Environmental policy
Environmental policy
(ISO 14000)
An environmental policy establishes the principles of action for an organization. It sets the level of environmental responsibility and performance required of the organization, against which all subsequent actions will be judged. The policy should be appropriate to the environmental impacts of the organization’s activities, products and services (within the defined scope of the environmental management system) and should guide the setting of objectives and targets.
A growing number of international organizations, including government, industry associations and citizens’ groups, have developed guiding principles. Such guiding principles help organizations to define the overall scope of their commitment to the environment. They also help to give different organizations a common set of values. Guiding principles such as these can assist an organization in developing its policy, which can be as individual as the organization for which it is developed. The responsibility for setting environmental policy rests with an organization’s top management. The environmental policy can be included in or linked with other policy documents of the organization. The organization’s management is responsible for implementing the policy and for providing input to the formulation and modification of the policy. The policy should be communicated to all persons working for or on behalf of the organization. In addition, the policy should be made available to the public (see 4.4.3.2 for a discussion of external communication methods).
In developing its environmental policy, an organization should consider
a) Its mission, vision, core values and beliefs;
b) Coordination with other organizational policies (e.g. quality, occupational health and safety);
c) The requirements of, and communication with, interested parties;
d) Guiding principles;
e) Specific local or regional conditions;
f) Its commitments to prevention of pollution and continual improvement;
g) Its commitment to comply with legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes.
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on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 3:02 am and is filed under ISO 14000 standard.
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