Environmental Management System (EMS)

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is, very simply, the practice of managing a business' environmental impact. While the ISO, for example, have certain standards that stipulate the quality of a management system, there are no real criteria for what it must entail. However, commonly an EMS involves the identification of environmental impacts and responsibilities, the setting of targets and also the monitoring against those targets (i.e. GHG emissions or waste quantities). ISO14001 is the most widely recognised standard for EMSs.