Project ETIV

1
Project ETIV EMAS TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION AND
VERIFICATION Prepared by
Module 6 Environmental Review
2
This project has been funded with support from
the European Commission. This publication
reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use
which may be made of the information contained
therein.
Module 6 Environmental Review
3
Objectives
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The following Module is aimed at providing the
  student of EMAS with an insight into the
  preparation of an integral Environmental Review
  of a companys activities at a particular
  location, according to the Annex Vll of
  Regulation (EC) No 761/2001

4
Main steps of an Environmental Management System
(EMS)
Module 6 Environmental Review
5
Environmental Review
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Starting point for implementing of an EMS
• Allows the identification of all environmental
  aspects of the organisations activities,
  products and services, methods to assess these,
  its legal and regulatory framework and existing
  environmental management practices and procedures
  
• Used to inform and to revise the environmental
  policy and help to set environmental objectives

6
Principal Requirements of an EMAS Environmental
Review
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Perform a technical (input-output) analysis of
  the organisation
• Identify environmental aspects related to past,
  current or future operations
• Make a legal compliance assessment
• Evaluate the existing management practices
• Include the description of the following
  components of a specific company
• - objectives and phases
• - description of the organisation, its
  history, location, operational processes,
  management
• - environmental aspects (direct and indirect)
• - significant aspects
• - significance assessment criteria

7
Step by step approach
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Identify the environmental aspects involved
• Define the criteria which are of significance
  for the companys environmental performance in
  terms of European legislation
• Identify those environmental aspects that are
  related to these significance criteria

8
Data Collection Assessment
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Data collection procedures should include the
  following
• points
• Environmental indicators
• Basic data
• Data sources
• Conversion factors, if necessary
• Frequency of determining indicators
• Responsibility for collecting data

9
Data Collection Assessment
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The Collection of Data will concern, among other
  issues
• Power production and distribution
• Water consumption
• Natural resources consumption (including raw
  materials)
• Polluting emissions
• Waste management
• Emission of noise
• Check of possible use and contamination of the
  soil
• Emergency management
• Indirect environmental aspects, such as the use
  of products and of services by users and
  consumers.

10
Data Collection Assessment
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The process of evaluation will particularly
  concern
• The definition of the criteria, in order to
  evaluate the relevance of impacts
• The list of the most significant environmental
  aspects
• The choice of proper indicators which will
  provide for an accurate and transparent
  evaluation of the organization and will enable
  easy temporal and territorial comparisons
• The level of environmental efficiency of the
  activities realized in the company, using proper
  environmental indicators for every environmental
  aspect which has been considered.
• The individualization of the areas for the
  environmental performances, from a technical and
  managerial point of view

11
Environmental Review
Module 6 Environmental Review
12
Assessment Subject Phases (Screening)
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The Environmental Review shall include effects
  arising, or likely
• to arise, as consequences of
• normal operating conditions
• abnormal operating conditions
• incidents, accidents and potential emergency
  situations
• past activities, current activities and planned
  activities.

13
Assessment Subject Phases (Screening)
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The Organisation History, Location, Operation,
  Management
• Planning the process of the environmental
  review
• Gaining Corporate commitment
• Planning and assigning responsibilities

14
Environmental Aspects (Scoping)
Module 6 Environmental Review
15
Environmental Aspects (Scoping) Documents to
consider
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Relevant legislative regulations, laws and
  policies
• Legal documents like permits, licences
• Organisational records and documents
• Organisational policies, procedures, charts
• Existing environmental policies
• Consumption and monitoring data, relevant
  contracts
• Inventories
• Material flow
• Maps and surveys of site
• Emergency plans
• Health and Safety procedures
• Incidents reports
• Stakeholder analysis (if available)
• Decide how to record this information (sample)

16
Environmental Aspects (Scoping)
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The impacts identification should include
  emission to atmosphere
• releases to water waste management soil
  pollution use of water,
• fuels and energy and of the other natural
  sources load by heat
• energy, noise, odour, dust, vibration, and
  radiation impacts on the
• specific part of the environment
• Sources of the significant impacts (environmental
  aspects) in the
• organisation might be and are not limited to
  emissions to the
• Atmosphere (energetic, technology and transport)
  releases to
• Water (wastewater - technologic, sewage, rain and
  cooling,
• contaminated water pumped at the remedial works)
  waste
• Management (by-products and waste disposal sites)

17
Direct Environmental Aspects
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Direct environmental aspects are associated with
  activities, products
• and services of the organisation itself, over
  which organisation has
• direct management control

