The first place to look for environmental performance is the company's environmental policy.

Many larger companies are asking their suppliers whether they have an environmental policy.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, all companies are required to have a statement of health and safety policy that has been drawn up in consultation with recognised trade union (or employee) representatives.

No similar law exists for environmental policy.

The Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14001 and EMAS both require policies that must be publicly available. ISO 14001 does not require consultation with employees.

The policy may be a statement of intent and may state how targets are to be set and should enable others to see what is going on.