An Environmental Management Policy is an agreed, documented statement about how your business operates within the natural environment. The policy guides your efforts to reduce environmental impact and may include a specific statement on energy and water consumption, recycling and waste management, in addition to broader statements about your organisational commitment to environmental management.

Consumers are more environmentally aware than ever before, and the environmental management practices of businesses are under increasing scrutiny. Think about the number of your customers that have asked questions about your commitment to sustainability or reducing environmental impact. If you haven’t yet been asked, be prepared, as you are likely to be judged on your environmental commitment and performance in the future.

A well prepared environmental management policy can be a promotional tool and is likely to give your business a market advantage. Businesses that don’t have a clear policy to guide their efforts to look after the environment run the risk of losing business to those that do.

Start the ball rolling in your business by generating a formal commitment to minimising your impact on the environment. This commitment needs to be integral to your day to day activities and clearly communicated to all employees, clients, suppliers and distribution channels. A clear statement will give your business a sense of purpose, enhancing your chances of success.

An effective environmental management policy will be specific, clearly written for a wide audience and needs to be signed by the business owner or manager to demonstrate that it is a formal policy. Like any other business policy, an environmental management policy needs to be reviewed regularly to ensure that it remains relevant as your business grows and changes over time.

What to include in the policy

• State the nature of your business
• Outline the scope of the policy
  (e.g. if your business operates nationally, does the policy cover all locations, and are the elements of the product you deliver included, such as touring activities, promotional activities, staff travel etc?)
• Define your environmental management commitment
  (e.g. committed to sustainable resource use, committed to reducing your carbon footprint, committed to protecting and enhancing the quality of the natural environment etc)
• Define the actions you’ve taken (or intend to take if you are just starting out) to meet your environmental management commitments, for example:
  • programs you’ve developed to monitor performance outcomes
  • activities you’ve taken to minimise greenhouse gas emissions (through efficient energy and fuel consumption), minimise waste to landfill, reduce water consumption, and any other relevant steps
  • steps you’ve taken to ensure minimal impact on the areas visited on your tours
  • steps you’ve taken to incorporate environmental management decisions into all business plans and management practices
  • methods used to monitor and report on your environmental performance
  • methods used to promote and encourage the adoption of sustainable work practices within the business, with clients, suppliers and the general community
  • compliance with applicable legal requirements
  • methods used to communicate the policy and other environmental commitments to staff and the general public.
• Define who is responsible for ensuring the policy is implemented across your business and set performance objectives that support this.

There are many examples of environmental management policies available on the internet to provide some ideas on how to structure one that suits your business.

Next step: Measuring your consumption