Best Environmental Management Practice

The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance. The scheme has been available for participation by companies since 1995 and was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors.

Since 2001 EMAS has been open to all economic sectors including public and private services.

In 2009 the EMAS Regulation was revised and modified for the second time. Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) was published on 22 December 2009 and entered into force on 11 January 2010.

A major change is promoting best environmental management practice. For this purpose, Sectoral Reference Documents (SRDs) are elaborated (according to Article 46.1 of the regulation). The SRDs contain detailed technical information describing best environmental management practice to improve environmental performance, as well as sector-specific environmental indicators, and benchmarks of excellence.

EMAS registered organisations must take into account the relevant sectoral reference documents when assessing their environmental performance. The same applies to the EMAS environmental verifiers when checking the requirements according to Article 18 of the EMAS regulation.

• Retail trade,
• Tourism,
• Construction,
• Public Administration,
• Agriculture - Crop production and Animal production,
• Food and beverage manufacturing,
• Car manufacturing,
• Manufacture of electronic and electrical equipment,
• Waste management,
• Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment,
• Telecommunications.

The main criteria taken into account in establishing the list were: the environmental impact of the sector within the EU; the level of EMAS uptake in the sector; and the potential for environmental improvements in the 'value chain' of the sector.

The relevant information and documents for each of the above mentioned sector, is available in the eleven dedicated web pages, whose links are given below.

The elaboration of the Sectoral Reference Documents (SRDs) stems from the implementation of the EMAS regulation. However, these documents on best environmental management practice are not only targeted at EMAS registered organisations but they are also for organisations with other environmental management systems (e.g. based on ISO 14001 or a non-certified individual environmental management system) or organisations without a formal environmental management system. The best environmental management practices identified and their description are not specific to EMAS and can be useful to any organisation of the sector covered by each document, which intends to reduce its environmental impact in one or several environmental areas.

For the elaboration of each Sectoral Reference Document (SRD), the JRC sets up a technical working group (TWG) of sectoral experts to gather and review information on the BEMPs of the sector. The TWG comprises a range of experts with in-depth knowledge of the sector from different perspectives (industry, member states, research institutes, technology providers, environmental NGOs...) and should be representative for the whole sector and balanced. The JRC organises the work of the TWG, fosters the exchange of information, makes a scientific and technical analysis of the vast amount of information exchanged and elaborates the different documents. Two meetings of the TWG, at the beginning and at the end of the elaboration process, are usually organised and their members are asked to review the draft documents at several stages.

The SRD is mentioned in Article 46.1 of the EMAS regulation, it is approved by representatives of EU countries at the EMAS Committee, and it is officially adopted by the European Commission. This document describes briefly all the BEMPs identified for a certain sector and what are the conditions under which they can be applied. For each BEMP, it also lists what environmental indicators can be used to monitor its implementation and what are the benchmarks of excellence. The SRDs are published on the EU Official Journal and also made available on this web-site.

The concise SRD is based on a much more comprehensive and detailed "best practice" report, which is the direct result of all the research work carried out by the JRC for that SRD. That document is published by the JRC as a JRC Scientific and Policy Report. The technical report follows the same general structure but provides a much more detailed description of the different BEMPs according to the following common structure:

1. Description

   A description of the BEMP including some background and details on how it is implemented.

2. Achieved environmental benefits

   What benefits in environmental terms are achieved by implementing such a BEMP.

3. Appropriate environmental indicators

   Which environmental indicators are used to monitor the implementation of the BEMP and/or its environmental benefits.

4. Cross-media effects

   What negative impacts the BEMP has on other environmental aspects.

5. Operational data

   Operational data that can help understand the implementation of a BEMP.

6. Applicability

   The conditions under which such a BEMP is applicable.

7. Economics

   The cost and benefits of the implementation of a certain BEMP in economic terms.

8. Driving force for implementation

   What the driving force or rationale for the implementation of such a BEMP was.

9. Reference organisations

   Examples of organisation which have successfully implemented the BEMP.

Organisations interested in implementing the BEMPs are highly recommended to refer to the extensive guidance available in the JRC Science for Policy report. These reports are made available in the dedicated sectoral pages.