Environmental Auditing: One Key Feature of an Environmental Management System, 1999 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Steven P. Rowe

Holnam Inc.

Michael K. Bacon

RMT, Inc.

How does a company effectively integrate appropriate environmental conduct into its overall business strategy? Environmental management systems can be utilized to enhance the economic productivity of an organization. Environmental auditing and other methods of measuring environmental conduct are helpful, but alone will never overcome the perceived conflict between environmental protection and economic growth. Environmental management systems, such as auditing can only be truly effective when coupled with the application of traditional business management tools. These tools include creation and articulation of a combined environmental and business vision, development of a mission that describes a path for achieving that vision and implementation of an environmental management system that allows for the measurement of the organization’s movement along that path.

The traditional definition of an environmental management system tends to focus merely upon the environmental impact of an organization and ignores the relationship between the company’s environmental conduct and its business goals. Accordingly, a truly effective environmental management system is one that systematically integrates the environmental vision and objectives of an organization into the procedures and tasks already being conducted by the organization for the purpose of achieving its business vision and objectives.

Holnam Inc., North America’s largest manufacturer of cement, through the use of an in-house environmental team and key outside consultants, including RMT, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has developed an environmental business strategy. This strategy utilizes the results of its traditional environmental measurement techniques to bolster its economically driven business goals. Holnam’s environmental audit program is one key feature of its environmental business strategy.