18
Environmental Aspects over which an organisation
has control
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Site, Footprint
• Raw Materials, Energy
• Product life cycle assessment
• Emissions, Releases,
• Disposal, Contamination
• Material Flow Recycling
• Transport

19
Environmental Aspects - Receptors
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Receptors include all components and aspects of
  the
• surrounding environment that could be directly
  and
• indirectly damaged by any production and
  non-production
• Activity, like air, water, soil, landscape,
  cultural and
• archaeological aspects, ecology and biota
  (biodiversity), noise
• and vibration

20
Environmental Aspects - Air
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Main steps may involve
• Assessment of Ambient Air Quality.
• Characterisation of Stack Emission and Pollution
  Load Studies.
• Fugitive emissions and work zone Air Quality
  Studies.
• Performance evaluation of Pollution Control
  Systems. Boiler Efficiency/Incinerator
  Efficiency.
• Micro-Meteorological data generation in respect
  of temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind
  speed, wind direction, rainfall etc.
• Study of Gaseous Pollutants, Organic Solvents,
  Pesticides and Metallic Constituents and other
  Toxic Chemicals in Air, including PAH.
• Particle size distribution, respirable dust and
  dust fall rate studies.
• Data generation for EIA related studies

21
Environmental Aspects - Water
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Main steps may involve
• Analyse raw and treated water to assess
  suitability of water for specific end uses
  (domestic, irrigation, construction, potable,
  recreation and industrial applications)
• Mineral water analysis and sourcing
• Domestic and trade waste water for conformity to
  relevant standards for discharging
• Performance evaluation of water and effluent
  treatment plants, water purification equipment
  and storage vessels
• Flow measurement and total discharge of canals,
  streams and rivers etc.
• Ground water studies which include hydro
  geological survey, water availability, water
  use-pattern, water evaporation rates etc.
• Consultancy services in the areas of waste water
  treatment and pollution abatement.

22
Environmental Aspects - Soil
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Main steps may involve
• Soil testing for physical and chemical analysis
  for engineering, agriculture and horticulture
  applications
• Test for heavy metals, pesticides and soil
  microbes
• Soil reclamation, salinity studies and its
  remedial measures
• Suitability of soil for types of crops
• Characterisation of wastes and hazard
  identification
• Incineration studies
• Toxicity waste behaviour and its contribution to
  ground water
• Handling and disposal of waste. Suitability of
  waste for land-fill or composting.

23
Environmental Aspects Ecology/Biodiversity
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Creation of industrial ecosystems maximising use
  of recycled materials in production, optimising
  use of materials and embedded energy, minimising
  waste generation, and re-evaluating "wastes" as
  raw material for other processes or companies.
• Balancing organisations input and output to
  natural ecosystem capacity
• Dematerialization of industrial output
• Improving the metabolic pathways of production
  processes and materials use
• Systemic patterns of energy use
• Policy alignment with a long-term perspective of
  companys management system evolution

24
Environmental Aspects Landscape Visual
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Landscape planning design project and management
  includes
• Urban Design
• Landscape Design and Implementation
• Landscape Appraisal and Visual Impact
  Assessment
• Landscape Planning careful planning of existing
  landscape resources and the establishment of new
  sites for housing, industry, recreation and
  wildlife
• Historic Landscape Research and Restoration The
  assessment, analysis, conservation, refurbishment
  and design of Historic Landscapes require
  sensitive and specialist expertise.

25
Environmental Aspects Culture/Archaeology
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The cultural heritage aspects include
• Historical buildings and structures
• Archaeological sites and structures
• Palaeo-ontological sites
• Other cultural features
• Other cultural features are items of
  antiquities in very varied forms

26
Environmental Aspects Noise/Vibration
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The Environmental Review should include
• Description of noise-vibration generating
  production processes
• Identification of sensitive receptors in the
  vicinity (type and distance from organisation)
• Sound-vibration proofing methods planned or
  implemented inside and outside the organisation
• Noise-vibration emissions at the site boundary
  and at sensitive receptors
• Companys monitoring systems and frequency
• Attachments Prior environmental audits or
  investigations, Site map, Site layout, Thematic
  maps, Noise and vibration level measurements,
  Local Environmental law applicable

27
Environmental Aspects Stakeholders
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Within the process of identifying stakeholders,
  social auditing
• Provides new approaches to the underlined and the
  growing
• importance of systematic stakeholder dialogue
• Social auditing is a means of measuring an
  organisation's/
• companys social impact and ethical behaviour in
  relation to its
• aims and those of its stakeholders

28
Indirect Environmental Aspects
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Indirect environmental aspects arise from
  activities, services
• and products, over which organisation has no or
  limited
• control on their impact on the environment. For
  non-industrial
• organisations, such as local authorities and
  financial
• institutions, it is essential that they also
  consider the
• environmental aspects associated with their core
  activities. An
• inventory limited to the environmental aspects of
  an
• organisations site and facilities is
  insufficient.

