Toshihiko Goto Chair, Environmental Auditing and Research Group

Toshihiko GotoChair, Environmental Auditing and Rese

arch Group

UNECE Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Japanese Environmental policy and tools for the monitoring, reporting and SMEs’ EMS

２．６．２００５

2

Characteristics of environmental problems

Causes are limited, and measures urgently taken to maintain national minimum

Relationship of causes and effect are complex, or causes cannot be limited, so preventive measures must be taken

Various parties are causing the problem, so it is necessary to reform the behavior of multiple parties to solve the problem.

Expected effects

Change in social system

Technical development and environmental investment

Change in valuesand behavior

Direct regulatory methods

Prohibition of obligation of specific actions

Total pollutant load control

Framework control methods

Chemical substance control based on Air Pollution Control Law

PRTR Law

Manifest system

Emission trading

Em

ission m

eth

od

s

Subsidies

Environmentaltaxes

Taxconcessions

Green purchasing

Voluntary agreements

Voluntary action plans

Voluntary action plansDeg

ree

of

fre

edo

m fo

r d

ecis

ion

-ma

king

Procedural methodsStatic environmental assessment

Environmental impact assessment system

Environmental management systemEnvironmental design

Information methods

Environmental labeling LCA

Environmental performance assessment

Environmental reports Environmental accounting

Note:The items in this figure areloosely classified for the purpose ofIllustrating the concept of policy mixes.The decision–making freedom varies according to the specific details of each system,so the positions of methods in the figure do not accurately represent the degree of freedom.Presentation:Ministry of the Environment

Low

High

Presentation: Ministry of the Environment

Diagram of Policy Approaches Used in Policy Mixes1

3

GovernmentsConsumers

Local residents

Divisions

Employees

Politics

Client companiessubsidiaries

NGOs,researchers,Mass, media,etc

Stakeholders,Investors,financial

Institutions,etc

CompaniesEnvironmental Management System

Disclosure of environmental information○ Environmental advertisements(TV,newspapers,magazine,etc)○Environmental reports ・ Environmental accounting ・ Environmental performance assessments,etc○ Web sites

＜ Company activities such as supplying products and services＞(raw material procurement ,manufacturing,transport,sales,product,collection,etc)

○Environmental labeling

＜ Environmental actions in companies＞Providing environmental education to employees,cultivatingTheir environmental awareness and evaluating the environmental performance of work

Ministry of the Environment

・ Policy formulation

・ Green procurement・ Transportation

・ Investigations and analysis,Opinions and proposals

・ Rating and awards

・ Green investment,Green financing

・ control

・ Green purchasing・ Environmental reports

・ Seminars・ informationdisclosure

・ Green purchasing・ Questionnaires and opinion surveys

・ Explanatory meeting for local communities

・ Factory inspections,site reports

Waste after end of product life

Wastegeneration

Reduce and energy utilization

Company Activities and Environmental Communication2

4

Green of markets

Assessment by interested partiesGreen of markets

Assessment by interested parties

Time

Recognition of environmental problems

1990s 2000

Impr

ovem

ent i

n qu

alit

y of

env

iron

men

tal

man

agem

ent

Green purchasing Green investmentetc.

Reaction of financial markets

Introductionof EMS

Acquisition of ISO4001 Certification

Environmental competition

Environmental competition

Disclosure ofEnvironmental

information

Environmental strategiesEnvironmental strategies

Use of economic methodsIn environmental policies

・ Pursuit of environmental efficiency

・ Introduction of environmental accounting

・ Environmental reporting

Evaluation of Environmental Management and Environmental Communication

Ministry of the Environment

3

5

Transition of ISO14001 certified companies ratio

Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment

4

6

Types of Recognized Environmental Loads (multiple answers allowed)


5

7

Information disclosed (multiple answers allowed)


6

8

Social and Economic Aspects Mentioned on the Reports


7

9

Transition of the number of environmental report creation companies


8

10

Distribution of Environmental reports


9

11

■Japan has produced a large number of high quality environmental reports, and is beginning to broaden full sustainability aspects.Japan has the largest number of companies are notable in that most of their reports conform to published guidelines-whether government or GRI- enabling effective comparison.

■The Japanese Ministry of Environment plans to establish a third party review scheme for environmental reports on a voluntary participation basis. It is estimated that the number of environmental reports published for domestic corporations larger than SMEs will increase within a few years. Japan is now planning to establish a simplified certification of public environmental reports.

Towards transparency: progress on global sustainability reporting 2004 / ACCA

Trends of reporting in Japan10

12

The KPMG International Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting 2002 covers environmental, social and sustainability reports from a total of almost 2000 companies, including the top 250 companies of the Global Fortune 500 companies (GFT250) and the Top 100 companies in 19 countries (Top100).

