green policy

government legislation - what your business needs to be doing now

There’s lots of government legislation in place to ensure that UK businesses meet the minimum standards required to minimise their impact on the environment.


How these regulations will affect you will depend on the size and type of your business, as well as the sector you operate in and the process you have in place.

UK environmental regulations focus on a number of key areas:

  • Air - related to the amount of smoke, dust, noise, odour and solvents emitted by your business.
  • Hazardous substances - regulations cover the collection, storage, handling, processing, use and disposal of various substances including: oil, ozone depleting substances, pesticides and biocides, radioactive substances, animal by-products and hazardous/special waste.
  • Waste - regulating the handling, storage, transport and disposal of trade waste, as well as the recycling of products.
  • Water - pollution, water abstraction and the discharge of trade effluent to public sewers.
  • Packaging - covering the production, use and handling of packaging or packaging materials.
  • Land - regulations cover the usage of contaminated land and landfill sites for disposal of business waste.

For more detailed information on how these regulations might affect your business, please visit the NetRegs website: http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/mgmt_guidelines/

environmental policies

environmental policies

An environmental policy is a written statement outlining an organisation's mission in relation to managing the environmental effects and aspects of its operations. All organisations, to some degree, have an effect on the environment. Having an environmental policy in place demonstrates your green credentials to your shareholders, clients, customers and employees. Increasingly, customers are demanding that businesses prove their environmental credentials; this is particularly true if you deal with the public sector where there are top-down requirements from Government that all their procurement activities meet certain green standards.

Environmental policies are free and can help make sure you not only stay within the law but can also help you to improve your cost controls and conserve raw materials and energy.

Having an environmental policy in place is essential if you want an Environmental Standard (such as ISO 14001 or registration under EMAS), which is a technical document that describes an agreed and recognised way of doing something.

For information and advice on how to write an environmental policy please see Envirowise: http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/home.aspx

environmental management systems

An Environmental Management System is framework to help businesses manage their impact on the environment and comply with Government legislation. Having an EMS can not only help you to reduce your environmental impact but it can also achieve cost saving and demonstrate your commitment to improving your performance to clients.

You can set up your own EMS as an internal management tool. Alternatively, there are recognised national and international standards that provide accreditation and external recognition of the standards achieved. EMS standards recommended by Defra include:

  • ISO 14001
  • EMAS
  • BS 8555

To fully contribute to an improved environmental performance, a good EMS should:

  • Be implemented at a strategic level and integrated into corporate policy and plans.
  • Identify the organisation’s impact on the environment and set clear objectives and targets to improve their performance
  • Be designed to deliver and manage compliance with environmental laws and regulations
  • Incorporate assured performance metrics that demonstrate all of the above.

For more information and advice on EMS visit the Defra website.

targets for the future

The Government has a number of targets it aims to meet in the near future and these have recently been laid out in the 2008 Budget and Climate Change Bill.

The 2008 Budget set out several environmental aims with implications for business such as: the establishment of a carbon budget; the aim to have 1 million jobs in environmental industries in the next two years; a zero-carbon target for all non-domestic buildings by 2019; and a range of tax incentives to encourage businesses to use fuel-efficient company cars.

The Government is committed to both the causes and consequences of climate change and its proposals are published in the Climate Change Bill.

The proposed Climate Change Bill is the first of its kind in any country and provides a long-term framework for the UK to realistically achieve its goals of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It will also enable steps to be taken towards adapting to the impact of climate change and is due to receive Royal Assent in the summer of 2008.

The main target of the bill is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 26-32% by the year 2020, and by at least 60% by 2050, compared to levels in 1990. Other key areas in the bill include: the publishing of five yearly carbon budgets; a Committee for Climate Change; the assessment of the risk to the UK from the impacts of climate change; waste reduction pilot schemes; trading schemes for the purpose of limiting greenhouse gas; and amends to the provisions of the Energy Act 2004 on renewable transport fuel obligations.