Environmental accounting
How Can ISO 14001 Benefit My Business?
April 18, 2013 | 
Author Environmental Concerns are now of paramount consideration by company directors, owners and employees worldwide.
Since the 14001 EMS includes everyone in the business and all aspects of the organization that affect the environment, it can improve an organization’s environmental performance in many ways. This improved performance comes at a cost to the organization, a cost which can be recovered by aggressively seeking benefits.
Some of those benefits are as follows:
All environmental policies and procedures are now in the same format
All documents are now easily accessible to employees so compliance has improved
Regularly scheduled EMS reviews are ensuring both legal and ethical obligations are met in a timely fashion.
Increased Profits
The quantity of materials and energy required for manufacturing a product may be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the product, material handling costs, and waste disposal costs.
An EMS can help reduce incidents of pollution and the associated expense of recovery.
Recycling manufacturing waste and unused inputs could increase revenues. Recycling need not be within the same facility, but with another one that can use the waste as input to their production.
Employee health and safety can be improved, thereby improving productivity, decreasing sick days, and reducing insurable risk.
Insurance claims may be reduced, thus reducing the costs of coverage and settlements.
This is just a sample of the benefits available to business; the list of benefits and potential benefits is considerably larger.
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Carbon management, carbon reduction, Carbon Reduction Commitment, Climate Change, CO2, CSR, Environmental accounting, Footprint, ghg emissions, Iso14001, Social Responsibility | 
Tags: Benefits, Business, carbon reduction, Change, Climate, Corporate, CSR, EMS, Enterprise, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, environmental management system, Global, Green, Greenhouse, ISO 14001, Management, Money, Social, Social Responsibility, Solutions | 
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What Makes a Home a Green Home?
What Makes a Home a Green House?
One of the hottest topics today is about being environmentally friendly. There are many ways to become environmentally friendly about the home including water preservation and energy reduction. This not only helps with a positive action by reducing your impact on the environment, but will also save you money!
Lets take a look at what makes a home environmentally friendly.
Reduced Energy Use
Energy comes in many forms such as electricity, natural gas, oil, etc. The creation or use of this energy results in greenhouse gas emissions that affect our planet in a negative way.
Methods of Reducing Energy Usage
Insulation, One of the best things that you can do to make a green house is to ensure that the walls, windows, attic, and floors are all well insulated and draft free. The majority of the energy used in a home goes towards heating the house. Insulation will prevent the air temperature from escaping the home and save you money on your utilities.
Energy Star Appliances When one of your appliances has reached it’s end of life, or when you are building a new home, consider installing an appliance that meets energy star requirements. This will ensure that it will use over 30 percent less electricity or fuel than a typical appliance of that type.
Other options include advanced mechanical Systems On demand tankless water heaters, geothermal HVAC equipment, and even solar power is a great way to reduce the amount of energy that is wasted to run the plumbing, heat and air, and electrical systems in the home. While they can have a higher upfront cost than a typical unit of its kind, tax incentives from the government can offset a good deal of the extra cost and allow you to make the money back within a few years time.
Reduced Water Use
Water is another essential resource that can be preserved in our day to day use around the house.
Low Flow Fixtures Many low flow shower heads and toilets developed a bad reputation in the past because they could not live up to their less efficient counterparts. Fortunately, todays better engineered models and aerators allow you to experience the luxury and ease of use that you prefer, while additionally using a significantly lower amount of water.
Efficient Clothes Washers Many of the newer front loading clothes washers use as little as half of the water of a typical top loading washer. For families who are constantly putting in a new load of dirty clothes, this can lead to a significant savings in cost and water usage over time.
Use Rain Water For Irrigation For those who want to really cut down on water usage, storage tanks that collect rain water during a storm for latter use to water the garden and lawn can save thousands of gallons over the span of a summer.
These are just a few of the many ideas out there that will help ensure that your home is green. Environmentally friendly decisions in the home can lead to wallet friendly results over time and allow for the satisfaction of knowing you are reducing your negative impact on the planet.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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Computer Retailers & Manufacturers Need To Be More Responsible
Computer Aid International has called for companies involved with IT to be more responsible for the environmental cost of their products.