29
Indirect Environmental Aspects
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The main objectives of indirect environmental
  effects include
• Product related issues (design, development,
  packaging, transportation, use and waste
  recovery)
• Financial issues capital investments, loans,
  insurance services
• New markets issues
• Choice and composition of services
• Administration and planning decisions
• Product range compositions
• Environmental performance and practices of
  contractors, subcontractors and suppliers

30
Indirect Environmental Aspects Financial Issues
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Environmental Accounting (EA) is a method for
  evaluating the
• true environmental costs of operating a business,
  so these
• costs can be considered in business decisions.
  Environmental
• costs should include
• costs of resources in production,
• cost of resources in general business
  operations,
• waste treatment and disposal costs, and in some
  situations
• cost of a poor environmental reputation,
• environmental risk insurance premiums.

31
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Environmental Taxes (ET) are one of the tools of
  financial management

32
Indirect Environmental Aspects New Markets
Module 6 Environmental Review

• With the objectives of addressing the conflict
  between
• protection of the environment and economic
  competitiveness
• by turning environmental concern into competitive
  advantage,
• the 5th European Action Programme included new
  economic
• and fiscal tools such as eco-labelling, EMAS and
  the proposed
• EU environmental taxation. The four categories of
  market-
• based instruments identified are
• charges and levies
• fiscal incentives
• state subvention (or subsidy) systems
• environmental auditing

33
Indirect Environmental Aspects Services
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The importance of moving beyond the production
  process is
• particularly relevant in the context of service
  industries. In the
• service sector, it is generally the case that
  direct, site-based
• impacts are minimal and the most significant
  impacts are
• associated with the policies or service
  'products', so call
• indirect impact.
• Example A bank has direct environmental impacts
  through heating, lighting, transportation, office
  equipment and paper use (so-called 'corporate
  ecology'), the indirect impact of its products -
  its loans and investment portfolios, or 'product
  ecology' - is likely to be by orders of magnitude
  more significant.

34
Indirect Environmental Aspects
Administration/Planning
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Through their various roles and tasks, committees
  and
• administrations make decisions and agree on
  various plans
• with a number of consequences for the
  environment.
• Planning is an important part of environmental
  management.
• For the companys environmental performance it
  includes
• environmental impact classification legal and
  other
• requirements identification of the main
  objectives and targets
• environmental management programme
  control/monitoring of
• its implementation and operation

35
Indirect Environmental Aspects Contractors
Module 6 Environmental Review

• A study-project of environmental performance of
  contractors
• comprises principal phases
• Formulation of environmental management concept
  for the contractors.
• Preparation of an environmental management
  policy and its implementations.
• Final testing in case companies according to
  the result of policy implementation.
• Completion of the environmental management
  system.
• Marketing of the EMSA to the contractors.

36
Indirect Environmental Aspects Management
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The main direction of internal environmental
  policy establishes
• objectives for the internal environmental
  strategy located in
• the following areas (integrated management within
  the
• indirect environmental aspect issues)
• Employees involvement
• Green Procurement
• Transportation
• Dissemination

37
Significant Aspects Key concepts
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Significant environmental effect environmental
  aspect of an
• organisation activity that carries the potential
  to cause environmental
• harm on the global, regional, and local
  environment and population
• Environmental aspect - an element of an
  organisations activities,
• products or services that can affect the
  environment,
• Environmental impact - changes to the
  environment, whether adverse
• or beneficial, that result from the organisations
  activities, products or
• services
• Evaluation criteria - has to be comprehensive,
  capable of independent
• checking, reproducible, and made publicly
  available

38
Significant Aspects Key concepts
Module 6 Environmental Review

• EMAS recommends four steps for the identification
  and evaluation
• of significant environmental aspects
• 1. Select an activity, product or service large
  enough for
• meaningful examination and small enough to be
  sufficiently
• understood
• 2. Identify direct and indirect environmental
  aspects of the activity,
• product or service, i.e. how does it interact
  with the environment?
• Annex VI of the Regulation and the guidance
  provide some
• useful ideas.
• 3. Identify environmental impacts, considering
  actual and potential,
• positive and negative impacts associated with
  each aspect.
• 4. Evaluate significance of impacts

39
Significant Aspects Existing Data
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The most important tool to manage and to estimate
  the existing
• data on significant aspects of the companys
  environmental
• performance is the use of Indicators which
  provide a numerical
• basis for evaluation of environmental
  performance, including the
• significance of environmental impacts.

