Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and environmental reports

An environmental management system (EMS) is similar to other management systems, such as those that manage quality or safety. It assesses your business' strengths and weaknesses, helps you identify and manage significant environmental impacts, saves you money by increasing efficiency, ensures you comply with environmental legislation and provides benchmarks for improvements.

An EMS can also help you manage your resources, and improves the reliability and credibility of your environmental policy. You can prove to customers that you are committed to meeting your environmental responsibilities by getting your EMS certified, such as through ISO 14001, BS 8555 or the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

Reporting your environmental performance may be a legal requirement or could be undertaken to provide clients and customers with information regarding your credentials.

This guide provides an introduction to EMS and environmental reporting and shows how NetRegs can help you to set up your EMS.

• SEPA Generic Management toolkit for SMEs
• NIEA Generic Management toolkit for SMEs