The organisation has produced a report: Green ICT: what producers must do, blaming original equipment manufacturers for poor practice and pollution in production.
A manufacturer, in terms of The WEEE Directive, is any company who assebles computers, ranging from your Joe Bloggs PC retailer in the high street to the Multinationals such as Dell, they are both treated equally!
They say that retailers need to take responsibility for the entire life-cycle of their products.
The report argues that most environmental damage of computing happens during manufacturing; for instance, 80% of the energy used over a PC’s lifecycle is used before it is switched on for the first time.
The report cites mining materials and the excessive use of toxic chemicals in production as the source of the enormous carbon footprint made by manufacturing and its global sourcing and distribution chains.
Computer Aid International CEO Tony Roberts said: “In Europe all ICT manufactures including HP, Samsung, Nokia, Apple, and small independants have a legal duty to fund the end of life recycling of equipment that they produced.
“Within Europe manufacturers fulfil this requirement of corporate social responsibility and are justifiably proud of their green credentials.
“However we would argue that they have exactly the same moral obligations where their products are sold in Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
“Most developing countries are entirely without the kind of facilities necessary to re-use and recycle ICTs and to recover the precious metals and other composite materials before they pollute the environment and threaten public health and safety.”
The report calls for producers to be responsible for the end-of-life management of their goods in all countries they operate in, not just in rich developed countries, so that all nations can build the operational capacity to re-use IT equipment and to recycle e-waste.
It says producers need to shift the cost of toxic, wasteful design away from communities and the environment back to themselves.
They call for producers to be forced to include the real costs of their goods through wide-ranging programmes that encourage eco-design
To find out how the WEEE directive affects you, whether you’re an end user, retailer or manufacturer, contact Be Seen Go Geen for advice and help
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The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme – A Review
We are now well on the road to the end of the first year of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.
We’ve had the scare stories, the organisations not registering, or fewer organisations registering than were first thought. Early estimates from the Government suggested 5000 plus organisations would be full participants with a further 20,000 as information disclosures.
We’ve had over 3,700 full participants register, what does this communicate to us?
For me, based on my experience, it tells me that a lot of organisations were confused as to what they needed to do. For example, a car dealership, an example Defra used in their literature, if that dealership was a single franchise, SEAT for example, then if a single SEAT dealer anywhere else in the UK had a half hour meter then ALL SEAT dealerships and SEAT companies were in, under the banner of SEAT, who had the responsibility of collating this information. That’s nice and simple, until you then look at if that same dealership had say SEAT and VW at the same premises, they’re out? Add to that the ability to register independently so the SEAT brand did not have to account for everything that traded under its name . . . confused . . . therein lies the problem!
At least the Con/Dem co-alition government has pushed back the full implementation of phase 1 of the CRC by 12 months, the same for Phase 2.They are also looking at making the scheme simpler, firstly by making it a Tax, no payments from the pot for those that reduce emissions the most, Good or Bad?
For me it’s a bit of good and bad, organisations no longer being rewarded for reducing emissions will need to find some other motivation to reduce emissions! The good side is that it is giving these organisation more time to get to grips with the scheme, however, as experience has shown, a lot of organisation left it to the last minute before registering for the CRC, will they do the same again?
Initially Phase 1 reporting is primarily about Scope 1 & 2 emissions, Scope 1 being based on energy you produce, for example if you had a wind turbine and selling electricity back to the grid, Scope 2 is for energy you purchase.
However Phase 2 of the CRC is interesting, as it suggests that Scope 3 emissions will be included in a company’s declaration, a good way of introducing mandatory emissions reporting for all via the back door. Scope 3 covers everything from Travel to Suppliers.
If we look at suppliers for a large organisation, this could easily be in the thousands, a local authority I recently met with, have in excess of 5000 suppliers, under phase 2 they will need to liaise with all 5000, collate the emissions data for those 5000 and submit under the local authorities umbrella.
This will be an administrative nightmare for the unprepared, both the supplier and the large organisation. This will mean that for those who tender for work from larger organisations it will no longer be just a tick box exercise for environmental policy, such as ISO14001, it will be a detailed report on emissions and those not able to submit such a report, will ultimately, not win any business.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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Going Green Is Not Just For Big Business-You Can Grow Profits, Too!
