How can you integrate your client's EMS with their overall business strategy?

An environmental management system (EMS) is a set of policies, procedures, and practices that help an organization reduce its environmental impact and improve its performance. But how can you make sure that your client's EMS is aligned with their overall business strategy and goals? In this article, we will share some tips and best practices for integrating EMS with business strategy, based on our experience as environmental consultants.

1 Benefits of integration

Integrating EMS with business strategy can bring many benefits for your client, such as enhancing their reputation and brand value, saving costs and increasing efficiency, minimizing risks and liabilities, innovating and creating new opportunities, and engaging and motivating their employees and suppliers. These advantages include reducing waste, energy use, and emissions; complying with environmental laws and standards; developing greener products and services; and fostering a culture of environmental responsibility and excellence.

Add your perspective

Achint Atri

Lead- Technology Service Delivery at EY I Consulting I Data Analytics I Project Management I ESG I Educator I CSR Expert
Report contribution
Integrating a client's Environmental Management System (EMS) with their overall business strategy is crucial for ensuring sustainability goals align with broader organizational objectives. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to achieve this integration effectively: 1. Understand the Business Strategy: Strategic Alignment: Begin by thoroughly understanding the client's overall business strategy. Identify key business goals, objectives, and priorities. This understanding forms the basis for aligning the EMS with broader organizational strategies. 2. Identify Environmental Objectives: Define EMS Objectives: Clearly define environmental objectives and targets within the EMS.

Like
Adebusola Obasa

Environmental Compliance Officer
Report contribution
Integrating EMS in the business helps to ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations, avoiding legal issues and potential fines. By prioritizing environmental responsibility, businesses can positively influence their image and reputation, ultimately building a strong foundation of trust and goodwill with their customers, investors, and the community.

Like

2 Challenges of integration

Integrating EMS with business strategy can be difficult, as it can involve resistance and skepticism from some individuals, balancing environmental goals with other objectives, allocating resources and time for implementation and monitoring, measuring environmental performance and impacts, and adapting the EMS to changing conditions. Furthermore, managers and staff must be able to clearly communicate the importance of environmental actions to customers in a credible way.

Add your perspective

Adebusola Obasa

Environmental Compliance Officer
Report contribution
Achieving environmental sustainability over the long term requires continuous effort and unwavering dedication. Regardless of economic challenges or changes in leadership, we must remain committed to this essential goal.

Like
Adetutu Sanni

Independent Environmental Management Systems' Consultant
Report contribution
An important challenge that must properly addressed in integrating the EMS into an organization's overall business strategy is determining the best ways to ensure that the prevalent organizational model and culture is made compatible or properly aligned with the EMS so that the organization's workforce and relevant stakeholders have the capacity to adapt and work effectively in the new environment created by integration.

Like

3 Steps for integration

To overcome the challenges and reap the benefits of integration, you can guide your client through a series of steps. This includes assessing their current environmental situation and performance with tools such as audits, surveys, or life cycle analysis. You can then identify their environmental aspects and impacts, such as sources of pollution, waste, or resource consumption and their effects on the environment and society. After that, you can define their environmental objectives and targets based on legal obligations, stakeholder expectations, and business opportunities. From there, you can develop an environmental action plan that outlines strategies, actions, responsibilities, and resources for achieving objectives and targets. You should then implement the action plan with tools such as training, communication, incentives, or technology. Monitoring and reviewing the action plan is also essential for measuring and evaluating progress and performance with indicators, reports, feedback, or audits. Finally, you should continually improve the action plan by using the results of monitoring and review to identify and implement corrective and preventive actions.

Add your perspective

Adebusola Obasa

Environmental Compliance Officer
Report contribution
Ensure top management is committed to environmental sustainability. Develop a clear and comprehensive policy that reflects the organisation's commitment to sustainability. Set specific, measurable, and achievable environmental objectives and targets aligned with the organisation's policy. Conduct periodic reviews of the EMS to ensure its effectiveness. Continuously seek opportunities for improvement and make necessary adjustments.

Like

4 Tips for success

To ensure the success of integration, you can also apply certain tips with your client. Involvement and consultation with top management, employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders in the integration process is essential to gain their support and input. It is also important to align environmental objectives and targets with their business vision, mission, values and goals to demonstrate the relevance and value of environmental actions. Additionally, integrating their environmental policies and procedures with existing business systems and processes such as quality management, risk management or innovation management can be beneficial. Relevant and reliable standards and frameworks such as ISO 14001, EMAS or GRI can be used to guide and validate the integration process and outcomes. Celebrating and communicating environmental achievements and benefits internally and externally through stories, testimonials or awards is also important. Integrating EMS with business strategy can be a rewarding and profitable journey for your client if these steps are followed with the help of environmental consultants providing expertise, guidance and tools.

Add your perspective

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

Add your perspective

How can you integrate your client's EMS with their overall business strategy?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Benefits of integration

2 Challenges of integration

3 Steps for integration

4 Tips for success

5 Here’s what else to consider

Environmental Consulting

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

More articles on Environmental Consulting

More relevant reading

How can you integrate your client's EMS with their overall business strategy?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Benefits of integration

2 Challenges of integration

3 Steps for integration

4 Tips for success

5 Here’s what else to consider

Environmental Consulting

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

Explore Other Skills