The comprehensiveness of environmental management systems: The influence of institutional pressures and the impact on environmental performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 160 ◽  
pp. 45-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Nguyet Phan ◽  
Kevin Baird
Author(s):  
Evangelos Grigoroudis

The dynamic presence and intensification of tourism has created several negative environmental impacts and have made it one of the industries with the widest range of environmental pressures, calling for a more sustainable course in the future. In this article, in order to respond to the increasing level of environmental concerns of tourists, as well as to the new economic environment, several initiatives as well as environmental management systems (EMSs) are developed for tourism enterprises. EMS applications offer several benefits to the committed organizations, however, the lack of resources and knowledge often poses difficulties in developing and sustaining international EMS. The tourism industry includes two main activities: housing and transportation. The present article concerns housing and its impact on the environment. It also addresses the factors that influence corporate environmental management by identifying the motives and benefits, as well as the difficulties in improving the environmental performance of hotels. The article focuses on Greece and more specifically on the Region of Crete. The article has been based on a questionnaire survey, while the results and conclusions have been based on statistical analysis of the collected information.


2013 ◽  
Vol 548 ◽  
pp. 157-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Gazi ◽  
George Skevis ◽  
Maria Founti

Marble is a financially important and highly versatile material used extensively in construction, decoration and art. The marble industry however is generated with low production efficiency, high waste material generation, high production costs and overall lack of sustainable resources management. A step towards improving the energy efficiency and environmental performance of the marble sector would be the adoption of ecological schemes that are already into force both at national and international levels. The most commonly used schemes are Environmental Management Systems that are focused on the general environmental performance of the enterprise, such as the EU EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) and the international EN ISO 14001:2004 standard and ecolabelling schemes, such as the EU Ecolabel, focusing on specific products or services. The present work aims to provide a concise summary of the technical requirements and procedures for obtaining such environmental certificates, assess the current state of the art in terms of environmental performance of a typical marble plant and enhance the ecological awareness of the sector. A detailed analysis of the technical requirements for achieving EMAS III registration and obtaining the EU Ecolabel for hard floor coverings is presented and the potential for a typical SME marble industry for meeting the above requirements is quantified. Possible measures that may improve the overall environmental impact are proposed. It is further shown that the process of meeting the necessary criteria for obtaining the above certificates will also lead to the adoption of best engineering practices and the production of high added value products.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1377
Author(s):  
Valery V. IOSIFOV ◽  
Svetlana V. RATNER

Nowadays one of the most common organizational eco-innovations in energy companies is introducing environmental management systems (EMS). Nevertheless, the issues of environmental and economic efficiency of EMS remain controversial. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of environmental management systems of Russian energy companies certified in accordance with ISO 14001. Since Russian companies do not have EMAS conformance certificates, the issues of the effectiveness of environmental management systems under the European Environmental Management Scheme and eco-audit were not considered in this study. The study is based on the data from annual corporate reports of the largest energy companies of the Russian Federation, which have the organizational and legal form of public joint-stock companies. The selection criteria were: i) the existence of an integrated management system, which is based on a certified environmental management system; ii) the presence in the corporate reports of data on the environmental performance of the company, at least a few years before and after the introduction of EMS, sufficient for statistical analysis using a two depended samples T-test. The study has shown that the application of ISO 14001 can be considered as a condition for the development of eco-innovation, as a well-designed environmental management strategy covers the whole range of issues related to innovative development, modernization and competitiveness. The introduction of EMS is also associated with an increase in the information transparency of the entire production system of the company, which is also a positive point in terms of the development of innovative processes.