The world of big business is making daily headlines by “going green” after discovering that what’s good for the planet is also proving good for business.
IBM recently announced “Project Big Green,” a $1 billion initiative to reduce energy consumption by offering new lines of energy-efficient IT products.
Wal-Mart is adding solar power to more than 20 stores.
PepsiCo is buying renewable energy certificates to offset its carbon footprint. Even major banks and energy firms are being asked by shareholders to prove that they, too, are going green.
It’s not just the biggest businesses that are attracting new customers and shareholders and reaping huge profits by “going green.” Small businesses also are growing eco-profits by embracing surprisingly inexpensive strategies to add value to their products, services and brand.
Consider these innovative examples:
- Bob Smith of Mad River Brewing Company in Blue Lake, California, has attracted positive publicity (and new customers) by promoting his efforts to reduce his small firm’s waste output and take other environmentally conscious steps. In turn, he has received welcome positive publicity from the press. “What PR budget? That is our PR budget,” he told the Albuquerque Tribune about “going green” to market his business.
- In Florida, Natalie Kelly formed Home Therapy Cleaning Services, which uses only nontoxic, all-natural cleaning products for her home cleaning business. She used to sell aromatherapy candles from her home, she told the St. Petersburg Times, but today uses an aromatherapy baking soda blend to freshen carpets.
Here’s what you can do:
- Two inexpensive ways any small business or solo entrepreneur can go green are to change light bulbs to energy-efficient bulbs and use biodegradable cleaning products.
- With that done, tell your customers and the media about these simple ways to go green. You will have just earned instant credibility as a green business, and also as a media resource for simple, effective ways to “go green.”
- Many communities online and offline are forming networks to exchange energy-saving ideas for home and business. Form your own energy network, enlisting neighborhood businesses that will welcome another opportunity to show they’re going green, too. The plus for you is that you will have just positioned yourself and your business as a community environmental leader.
-Write a “green” article on simple ways you are going green and submit it to one of the dozens of “green” Web sites and blogs that invite reader contributions. It’s a great way to market your smart ideas and your business!
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A Small Step
A Simple Step that Business can use to Save Money whilst Reducing Carbon Emissions
SME business is being squeezed hard by the global financial crisis at the same time as it is being told to cut its carbon emissions.
Their challenge is to realise that by going green and reducing waste they also save money.
We have now reached a point where most forms of energy are increasing in cost and are in short supply.
We have polluted our atmosphere and we need to slow the rate of pollution down and governments around the world are setting up greenhouse gas emission restrictions.
SME business needs to be able to reduce costs and also reduce their wastes and this includes energy, materials and human effort. Business also needs to do this without an extra time commitment. Or cash flow to make changes because business also has to cope with global financial chaos.
With all the problems that businesses faces at present, why do they need to add carbontrading to the mix?
It is a fact that we have serious and increasing atmospheric pollution. This is man made, and has been measured, and this if the cause of climate change and global warming! This is a measurable fact. We have changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere by pouring carbon dioxide, methane and other gases into the atmosphere. This is unarguable and is putting our children and grandchildren’s future at risk. We ignore this at THEIR peril.
Around the world governments are bringing in Emission Trading Schemes and surveys show that most businesses have no idea what that will involve – it is yet another demand.
Businesses owners are increasingly caught in a juggling act trying to balance work, home, higher costs and now pressure ro reduce their carbon footprint and in many cases even start carbon accounting.
BUT reports show consumers increasingly patronise businesses that show they consider the impact of their business on the environment. This is a growing market segment and that is important in tough economic times.
All around the world people want to help the environment. In Australia this is over 90 %, 53% in UK, 63% in the USA, 45% in China.
OK so it means we need to make some changes now but many of these will actually save money once we get our head around them and decide that these often minor changes are ok.
So many of the changes are surprisingly easy and painless!
Go for a walk around your business once or twice every day and turn off things that are not being used and make a list of other ways you can save energy and reduce waste.
At Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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USA introduce legislation for the regulation of GHG emissions
Efforts to strip the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the regulatory power to curb greenhouse gas emissions have been delayed until next year, after Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller conceded late last week that he would not be able to secure a Senate vote on proposals to block new EPA carbon rules for two years.
Rules requiring carbon-intensive power stations and industrial plants to obtain permits demonstrating that any new facilities or upgrades use only the most efficient technologies available will now come into effect in Jan 2011 as planned.
Senator Rockefeller, who represents the coal-rich state of West Virginia, had been pushing for a vote in the Senate that would delay the new rules by two years, arguing that their introduction would harm the economy and push up energy bills.
However, recently he issued a statement conceding that he had not secured the support required to trigger a vote.
“Republican proponents of my bill to suspend EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions have pulled their support for this year so that they can gain some political advantage trying to take over this issue in 2011,” he said.
The Republicans have signaled that they will move to strip the EPA of its power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions when they take control of the House of Representatives next month.
The EPA and the Obama administration maintain that using the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act represent the only route open to them after Congress consistently failed to pass energy and climate change legislation.
They also point to a series of independent reports that suggest the EPA’s new rules will have a minimal impact on the economy and energy bills while helping to deliver cuts in carbon emissions.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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Mandatory Emissions Reporting: A step closer following Defra report
Mandatory Emissions Reporting: A step nearer following Defra report
The case for government legislation to force businesses to report
emissions has been boosted by new research which found more than half of
companies voluntarily measuring carbon emissions claimed it led to a net
benefit for business.
Cost savings, improved green credentials and better relationships with
investors and customers were among the additional bonuses experienced by
companies that actively tried to reduce greenhouses gases.
Research carried out on behalf of the UK’s Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) found firms were using emission
measurements to set future targets for reduction and to influence wider
business plans.
The majority of companies, 53 per cent, admitted that regular emission
reports had been instrumental in triggering a change in behaviour within
their own organisation and raised interest in environmental matters to
boardroom level.
Businesses reported that being seen to be green by actively reporting
their own emissions and setting targets to reduce them had strengthened
their brand in the eye of investors and customers ,as well as creating
estimated energy savings ranging from £200,000 to £60 million over five
years.
“I am pleased to see that the many companies already voluntarily
involved in reporting GHG emissions are finding the process beneficial
to their business and investors. I am also delighted to see that the act
of reporting is encouraging attempts to reduce emissions,” said Lord
Henley, UK Environment Minister.
“The next steps for Government will be to consider the findings of the
report. We’ll be announcing a way forward in early 2011.”
The positive results from this latest research will help inform the
Government’s decision on whether to make GHG reporting mandatory and an
announcement is due to be made early next year. The Climate Change Act 2008
requires government to introduce legislation for mandatory reporting by 6 April
2012, or explain why this hasn’t happened.
“It is encouraging to find that many companies see GHG reporting as
beneficial to their business. The emission figures seem to act as a
catalyst for other changes within the company resulting in wide ranging
benefits for both the environment and the business,” said Bob Watson,
Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government.
“Tackling climate change is something we need to do together so it’s
great to see the positive contribution being made by many British
companies.”
However, before the government introduces mandatory emissions reporting
experts have called for a unified approach to how reporting is done.
“There are already a number of existing schemes, such as the EU
Emissions Trading Scheme, the Carbon Reduction Commitment and Climate
Change Agreements, which are used by firms to report their emissions and
plan for reductions,” said William Dick, Director of Be Seen Go Green
Environmental Consultants.
“There needs to be a simple and unified approach which will make life
easier for businesses and encourage more to measure their emissions and
make behavioural changes within organisations.
“When you consider that the cost of instigating a measurement procedure
is around £50,000 for most big companies and the average savings are a
minimum of £200,000 then it should be a fairly easy decision to make yet
many companies still need to be convinced to make the first move. This
research will help.”
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Carbon management, carbon reduction, Climate Change, CO2, CSR, Energy, Environmental accounting, Footprint, ghg emissions | Tags: Benefits, Business, Change, Climate, co2 reporting, Corporate, CRC, Efficiency, Emissions, emissions reporting, EMS, Enterprise, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, environmental management system, Footprint, Global, Green, Greenhouse, ISO14001, Management, Money, money saving, Power, Reduce, Reducing, Responsibility, ROI, Social | No Comments »
Ignorance is NO Excuse!