KPMG International Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting 200211

13

Number of GFT250 companies with a corporate report by country (1999, 2002)


12

14

Corporate reporting by country, Top 100 in 19 countries (1996, 1999, 2002)


13

15

Principle Functions of Environmental Reporting

Environmental reporting has two fundamental functions: external (or social) function and internal function, which promotes environmental activities in business activities. It plays very important role in strengthening environmental activities in voluntary business activities.

The following three are external functions, which can be considered as a tool as environmental communication between the business organization and the public.

(1) Function to disclose information to fulfill the responsibility of social accountability of businesses

(2) Function to provide information that is useful for decision making of interested parties.

(3) Function to promote environmental activities as a pledge and review between business organizations and the public.

The following two are internal functions.

(4) Function to establish or revise environmental policies, objectives and programs of business organizations.

(5) Function to motivate the management and employees and to encourage environmental activities of them.

When writing and publishing environmental reporting, it is important to design the environmental reporting properly work as these functions.

Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)

14

16

General Reporting Principles of Environmental Reporting

Environmental reporting is published as a tool for environmental communication from the perspective of social accountability. The following five principles are essential in order to make environmental reporting an effective tool for environmental communication and discharging social accountability. Environmental reporting which does not meet with these principles is more as an environmental pamphlet.

1.Relevance

2.Reliability

Environmental reporting needs to provide information which is useful for interested parties’ decision making by reporting the state of environmental burden caused by business activities and environmental programs that mitigate the burden and it needs to be issued in proper timing.

Environmental reporting needs to state reliable information.


15

17

Environmental reporting needs to provide necessary information with clear and easily understood expressions to avoid misunderstandings among interested parties.

Information included in environmental reporting needs to be comparable between different reporting periods of the business organization. Even among different business organizations, information that enables certain comparison should be provided.

Information written in environmental reporting needs to be accompanied by the basis and foundation of the statement and it should be verifiable with objective standpoint.

3.Clarity

4.Comparability

5.Verifiability


General Reporting Principles of Environmental Reporting (2)15

18

Structure of Environmental Reporting

There are “Necessary Components of Environmental Reporting”. These are components, essential for making environmental reporting a tool for environmental communication that provide useful information to interest parties’ decision making, and for discharging social accountability. All these components are included in the most current environmental reporting.

The necessary components and information for environmental reporting are:

1. Basic Headings,

2. Summary of Policy, Targets, and Achievements of Environmental Conservation,

3. State of Environmental Management,

4. State of Activities for Reduction of Environmental Burden, and

5. State of Performance of Businesses in Social Aspects.


16

19

1.Basic Headings

This includes CEO’s statement (including summary and pledge), the foundation of reporting, and a summary of the nature of the business, this contains fundamental components to ensure the reporting functions as a communication tool between the business and the society, and provides useful information to interest parties’ decision making. It is also necessary that CEO’s statement includes not only a greeting, but also a summary of environmental activities of the business organization and pledge of the commitments to society.

The necessary components are the following three headings.

(1) CEO’s statement (including summary and pledge)(2) Foundation of reporting (Reporting organization, time period, fields, division in charge of publication, and contacts)(3) Summary of the nature of the business


Structure of Environmental Reporting (2)16

20

2.Summary of Policies, Targets, and Achievements in Environmental Conservation

This component is concerning with policies, targets, plans, achievements and material balance of business activities with regard to business’ environmental conservation activities, and this part describes the state of environmental burden and the outlines of environmental activities of the business. It is appropriate for targets, plans, and achievements, including state of environmental burden, to be summarized in a table.

The necessary components are the following four headings.

(4) Environmental policies regarding environmental conservation(5) Summary of objectives, plans of environmental activities and achievements in environmental conservation(6) Material balance of the business activity

(7) Summary of environmental accounting information



21

3.State of Environmental Management

This is a section in which the state of the entire environmental management is described. Each of the state of the environmental management system, the state of supply chain management for environmental conservation, the state of research and development of environmental, the state of the disclosure of environmental information and environmental communication, the state of compliance with environmental regulations, and the state of social contribution should be described independently. The necessary components are the following six headings.

(8) State of environmental management system(9) State of supply chain management for environmental conservation.(10) State of research and development of technologies for environmental conservation and environment- conscious products/services(11) State of the disclosure of environmental information and environmental communication(12) State of compliance with environmental regulations(13) State of social contribution related to environment



22

4)State of Activities for Reduction of Environmental Burden

The current state and achievements of environmental performance of the business organization to reduce environmental burden with yearly changes should be stated in accordance with the nine core indicators described in the “Environmental Performance Indicators for Businesses” . Measures which reduces environmental burden in the upstream and the downstream of the business, such as green procurement and the reduction of environmental burden by producing or selling products that cause less environmental burden throughout their life-cycle should be mentioned in this section. This section would be the biggest in the volume of information in environmental report. The necessary components are the following eleven headings.

