
Recently the International Standard Organization is focusing on Smalland Medium Sized companies. Also, there are tendencies to integratequality and environmental management, health and safety and informationsecurity systems more closely. A move towards the integration of CSR maybe possible in the longer future. An emphasis on the whole life cycle ofthe product would also be a positive move towards sustainability.