Author(s):  
Lee Lee Ho ◽  
Puong Ling Law ◽  
Soh Fong Lim

In most organizations, Environmental Management Systems (EMS) adoption is based on voluntary basis; in which the adoption depends on the organization’s aspirations for better environmental performance. Organizations are attracted by very practical benefits through implementation of EMS in their organizations. The primary purpose of an EMS implementation is to improve environmental performance continually in an organization. This research investigates the factors that drive the adoption of EMS by organizations in Sarawak. Empirical findings of a survey on the above in Sarawak organizations are presented. About 112 survey questionnaires invitations were forwarded to various organizations in Sarawak and a total of 47 responses (about 42.0%) were received, Walford (1995) in his assertion said that sampling techniques require 10 percent or more of observations or sampling fractions so that they are to be considered as a representative of the total population. From this research, organizations which have implemented an EMS are mostly from larger organizations in Sarawak which have been established for more than 15 years with over 251 employees and more than one operating location. The results showed that ISO 14001 is the most common EMS frameworks adopted by organizations in Sarawak; followed by Round-table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Among the EMS adoption factors in Sarawak, EMS implementation motivation and the role of top management are the most critical factors in EMS adoption in Sarawak. Besides, management support is also another essential factor for EMS adoption among Sarawak organizations; followed by current market orientation factor..


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Oana Duralia

Abstract Due to the ability to create and use technology, the human being has found various ways to transform the resources of the Earth in all sorts of new materials, equipment and energy sources. At least since the last industrial revolution until now, each generation has added more technology to the received legacy, but at the same time, left the planet in a far more degraded state than the inherited condition. Within these changes, small and medium enterprises (SME) in their capacity as pillars of the economic development of a nation, have been compelled to change their previous strategies. Implementing an Environmental Management Systems (EMS) can be seen as the only way to connect the activities of the organization to the environmental requirements, in a context in which the orientation of the demand towards environmental markets is becoming increasingly apparent.


2005 ◽  
Vol 07 (03) ◽  
pp. 433-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTINA LUNDBERG ◽  
BERIT BALFORS ◽  
LENNART FOLKESON

Environmental management systems (EMS) require performance evaluation of significant environmental aspects. Much has been published on how to achieve environmental performance evaluation but little information is available on applications in practice. The Swedish National Rail Administration, Banverket, initiated the implementation of EMS in 1998, at about the same time as many other rail administrations. In this paper an overview of the application of EMS at rail administrations in selected countries is presented and systems for environmental performance evaluation within the EMS used by Banverket are analysed. The use of EMS by rail administrations was found to vary from the absence of environmental management to fully implemented EMS, mainly ISO 14001. At Banverket, EMS is widely used but the environmental performance evaluation could be improved by introducing indicators and merging all types of environmental monitoring, currently reported separately, into a common system.


1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 638
Author(s):  
M. J. Stone

Leading edge companies throughout the world have embraced management systems to achieve optimal sustainable performance in the ever changing business environment of the 1990s.Given that the natural environment and environmental performance have become one of the major issues affecting organisations, the need for integrating environmental management with all the other components of an organisation's overall management approach is now widely recognised.Systems interface best with systems. For environmental management to interface effectively with an organisation's other management systems, a systems approach to environmental management would seem the best. The release in November last year of the draft international standards (ISO 14000 series) on environmental management systems (EMS) has provided organisations with an internationally recognised means for this to occur and provided an additional benchmarking tool.It follows that environmental regulatory systems are required to enable regulators to effectively interface with company EMSs. Regulatory theory suggests that outcomes-based approaches are preferable to prescriptive approaches. Those parts of EMS standards which detail the requirements for particular system elements could provide the nexus for the company, regulator and community in future co-regulatory frameworks.These EMS standards refer to both regulators and the community as 'Interested Parties' being either 'concerned with or affected by the environmental performance of an organisation'.The Interim EMS specifications standard, released in Australia and New Zealand as AS/NZS ISO 14001(Int):1995 refers to 'Interested Parties' in only two EMS elements, 'Objectives and Targets' and 'Communication'. It is here that there are potential benefits and opportunities for companies, regulators and the community to cooperate in the emerging climate of these new international standards.


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