EMAS is a voluntary environmental management system (EMS), under which companies and other public organisations evaluate, manage and continuously improve their environmental performance. EMAS has been operative since 1995. Currently, more than 4,400 organisations and approximately 7,600 sites are EMAS-registered.
The core elements of EMAS are performance, credibility and transparency. By carrying out annual updates of environmental policy targets and actions to implement and evaluate them, registered organisations continually improve their environmental performance and provide evidence that they comply with all environmental legislation that is applicable to them. Third-party verification from independent auditors significantly adds credibility to registered organisations by guaranteeing the value of both the actions taken and the disclosed environmental information. Transparency is generated by the environmental statement, which an organisation is required to provide as part of EMAS registration. The communication tool makes available to the public information on the environmental impact and performance of the organisation.