40
Significant Aspects Existing Data
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Apart from the use as an internal instrument for
  measuring
• significant aspects of the companys
  environmental performance,
• other possible applications for environmental
  indicators are
• Benchmarking - Comparing your environmental
  performance with other organisations
• Internal communication - Illustrated
  performance indicators provide feedback to
  employees on the results of their efforts, and
  are therefore a valuable instrument for internal
  communication
• External communication - Data-supported
  reporting is the best way to gain the trust of
  public administrations, neighbours and
  environmental groups

41
Significant Aspects Regulated Activities
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Monitoring and measurement is about controlling
  the significant
• environmental aspects of the organisation
• Three specific tasks shall be addressed under the
  Monitoring and
• Measurement section of the regulation
• Track the performance of the EMS with respect
  to the significant environmental aspects
  (documented procedure, records)
• Ensure accurate and reproducible measurements
  through maintenance and calibration of monitoring
  equipment (records)
• Evaluate regularly compliance with relevant
  environmental laws and regulations (documented
  procedure).

42
Significant Aspects Material Flow
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Balance of material and energy flows is the
  creation of a system where all material and
  energy flows going through the production are
  taken in account
• The balance is based on the law of conservation
  of mass and energy, i.e. the quantity of
  substances and energy entering the company must
  leave the company or must be accumulated within
  the company
• Inputs and outputs of substances and energy are
  given in physical units (for example in kg, t,
  GJ) and apply always to a particular selected
  time period (year, month etc.)
• The environmental accounting attaches to the
  identified material and energy flows their
  monetary values, which has a substantial
  importance for a correct determination of
  environmental costs with respect to the
  significant impact.

43
Significant Aspects Stakeholders/Customers
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Stakeholder groups are critical to the success of
  EMAS as a market
• instrument but in order to fulfil their
  respective roles in relation to
• EMAS, they must
• firstly, have access to appropriate
  information
• secondly, be convinced of the legitimacy and
  credibility of the EMAS process.
• Public Environmental Reporting (PER) - also
  referred to as
• Corporate Environmental Reporting - is a method
  by which
• businesses report on their environmental progress
  to shareholders.

44
Significant Assessment Criteria
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The evaluation should consider the following
  criteria
• the scale of impact on the environment
• the severity of the impact on the environment
• the scale and frequency of impact
• accumulation aspect of impact
• the probability of occurrence
• the duration of impact on the environment
• potential regulatory and legal exposure
• difficulty of changing the impact
• effect of change on other activities and
  processes
• concerns of interested parties and interaction
• effect on the public image of the company,
  stakeholders

45
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Classification of Environmental Aspects shall
  include
• (a) emissions to atmosphere
• (b) discharges to water or sewers
• (c) solid and other wastes, particularly
  hazardous wastes
• (d) contaminated of land
• (e) use of land, water, fuels and energy, and
  other natural
• resources
• (f) discharge of thermal energy, noise, odour,
  dust, vibration and
• visual impact
• (g) effects on specific parts of the environment
  and ecosystems.

46
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Classification of Environmental Aspects shall
  include effects arising,
• or likely to arise, as consequence of
• (1) normal operating conditions
• (2) abnormal operating conditions
• (3) incidents, accidents and potential emergency
  situations
• (4) past activities, current activities and
  planned activities."

47
Type Location of Business/Industry
Module 6 Environmental Review

• In relation to the type of business activity or
  branch of industry the
• organisaton belongs to, this procedure consists
  of four stages
• (1) screening of all issues and activities
• (2) testing of significance/analysing effect
  risk
• (a) identifying environmental effects
• (b) testing each effort for its significance
• (3) prioritisation of effects (into improvement,
  control and further analysis actions).

48
Type Location of Business/Industry
Module 6 Environmental Review

• In relation to the location of the organisations,
  the procedure
• reveal following significance criteria
• extent of existing economic, social and
  environmental stress, in affected areas
• direction of changes to base-line area
  conditions
• nature, order of magnitude, geographic extent
  and reversibility / duration of changes
• regulatory and institutional capacity to
  implement measures on the site.