(14) Total amount of energy input and measures to reduce it(15) Total amount of material input and measures to reduce it(16) Amount of water input and measures to reduce it(17) Amount of greenhouse gasses emission and measures to reduce it(18) Amount of chemical substances emission and transportation and measures to reduce it(19) Total amount of products or sales(20) Total amount of waste generation and final disposal and measures to reduce it(21) Total amount of water disposal and measures to reduce it(22) State of environmental burden caused by transportation and measures to reduce it(23) State of green procurement and measures to promote it(24) State of products and services that contribute to reduction of environmental burden.



23

5)State of Performance of Businesses in Social Aspects

In recent years, the scope of environmental reporting has been widened, and information on social aspects in activities of business organizations have become to be a part of sustainability reporting or social and environmental (CSR) reporting, as it is already mentioned. Reporting of social aspects is, however, still in a stage of development. These guidelines, therefore, describe representative information discussed in sustainability reporting guidelines published in Japan, show information that is required to disclose by laws and regulations, and summarize information that will be important in future.

(25) State of Performance in Social Aspects



24

Relation Between Business Activities and Circulation of Materials

Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)

17

25

Relation with Environmental Performance Indicators


18

26

Relations Between Business Activity and Core Indicators


19

27Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)

Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators

Operational Indicators

Core Indicators Input

Output

Sub Indicators Indicators That Qualitatively Supplement the Core Indicators

Environmentally important indicators which may not be applicable to all business organizations

- Indicators that would be important for establishing sustainable development

Environmental Management Indicators (Sub-Indicators)

Sub-Indicator

Management Related Indicators

Sub-Indicator Management IndicatorsIndicators that Measure Efficiency with Combination With Operation Indicators

Indicators that Are Related to Management Indicators

20

28

Core Indicators

Input ①Total Energy Input②Total Amount of Material Input③Water Resource Input

Output ④Amounts of Greenhouse Gases Emissions⑤Amounts of Emission and Transportation of Chemical Substances⑥Total Amount of Production or Sales⑦Total Amount of Waste Generation⑧Total Amount of Final Disposal of Waste⑨Total Amount of Water Disposal

Sub Indicators

Indicators That Qualitatively Supplement the Core Indicators

Breakdown of Energy Input Kinds of Resources, State of the Resources at the time of input Breakdown of Water Resources Emissions of Six Substances Under the Kyoto Protocol Amounts of Releases and Transportation of Substances Under PRTR Amounts of Other Substances Under Regulations Amounts of Products or Services that Are Measured in Unit Other than Weight Amount of Production or Sales of Products that Contribute to Reduction of Environmental Burden Amount of Production or Sales of Products with Environmental Labeling Amount of the Use of Containers and Wrappers Methods of Waste Disposal Kinds of Waste Generated Kinds of Water Area Where Waste Water Are Discharged● Quality of Water

Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators (2)Operational Indicators


20

29

Sub Indicators Environmentally important indicators which may not be applicable to all business organizations- Indicators that would be important for establishing sustainable development

Repeated Use of Water within the Business Organization Emission of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide Concentration in Emissions that are under Regulation Noise, Vibration, Odor Nitrogen, Phosphorus Concentration in Emissions that are under Regulation Repeated Use of Materials within the Business 　　　 Organization●　　　Recycled Materials within the Business

Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators (3)


20

30

Environmental Management Indicators (Sub-Indicators)

Sub-Indicator Environmental Management System Technology for Environmental Protection, Research and Development for Designing for the Environment of Products and Services Environmental Accounting Environmental Communication and Partnership Obedience of Environmental Law and Regulations Occupational Safety and Health Social Contribution concerning the environment

Sub-Indicator Management IndicatorsIndicators that Measure Efficiency with Combination With Operation Indicators

Amount of SalesAmount of productionArea of FloorNumber of Employees, Etc.

Indicators that Are Related to Management Indicators

Indicators that Measure Eco-efficiencyIntegrated Indicators of Environmental Burden

Management Related Indicators

Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators (4)


20

31

Relation Between the Core Indicators and The Sub-Indicators from the Viewpoint of Material Balance

Core Indicators (Quantitative Information)

Sub-Indicators (Qualitative Information)

Input

Output

Core Indicators (Quantitative Information)Su-Indicators (Qualitative Information)

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

①Amount of Total Energy Input (joule)

②Total Amount of Material Input (ton) ③Amount of Water Resources Input (m3)

Breakdown of energy input-Purchased electricity-Fossil fuel-New fnergy-Other

Example of Indicator Kinds of resources-Metals / Plastics / Rubber, etcState of materials at the input-Parts, Semi-products, products, merchandise / Raw materials / Supplemental materials / Containers and packagingOther Indicators-Recyclable Resources / Exhaustible natural resources / Renewable natural resources / Chemical substances / Green purchasing

