October 29, 2009

Do You Have an Environmental Management Strategy?

by Daniel Stouffer

With the ultimate goal of achieving true corporate sustainability, the major multinational organizations around the globe understand that they have to pay particular attention to a very wide range of stakeholders, more than just the traditional definition might suggest. In this quest, 80% of the biggest organizations have a supremely focused environmental management strategy at their helm.

In the carbon economy of tomorrow, the environmental management strategy formulated by a company will be a centerpiece of its very operation. It cannot be set aside from its ultimate objective, as a broad range of stakeholders, not just pure environmentalists are watching every move.

The idea of corporate sustainability came into focus when the International Standardization Organization published its famous 14,000 series of standards. This encouraged the enterprise to explore its footprint in the broadest sense of the word and to come up with a series of solutions to ensure that it did not place too many unreasonable stresses on the environment.

While the ISO 14,000 series standards have been adopted worldwide as organizations seek to become certified and recognized as in compliance, over the last few years the concept of sustainability has become far more focused. Research, findings and statistics constantly underline the need for us all to become more sustainable and to help reverse the significant damage that has already been caused to our climate. Every organization must elevate their environmental management strategy to the status of urgent.

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.

Over recent years, education has made the consumer a much wiser individual. He or she is now turning to corporations to see what they are doing to reduce their carbon emissions and help the battle against climate change. The environmental management strategy is a required document.

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.

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