POLICY

An environmental policy is a written statement outlining your company's mission and driving force behind the objectives, targets and management programme of your EMS. The policy states the company's aims and objectives and forms the basis for the EMS and should be endorsed and actively supported by senior management and accepted by all staff. A policy allows management to communicate its aims and objectives to employees and other interested parties, including shareholders, customers and suppliers and should be part of the business strategy. Writing an environmental policy is a voluntary undertaking in the UK, and the structure and content are not regulated under UK legislation.

The UK government department DEFRA considered that 'a comprehensive policy is likely to include

• a recognition that the organisation has environmental impacts. These might include indirect impacts associated with the goods and services it provides. You may also wish to cover how these impacts are taken into account in your organisation's strategy, and the business or operational benefits you have gained or envisage gaining from taking account of your environmental impacts.
  
• a commitment to measure and report publicly on key aspects of environmental performance including the performance of goods and services
  
• a statement of your company's plans to improve environmental performance in the future. This should cover improvement programmes and associated activities such as staff training and awareness raising.
  
• a commitment to set targets and to report progress
  
• plans to consult and involve interested parties - you may find it helpful to include comments from appropriate stakeholders in the report as well as a contact point for further comments.'

Rt-click graphic &  "open in new tab"

'Other possible elements could include anything else you are doing to benefit the environment, such as developing a plan covering employees' journeys to work or supporting community bio-diversity projects or recycling initiatives your 'green' procurement policies or anything you are doing to raise the environmental management/standards of your suppliers. You could describe how you assess your suppliers' environmental performance standards, for example by certification or registration to a recognised environmental management standard or scheme, site inspections, or questionnaires. You could also mention any organisations that have agreed to work with you over time to improve their standards to an agreed target level, or any sectoral agreements on greening supply chains you are party to anything you are doing to integrate environmental considerations into the design, marketing and after sales management of goods and services including the impact on waste management / recycling or how end-of-life products affect the environment a reference to the relevant sections of the ethical portion of the Statement of Investment Principles from your occupational pension fund describing the extent to which environmental issues are taken into account in investment decisions. ' From http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/envrp/general/04.htm (link now broken)