Breakdown of water resources-City water-Industrial water-Ground water-Sea water, river water-Rain water

④ Greenhouse gasses emission (ton-CO2)

⑤Amounts of Emission and Transportation of Chemical Substances (ton)

⑥Total Amount of Production or Sales (ton)

⑦ Amount of Wastes, etc Generated (ton)⑧ Amount of Final Disposal of Waste (ton)

⑨Total Amount of Water Disposal

Emissions of Six Substances Under Kyoto Protocol-CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, SF6 Breakdown of emitting activities

Amounts of releases and transportation of substances under PRTR

Amount of production or sales measured in unit other than weight. Amount of production of sales of products which contribute to reduction of environmental burden. Amount of production of sales of products with environmental labels Amount of containers and packaging used

Methods of disposal of wastes, etc.-Reuse / Recycle / Thermal recovery / Simple incineration / Final disposal / OthersKinds of wastes, etcValuable materialsGeneral wasteIndustrial waste of which Specially controlled industrial waste

Disposing water areas-Public water areas-SewerWater quality-BOD, COD


21

32

Components of the Eco-Action 21, EMS for SMEs

1.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Burden

2.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Measures

3.Environmental Management System Guidelines


Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines


This guide provides a simple tool to measure environmental burdens generated by each organization. It is necessary to know what kind of and how much environmental burdens each organization produces in order to establish an environmental system and to operate it in proper manner.

22

33

4.Environmental Activity Report Guidelines

These guidelines describe environmental activity reports, which SMCs should compose and publish. Composing and publishing an environmental activity report is a first step of environmental communication.

3.Environmental Management System Guidelines

The EcoAction 21 provides a set of environmental management system guidelines that is easier for SMCs to implement. These guidelines are based on ISO14001 standards set by the International Organizations for Standardization and are intended to promote environmental activities of SMCs and to make them more efficient and effective. When an organization plans an environmental management system, it should start with the outcomes of these checklists described in and .① ②

2.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Measures

This is a checklist that helps the determination of aspects that the organizations are expected to perform environmental activities. This checklist enables the participating organizations to evaluate the achievement of each environmental program and to determine how the program can be improved.

Components of the EcoAction 21 (2)


22

34Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines

Procedure of the Eco-Action 2123


Aspect Environmental burden check Environmental measure check

①Energy consumption ❑Total Energy Input

❑Amount of Electricity purchased, amount of fossil fuel consumption, amount of new energy, etc.

❑Reducing energy usage

❑Increase the use of new energy.

②Consumption of raw material, parts and packaging

❑Total input of material

❑Input of recycled material, Input of natural resources, etc.

❑Reducing material usage

❑Green procurement

③Water consumption ❑ Total amount of water input

❑City water, industrial water, ground water, etc.

❑Reducing water usage, efficient use of water

④Consumption of fossil fuel, etc. ❑Amount of greenhouse gases emissions

❑Carbon dioxide,　 methane, etc.

❑Reducing carbon dioxide emissions

⑤Use and release of chemical products, etc.

❑Amount of chemical products released and transferred. ❑Programs for chemical products.

⑥Production and sales of the products

❑Total number of production and products sold ❑Development and design of products to minimize environmental burden

⑦Generation of the waste ❑Total amount of waste generated etc.

❑Materials with market value, general waste, industrial waste etc.

❑Reducing amount of waste generated, recycling

⑧ Final disposal of waste ❑Amount of final disposal of waste ❑Proper disposal

⑨Disposal of waste water ❑Total amount of water disposed/amount of water contaminants ❑Waste water treatment p

Worksheet for choosing environmental aspects that are neededto be included in environmental management system

24


Environmental Management System Guidelines

37

Composition of Environmental Activity Reports

Environmental activity reports shall include the following information

①Environmental policy

②Environmental objectives and their performance

③Outlines of major environmental action plans

④Evaluation of the results of environmental activities

⑤Information of nonconformance to environment-related laws and regulations and litigation if there is any.


25

38

Publication of Environmental Activity Reports

Organization shall equip environmental activity reports in their offices and provide them for public review. Organization shall send a copy of environmental activity report to the Secretariat (The Secretariat will publish the name of the Eco-Action 21 organizations). In addition, if it is possible, environmental activity reports should be submitted to the “Environmental Report Data Base,” which is maintained by the Ministry of the Environment, posted on the organization’s internet homepage, and published as a form of pamphlet.


26

Toshihiko Goto Chair, Environmental Auditing and Research Group

Documents

Transcript of Toshihiko Goto Chair, Environmental Auditing and Research Group