Indicator 30: Uptake of environmental management systems by transport companies

Environmental management systems help companies to comply with current and probable future legislative requirements and improve environmental performance. Certification with an environmental management standard, such as the international ISO 14000, EMAS, and British Standard BS 7750, can increase a company’s share value. EMAS is the most stringent of the three standards. Box 7.2 shows the extent to which such systems are used by the aviation sector.

The Regulation on EMAS was adopted by the European Council in 1993. It establishes a voluntary scheme, based on harmonised principles throughout the EU, open to companies in the industrial sector. To participate in EMAS a company must adopt an environmental policy, review environmental performance at the site in question, develop an environmental management system and plan of action in light of the findings of the review, audit the system and publish a statement of performance of the site. A qualified third party checks the system and the statement to see if they meet EMAS requirements. If so, they are validated and the site can be registered. A registered site gets a statement of participation which the company can use to promote its participation in the scheme.

EMAS is currently formally restricted to industrial sites, but some Member States have applied EMAS principles to the transport sector. The new EMAS Regulation (expected to enter into force in early 2000) will expand the scope of the scheme to all economic activities with an impact on the environment, thus formally covering transport. One action point of the recent Communication on aviation and environment is to promote the upcoming revised EMAS in the air transport sector (CEC, 1999c).

There are 132 transport companies with EMAS certification in eight Member States (Table 7.5). Most are in Germany, reflecting the country’s key role in developing EMAS. Seven Member States have no companies with EMAS certification in this sector, but this may simply indicate a shortage of companies of the right size and nature to adopt EMAS (the system is more likely to be adopted by larger companies), rather than a lack of interest in integration.

Dublin airport was the first ISO-certified airport in Europe (October 1996), followed by Amsterdam (April 1998) and Hamburg (June 1998). Ireland (Aer Rianta) is also pioneering in the field of national governmental airport organisations; its example is being followed by airport authorities in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. At present, only four Asiatic airlines are ISO-certified (KLM and SAS-Norway are currently at the implementation stage). The higher international marketing potential of ISO compared with EMAS is particularly evident in the aviation sector.

Table 7.6: Environmental standard certification in the aviation sector, Sept. 1999

• Additional data is needed on size and activities of certified companies.
• The indicator will be redefined as ‘percentage of transport companies of certain sizes that implement EMAS’.