A Simple Guide to Set Up an Environmental Management System
Establish Environmental Objectives And Targets (Module 5)
Here are some examples of environmental objectives and targets :
| Initial Environmental Audit Findings | Environmental Policy Commitments | Environmental Objectives | Environmental Targets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excessive waste generation | Reduce Waste | Minimize and reduce waste produced from the retail outlets
Decrease volume of materials used for packaging of specific products |
Reduce average daily weight of waste to landfill by 20 tonnes (yr1/yr2)
Reduce volume of paper used in packaging per unit of current production volume of Product "A" by 10% (yr1/yr2) |
| Lack of control of selection and use of natural resources | Reduce consumption of natural resources | Reduce energy consumption in production process and office operations | Reduce energy consumption per unit of production by 10% (yr1/yr2)
Reduce energy consumption by 15% (yr4 against yr2) |
| Uncontrolled risk of oil spillage | Minimize the production of pollutants to the environment | Reduce probability of accidental oil spillage | Reduce the probability of serious spill to 2% in the coming year |
| Outdated and inadequate equipment | Adopt technologies that will minimize pollution | Invest in best available technology to address pollution problems | Invest 5% of turnover in environmental improvements for the next 3 years (yr1-yr3) |
| Inadequate environmental awareness | Provide environmental education and training | Enhance environmental awareness of staff | Set up a training schedule for implementation on a monthly basis commencing mm/yy |
| Weak public relations | Improve external relations | Improve complaint handling procedure
Provide support for community environmental programmes |
Decrease number of complaints by 25% this year Co-organize two campaigns with environmental groups in the coming year |
| STEP 1 : | Under each commitment in the Environmental Policy, identify the legal or other requirements that the organization has to comply. If applicable, these could be adopted as the environmental objectives and targets as the starting point. |
| STEP 2 : | For issues where there are no established standards to follow, set up a recording system to gather data on the environmental aspects which are planned to be controlled. |
| STEP 3 : | Analyse the assembled data to determine the current baseline. |
| STEP 4 : | Against the current baseline, set the targets which the organization aims to achieve over time. |
| STEP 5 : | Evaluate the financial, technological and other capabilities that are required to achieve the objectives and targets. |
| STEP 6 : | Refine the objectives and targets so that they are achievable and can bring real satisfaction to staff once achieved, rather than being over-ambitious which may lead to failure and discouragement. |
| STEP 7 : | Document the objectives and targets. |
