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1999 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
Appendix B—Public Sector Organizations Outside Canada Committed to Applying the ISO 14001 Standard or the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
To get a sense of the approaches being applied to managing environmental issues and sustainable development in other countries, we examined submissions to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Council on Improving Environmental Performance in Government. We also interviewed officials from standards setting bodies, contacted environmental officials in several countries and reviewed relevant literature. While we are still receiving responses to our inquiries, we are able to conclude that many public sector organizations have formally committed to applying a management systems approach that conforms with either the ISO 14001 or the EMAS standard. The results of our research to date are indicated in the following table:
|
Country
|
Number of Public Sector Organizations Committed to ISO 14001
or the EMAS
|
|
|
Federal Departments/Agencies
|
Local/Municipal
|
|
|
1. Australia
|
|
1
|
|
2. China
|
2
|
11
|
|
3. Finland
|
5
|
3
|
|
4. France
|
3
|
|
|
5. Holland
|
14
*
|
636
**
|
|
6. Japan
|
4
|
2
|
|
7. Sweden
|
66*
|
|
|
8. Switzerland
|
7*
|
|
|
9. United Kingdom
|
5
|
45
|
|
10. United States
|
1
|
|
* All departments/government-wide; ** All municipal governments
In addition, we identified a number of quasi-public sector electrical utilities that have committed to bringing their management systems into conformance with ISO 14001, including 27 in the United States and all 22 members of the Canadian Electricity Association. We also identified more than 60 additional public sector organizations with pilot studies under way to assess the feasibility of adopting ISO 14001.
Controlling the direct effects of government buildings and routine activities is a good first step toward environmental management. Most organizations initially apply ISO 14001 or EMAS to controlling their direct effects such as energy consumption and waste generation. However, given the important and far-reaching influence that government policies and programs have, assessing and effectively managing their environmental impacts is essential for sustainable development. A few countries, including Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, have extended the application of their environmental management systems to encompass the effects of policies and programs. Twenty-five of the sixty-six Swedish agencies have completed a review of their direct and indirect environmental impacts and have established policy, goals and action plans. In the guidance published for local United Kingdom governments, managing indirect environmental effects is an essential component of the management system.