The amount of times I hear business owners say ” I didn’t know we needed to be” or ” I thought it only applied to large companies” is unbelievable. There really is no excuse for not knowing about what environmental legislation affects their business. The buck stops with them!
A recent case concerning Anderton Concrete Products Ltd highlights this ignorance, the following is directly from the EA:
Concrete company fails to comply with packaging regulations
Leicestershire concrete manufacturer ordered to pay over £50,000 fines and costs for failing to register and recycle packaging waste.
Anderton Concrete Products Ltd, pleaded guilty today (28 Jan 2011) at Coalville Magistrates’ Court to 18 offences under the Packaging Regulations, and asked for a further 12 to be taken into account.
The organisation was fined £36,000, ordered to pay £5,712.55 in costs, £8,408 in compensation, and a £15 victim surcharge.
The business, of Leicester Road, Ibstock, Leicestershire, should have been registered with the Environment Agency or a compliance scheme since the year 2000 and was obliged to recover and recycle packaging waste, as well as filing a certificate at the end of each year to confirm it had met these obligations.
However, the company did not register with a compliance scheme until 2010.
The court heard a routine check by the Environment Agency in January 2010 established that the company should have been registered in previous years.
The company’s explanation for failing to comply with the packaging waste regulations was that it was unaware that it was an obligated company under the regulations.
By failing to register, the company had avoided fees and other costs of £23,615.
Speaking after the case an Environment Officer said: “The packaging regulations are designed to reduce the amount of packaging used by businesses and increase the amount of packaging waste recycled. This case highlights the need for businesses to make sure they understand their responsibility.”
In mitigation, the court heard that the company had entered an early guilty plea, had cooperated fully with the investigation and were not aware that the company were obligated under the regulations. It was an oversight not a deliberate intention to evade the regulations. In addition, the company is now fully compliant.
The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997, 2005 and 2007 (as amended).
As you can see, being ignorant really is a costly business.
At Be seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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UK Must cut Emissions By 60%
The Committee on Climate Change has called on the UK to cut its emissions by 60% compared to 1990 levels over the next twenty years.
In its report ‘The Fourth Carbon Budget – Reducing emissions through the 2020s’ the committee puts the case for creating a new marker in the battle to cut emissions.
Currently most targets are aimed at cuts on 1990 emissions levels before 2050. But to drive the fight against climate change the committee suggests a plan as part of a carbon budget for 2023 to 2027 and a target for emissions reductions in 2030, which would be halfway between now and 2050.
The recommended target for 2030 is to cut emissions by 60% relative to 1990 levels, or 46% relative to current levels, which needs a 62% emissions reduction from 2030 to meet the 2050 target in Britain’s Climate Change Act.
The committee estimates the recommended target can be achieved at a cost of less than 1% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or as it states in the report ‘a fraction of one year’s growth’ over the next two decades.
It also backs that new carbon budgets should be legislated by summer 2011, as required under the Climate Change Act.
Committee on Climate Change chair said: “We are recommending a stretching but realistic fourth carbon budget and 2030 target, achievable at a cost of less than 1% of GDP. “Any less ambition would not be compatible with the 2050 target in the Climate Change Act. “We therefore urge the Government to legislate the budget we have recommended, and to develop the policies required to cut emissions over the next two decades. “The case for action on climate change is as strong as ever: climate science remains robust and suggests that there are very significant risks if we do not cut emissions. And countries acting now will gain economic benefits in an increasingly carbon constrained world.”
The CBI’s director of business environment, backed the new 2030 target. He said: “We support the UK’s existing climate change targets for 2020 and 2050 and businesses are already taking steps to measure and reduce their emissions. “The Committee’s proposal for an extra staging post at 2030 could provide additional clarity for investors, but the feasibility of the proposed target would need to be examined in detail. “Investors will only commit to low-carbon projects if they are confident about the policy framework in the long-term. “The Government’s forthcoming announcements on reform of the electricity market and work to simplify the Carbon Reduction Commitment will be crucial tests.”
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
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