The Environmental Statement
CRITERIA FOR DRAFTING INFORMATION CONCERNING ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE
The use of environmental performance indicators helps to increase the clarity, transparency and comparability of information provided by an organization.
The choice of these indicators is important: they must meet the criteria of the Annex. The Commission will draw up guidelines on the choice and use of environmental performance indicators in due course.
INFORMATION INTENDED FOR SPECIFIC GROUPS
Organizations may wish to publish information for specific groups of stakeholders. Below are some examples of typical concerns of various target groups: Interested parties and information needs
1. Local community
A specific interest is expected for the following elements:
- environmental and health aspects of the substances produced and issued;
- external risks and the ways in which the organization prevents or faces them;
- information on the nature and number of complaints, treatment reserved for those presenting them and methods of composition;
- information on non-compliance with the permitted values for emissions and measures taken to prevent a recurrence of the problem.
2. Customers
The relationships between a company and its suppliers and customers are often longstanding. Customers are a particularly influential target group.
They can express specific environmental requests to their suppliers (purchasing policies), regarding products, processes, services or management.
It is likely that the best way to define the specific information that customers are interested in and the nature of the desired environmental improvements lies in close contact and mutual cooperation.
3. Employees
Many companies consider their employees as an important group of users of the environmental statement. In pertinent cases, the organization may present the environmental statement to discuss it in the works council.
The following problems are likely to present a specific interest:
- relationship between the environmental situation and working conditions, including accidents and injuries and the ways in which they are dealt with;
- plans and possibilities for internal training in the environmental field;
- the implementation of the environmental management system.
4. Financial institutions / Investors
A growing group of investors, banks and insurance companies are showing interest in the strategies and environmental performance of organizations. The following topics are expected to be of specific interest:
- the overall strategy and environmental performance of an organization;
- the relationship between environmental and financial information;
- the level of compliance with the organization's standards and the quality of its environmental management;
- soil pollution and the presence of high-risk substances such as asbestos in buildings, any environmental risks associated with (new) production processes, products or services.
5. Other social partners
Consumers and their organizations, as well as environmental NGOs, often show interest in the following elements:
- environmental policies and performance of the organization in relation to processes, products and services;
- issues of political or media relevance, for example, the recycling initiatives for products used in the electronics industry, the elimination of toxic substances in the paints and glues sector, the origin of the timber used in the carpentry industry and furniture, etc. The organization must know that it is appropriate to clarify its position, commitment and results regarding these aspects;
- the trend over time in the environmental performance of both individual sites and the company as a whole, in particularly clear terms to allow comparisons to be made with legal requirements, the best available technologies and the performance of other similar companies;
- information on concrete and short-term and long-term objectives, not only with regard to emissions, but also for indirect environmental impacts such as the use of raw materials, products and services, products at the end of the life cycle and transport;
- methods of adopting the precautionary principle in environmental decision-making processes.
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