Environmental management

Environmental Statement

The policy specifies the focus areas and the organisation's objectives in terms of environmental performance. The environmental programme, in return, translates these objectives into an action plan with   measurable targets. The targets are implemented by actions with a pre-determined deliverable and due date. The policy, the programme and the key performance indicators form the core elements of   the statement. The first 2021 statement outlined the key achievements until end of 2020 with an outlook of the actions to be completed latest by end of 2021. In July 2022, solely the 2021 KPI data table was submitted to the competent Austrian body. The 2023 the statement was validated by an external auditor in September 2023.  Following the successful 2025 EMAS validation in June, the 2025 statement was released in September.

Principle of continuous improvement

Committed to continuous improvement, EMAS certified organisations work in cycles. We complete our last actions while we already have started to draft the next programme. Regular review of our rules, registers and records assure checks and balances.


 

Environmental Policy

As one of the first steps in the EMAS process, the Secretariat published its first Environmental Policy in July 2020. This paper underlines the commitment by the Secretariat, and particularly that of its top management, to continuously reduce its adverse environmental impacts.  

The last policy update took place on 28 November 2022. While the core objectives have remained unchanged, there is greater emphasis on communicating EMAS and influencing, motivating and helping the ECS stakeholders to achieve better environmental performance.

The Policy objectives form the basis for the Secretariat’s  environmental programme. An annual review of the Policy is an integral part of the ECS’s EMS management review.
 

Significant aspects and impacts

In June 2020, the EMAS team systematically reviewed all environmental aspects and impacts of the Secretariat’s activities, establishing a baseline for measuring its environmental footprint. Significant aspects—those rated above 2.5 out of 4—are prioritized in the environmental programme and are regularly reviewed and discussed at management meetings, with the 2020 assessment’s fundamentals still remaining valid.

 

Environmental Programme

The objectives stated in the Environmental Policy constituted the starting point for the Environmental Programme. Each objective is supported by one or several targets. For each target, the EMAS team determines actions with clearly defined deliverables, deadlines and person in charge. 

The programme is an internal working document, subject to regular review and updates. The Secretariat reports about the conducted actions in its Environmental Statements.  

As regards the type of actions, we differentiate between the following: