Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/2286Dangos y teitl llawn

PART 11 Communication (internal and external)

Corresponding EMAS requirement

1. As part of the EMS the organisations shall establish internal and external communication procedures. Through the external communication procedure organisation shall be able to demonstrate an open dialogue with the public and other interested parties including local communities and customers with regard to the environmental impact of their activities, products and services.

2. Organisations shall provide transparency and periodic provision of environmental information to external stakeholders based on the requirements of the Annex IV (Environmental Reporting).

This information includes among other the following elements: the environmental policy of the organisation, a description of all significant environmental aspects, a description of the environmental objectives and targets, a reporting on indicators defined in the annex, performance against legal provisions and a reference to the applicable legal requirements.

This information shall be validated by an accredited or licensed environmental verifier on a yearly basis (or every two years for SMEs).

Article 4(1)(d), Article 5(2)(a), Article 6 (2 b), Annex II B.5, Annex IV

Assessment of corresponding ELH requirements

1. Communication is based on the Annual Climate and Environmental Report.

The ELH initial environmental review (Miljøkartlegging), that establishes the compliance list of criteria, is uploaded in the ELH web-portal but not made public. It is not supposed to be a communication tool but rather an assessment tool for the organisation. Only the annual Climate and Environmental report and the environmental policy are compelled to be made public according to GIC 7.

The Climate and Environmental report is a management tool for environmental activities to be produced by 1 April every year. The goal is for the enterprise to annually document improvement in their performances in an environmental report.

The report consists of two parts: a report on the previous year's environmental performance and an action plan for the coming year.

It is based upon a number of indicators, such as:

number of employees, absence (sick leave), financial turnover, green procurement and the number of eco-labelled products procured for own use, certified suppliers, use of paper, total energy use, surface of the heated area, energy rating, heating rating (type of heating used), use of fuel, kilometres driven, type and number of vehicles, air travel, volume of sorted and unsorted waste, plus other environmental aspects in relation to the industry criteria chosen. A part of these indicators is defined in parallel with the establishment of the industry criteria and therefore varies according to the sector of activity.

Although the ELH is not intended for industrial organisations a number of EMAS core indicators are covered by the reporting. As an example, in the Annual Climate and Environmental report made by the food wholesaler ‘Arne Sjule’, indicators on energy efficiency, material efficiency in the envelope of procurement, waste and CO₂ emissions through evaluation of fuel use and taken flights were reported upon.

Nevertheless, not all core-indicators listed in Annex IV are reported upon and reporting is not as quantitative as put forward by EMAS. This is undeniably linked with the system of pre-defined criteria, rooted in the ELH approach with pre-identified indicators designed to fit the sectorial specificities. As an example, in the Annual Climate and Environmental report made by the same food distributor, indicators on chemical air emissions (like NOx, PM), water emissions and biodiversity were not present in the report. However, although the set of indicators required by EMAS is broader, it should be noted that an EMAS organisation can also decide to not report on some indicators if it can justify that those indicators are non-relevant to its significant direct environmental aspects.

Under ELH additional significant aspects are addressed through GIC 1963 (‘the enterprise is required to identify and address other environmental aspects’) and reporting on this shall be done in the annual climate and Environmental report. Enterprises can go further in the reporting exercise and add indicators to the Climate and Environmental report, through the on-demand enterprise-specific indicators (Virksomhetsspesifikke sjekkpunkter).

The action plan for the coming year is included in the report, generated with the guidance of the web-portal. The portal forces all required fields to be completed; others are marked optional. If there are fields that are not relevant for the enterprise or that cannot be answered, an explanation in the comment field is due.

Performance against legal provision and reference to applicable legal requirement is not formally included in the Climate and Environmental Report. Corrective actions due to a detected noncompliance may be referenced in the report.

2. The report is drafted by an employee of the organization (the environmental manager) (as in EMAS). It is checked by the certifier/verifier at certification and at triannual re-certification.

It is reported to the personnel (GIC 1952) (during meetings and via the intranet) and to the management (during the annual management review). The revision of GIC 7(1) (implemented in May 2017) increased transparency of the system by requiring the enterprise to publish the report for the general public, customers, suppliers and cooperation partners. Publication must be done at the occasion of first certification, and every year afterwards.

Publication will have to comply with Norwegian regulations pertaining to protection of data and privacy laws, withholding such indicators as sick leave and annual turnover.

Commission conclusion

The annual climate and environmental report is the basis of ELH reporting (internal and towards the public). It provides a transparent overview of the performances of the organisation against defined indicators. As the whole ELH system this report is based upon a method where the lists of criteria/indicators are pre-identified at sectoral level. This method differs from the EMAS system where all aspects are identified and reported upon based on an individualised analysis.

Differences also exist with regards to the content of the reports. Like EMAS the ELH annual Climate and environmental report includes a description of the organisation and of its EMS, the environmental policy of the organisation as well as which criteria have been applied and the certificate status. However differences exist regarding the mention of core indicators applicable to all organisations, reporting requirements against legal requirements and the performance of the organisation toward those.

The annual report is made known to employees and stakeholders in accordance with GIC 1952. The annual climate and environmental report must be presented to all employees at meetings or via the intranet. The enterprise is also required to publish the report for the general public, customers, suppliers and cooperation partners. Publication must be done at the occasion of first certification, and every year afterwards. By making its publication public, the report will be available not only to staff but also external actors.

The ELH report shall be validated by a certifier on certification and every third year (recertification). For EMAS validation by a third-party verifier of the ‘EMAS-environmental statement’ is required yearly or every two years for SMEs. Note that 98 % of ELH certified enterprises would benefit from this derogation if they were EMAS registered.

Both reporting schemes pursue the objective to provide a fair overview of the performance of the organisation against indicators related to defined environmental aspects. Both are appropriate to the methodology supporting their respective environmental management system. However, the methodological differences between these systems also apply to the reporting parts Moreover, the EMAS Environmental Statement also includes a requirement of legal compliance confirmation and shall be validated by an external verifier on a yearly basis or every two years for SMEs. Due to these differences this part cannot be considered as complying with all EMAS requirements.

Based on these elements the Commission considers that the part of ELH related to ‘Communication (Internal and External)’partly matches the corresponding EMAS requirements.

Potential measures to close the gap with EMAS requirements

Although this part of ELH cannot be considered as equivalent, the analysis demonstrates a close match with many corresponding EMAS requirements. To achieve compliance with all corresponding requirements the following additional elements should be implemented:

• The Environmental and Climate report published by ELH organisation shall include all the elements required by the Annex IV of the EMAS regulation, in particular:

  • a description of the significant environmental aspects of the organisation identified based on the procedure defined in the Annex I of the EMAS Regulation

  • the core and specific indicators reported as appropriate

  • a reference to the applicable legal requirements relating to the environment and to the performance against these legal requirements

• The Environmental and Climate report shall be validated by an accredited or licensed certifier on a yearly basis or every two years for SMEs. The certifier shall, with the appropriate method, make sure that all relevant environmental aspects, indicators and legal requirements have been identified and addressed.

(1)

GIC 7: ‘On first-time certification the enterprise must prepare a climate and environmental report. After first-time certification the annual climate and environmental report for the whole of the preceding calendar year must be completed and submitted to the Eco-Lighthouse portal by 1 April. The annual climate and environmental report shall be made available to the general public, customers, suppliers and cooperation partners’.