The European Commission has updated the user’s guide to EMAS, the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme - a voluntary scheme aimed at continually improving the environmental performance of organisations.
Published on Friday 3 November, this new guide is the result of extensive consultation. It clarifies the registration procedure, provides a simple overview of the scheme’s requirements and shows organisations how they can contribute to more sustainable production and consumption models.
This new guide takes account of the latest changes to the EMAS Regulation (1221/2009), particularly with regard to the use of core indicators and setting minimum requirements for organisations’ environmental statements.
It also streamlines the registration process for organisations with several similar sites, facilitating the use of sampling procedures and reducing bureaucratic hurdles and registration timelines. The guide is also more user-friendly, with more concrete examples, best practices and pictograms.
The tool highlights the links between EMAS and the requirements of EU legislation, such as:
- the Industrial Emissions Directive (see EUROPE 13269/11) - for which EMAS is recognised as a best available technique (BAT) in terms of environmental management systems;
- the Corporate Due Diligence Directive (see EUROPE 13192A10), for which EMAS provides an appropriate framework and can serve as a basis for broader sustainability management in the value chain;
- the Corporate Sustainability Directive: EMAS can contribute to the generation of reliable data for sustainability reporting, and the environmental statement can be used as a reference to meet the recently adopted environmental sustainable reporting standards.
For more information: https://aeur.eu/f/9dh
EMAS authorities in the Member States: https://aeur.eu/f/9di (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)