49
Legislation
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Each branch of industry should be provided with
  necessary legislation updates and regulation on
  significant environmental assessment to ensure
  that companies are kept aware of any forthcoming
  legislation that will impact the business
• The updates of legislation must be reviewed by
  the environmental representative and assessed to
  determine if any requirements or changes are
  applicable to the company
• The organisations own register should then be
  updated accordingly

50
Severity
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Severity is one of the significance assessment
  criteria that reflect
• the potentiality, power, weighing, scale or
  degree of the capacity
• of the environmental impact
• According to the logic consideration a
  combination of the
• frequency with which the environment is
  affected by that activity
• and the severity of the effect when it does
  occur provides the
• basis for general understanding of the degree of
  significant
• environmental impact. Thus, the significance of
  an environmental
• effect increases proportionately with the
  frequency and severity.

51
Severity
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The severity of an effect can be determined by
  considering a
• number of components, including
• Proximity to a regulatory standard.
• Environmental impact (against recognised
  damage).
• Significance and extent of the receptor (e.g.
  local, national or global damage).
• Longevity and reversibility of the effect.
• Sensitivity of the public and press to the
  effect.
• Sustainability of an effect.

52
Scale/Frequency
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Scale is a main factor in determining the type of
  environmental
• measures and processes to use for the management
  of a particular
• potential impact.
• Frequency as a criterion of significance reflects
  the repeated in
• time occurrence of the significant damages to the
  environment
• from various types of activities and considers
  the necessity of
• systematic (frequent) protective measures called
  to prevent those
• events occur. Frequency is a systematic category
  and based in the
• areas, such as quantitative measurement related
  to the activities,
• health and safety.

53
Accumulation
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Environmental assessment significance are
  directed toward the
• general purpose of protecting the environment.
  Usually this means
• preventing and minimising adverse impacts on
  individual
• environmental components and its cumulative
  effect. Cumulative
• effects are addressed by aggregating individual
  effects (i.e. parts to
• whole). The role of environmental management is
  to control
• cumulative impacts.

54
Interaction
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Criteria of interaction within significant
  assessment criteria consider
• a multiple level of activities that affect the
  significance of
• environmental impact. Each level of interaction
  has its own
• influence over the procedure of the assessment.
  From the point of
• nature of the influence of criterion of
  interaction on significance
• assessment there are following types of
  interaction
• Interaction between the people is the basic
  level of interactive activities.
• Interaction within the company of industrial or
  non-industrial sector of economy itself created
  the second level of interactive activities

55
Interaction
Module 6 Environmental Review

• The third level of relation concludes the
  interaction between the companies that belong to
  the same branch of industry that located in the
  same area that produce the same types of
  pollutions that damages the same type of natural
  receptors that use the same natural resources
  for production cycle etc. As a sub-level of the
  third type of relation is interaction between
  different companies that belong to different
  industries, located in different areas, produce
  different type of pollutions, damaged different
  receptors, use different resources for their
  production, etc.
• The fourth level of communication is the
  interaction between industries within the
  governmental level.
• The fifth level includes the interaction of the
  global scale between the different countries,
  groups of the countries, multinational companies,
  and continents.

56
Stakeholders
Module 6 Environmental Review

• To approach stakeholders objectives in
  environmental impact
• assessment company needs to
• Evaluate the consequences of inaccurate
  recording of financial data
• Recognise, complete and interpret complex
  business documents and understand their
  interrelationships
• Evaluate the significance of the final accounts
  to different groups of stakeholders
• Explain why ratios change over time and how
  this affects different groups of stakeholder
• Draw conclusions about the financial
  performance of the business based on your use and
  understanding of a range of financial data
• Justify changes to business practices to
  achieve required cash flow and budget
  requirements .

57
Risks
Module 6 Environmental Review

• Significant Risk Assessment includes
• Identification of significant risk must ensure
  that all significant risks are captured
• Risk analysis
• Risk evaluation
• Risk treatment
• Risk monitoring and risk review

58
Risks
Module 6 Environmental Review

• There are three sides to environmental risk which
  a company must
• consider
• Risks to the environment from manufacturing
  processes arising from normal routine process
  releases into the environment or from accidents
  or incidents which give rise to loss of
  containment and consequent release into the
  environment.
• Risks associated with purchase or inheritance
  of a contaminated site.
• Risks from the environment on a business
  arising from such problems as extreme weather
  conditions or long term environmental changes,
  for example, greenhouse effect and climate