The overall goal of improving environmental performance suggests that a continuous
improvement framework for environmental control would be the most appropriate.
In fact, an environmental perspective is a possible fifth perspective for the
Balanced Scorecard framework that we discussed in Chapter. The creators of the
Balanced Scorecard mention a specific instance in which company added an environmental
perspective to their balanced scorecard.If one accepts the ecoefficiency
paradigm, then an environmental perspective is legitimate because improving environmental
performance can be the source of a competitive advantage (the criterion
for a perspective to be included). A strategic-based environmental management system
provides an operational framework for improving environmental performance.
For example, linking the environmental perspective to the process perspective is critical
for improving environmental performance. Knowledge of root causes for environmental
activities is fundamental to any process design changes needed to improve
environmental performance. Thus, the Balanced Scorecard framework supplies objectives
and measures that are integrated to achieve the overall goal of improving environmental
performance.