Online version: PDF - DTIE

UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
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communities, environment organisations, suppliers, trade and industry partners,
and the public at large.
Environment performance can be reported through a variety of methods –
newsletter, press release, a section in the annual financial report, or a stand-alone
corporate environment report.
National environment legislation has made such reporting mandatory for some
industry sectors in Europe and North America. It is also mandatory under the EU
Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).
Over a hundred of the world’s leading companies and over 600 smaller ones report
on environment performance. Some report annually, others every 2 or 3 years with
annual interim updates.
Within the tourism and hospitality sector, major airlines, passenger transport
companies, hotel chains and the larger leisure and entertainment providers report
on environment performance. The Sånga Säby Hotel, Study and Conference Centre,
Svartsjö, Sweden was perhaps the first independent hospitality business to report
annually.
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Contents of a Corporate Environment Report
A corporate environment report communicates the company’s environment-related
performance over a given period. It reports on the:
• Environment policy;
• Objectives and targets;
• EMS implementation and results;
• Areas of environment performance which have improved
or deteriorated;
• Objectives and targets realised;
• Compliance and fines;
• Accidents, emergency response, occupational illness;
• Environment improvement efforts in the local community and
participation in industry networks and partnerships;
• EMS improvement plans for the future.
It is good practice for the environment report to include a statement from an
independent environment verifier on the accuracy of the information contained
in the report. Such verification is a mandatory requirement of the EU EMAS
regulation and an optional requirement of ISO 14001.