University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN
LOCAL PUBLIC ADMNISTRATION IN PORTUGAL
Abstract
Luís Nogueiro & Tomás B. Ramos
CENSE – Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research,
Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon,
Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
500
The adoption of environmental management practices in overall management is a rising reality in
the business sector. Also, local public institutions are shifting their management towards
sustainability, though local governments are moving faster than other public sector levels
regarding the integration of environmental and sustainability operations and strategies. The main
goal of this research is to identify the environmental profile of local public administration, using
Portuguese municipalities as a case-study. This paper assesses how environmental practices have
been adopted in this sector, on the basis of self-assessment by the local public services. To
accomplish this, a survey questionnaire was forwarded to all municipalities in the country in
order to identify and analyse the environmental practices in the local public sector. The
evaluation of the degree of implementation of certain environmental management practices was
based on the Municipality Environmental Performance Evaluation (MEPE) index, which was
developed on the basis of the data obtained on ten selected variables in the national survey. The
overall results demonstrate a low adoption level of environmental management practices: one
concludes that new practices and public policies need to be adopted to invert the current trend.
This research can support municipalities in reviewing and analysing their environmental
management practices in order to improve their environmental performance.
Keywords: Local public sector; Environmental and Sustainability Management practices;
Environmental performance index; Questionnaire survey; Portuguese municipalities
Introduction
The public administration faces multiple challenges that compel it to make a
continuous effort to adapt to new organizational forms capable of responding to the
constant requirements of society. Most of the countries in the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are making efforts to remodel the
public administration. A better administration will certainly generate a better public
sector.
Public sector-led strategic initiatives, such as policies, plans and programmes, play a
fundamental role in improving environmental and sustainability performance. In this
area, legislation, economic instruments and voluntary schemes should be designed to
be applied beyond traditional sectors such as energy, industry or transport. Hitherto,
environmental assessment and management tools have most often been applied to