Strategy #4 - Implement and EMS for Continuous Improvement
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a systematic framework for integrating environmental management into an organization's activities, products, and services. A critical step in any organization's adoption of an EMS is the identifying those aspects of operations (e.g., use of chemicals in landscaping) and introducing changes in facilities and practices that minimize the impact of the organization on the natural and social environment. The voluntary EMS standards, e.g., Green Globe and ISO 14001, distinguish themselves from environmental performance standards in that they focus on the organizational aspects and the process for determining appropriate levels of environmental performance, rather than prescribing specific technology criteria.
EMS adopts the concept of continuous improvement whereby the organization can begin at any level of environmental performance. Through an iterative cycle of setting policies, planning environmental objectives and targets, implementing specific actions, measuring the results, and reviewing the overall effectiveness of the program, the organization will optimize its environmental performance over time (see Exhibit 2).
Environmental Management System
The EMS essentially shifts the responsibility of improving environmental performance from the engineering department to the entire organization. It empowers staff at all levels to both comply with best practices, but also identify further improvements based on their detailed knowledge of the hotel's operations.
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Typically, the hotel organizes itself around a Green Team or Environment Committee with supervisor level representatives from all the relevant departments. One individual is charged with the role as Green Team leader or Environmental Officer responsible for organizing internal meetings, bringing in external resources as needed, reviewing the changes in training programs, best practice adoption, and new SOPs, preparing monthly EMS reports to senior management and owners, and documenting the EMS particularly if the hotel is seeking to have its EMS certified under Green Globe International3 or ISO 14001.