Environmental news

Environmental auditing looks at each area of activity in a company and assesses to what extent the company is fulfilling best environmental practice. Just like financial accounting, it involves measuring various inputs and outputs and assessing work practices in relation to these. A company’s environmental audit will assess things such as energy, water, transport, waste production and treatment of raw materials.And just like a professional financial auditor’s report, it will list the areas where problems exist and make a series of recommendations for improvement. Ideally, the environmental auditors will speak to both management and staff and the final report should be pre-submitted to the company’s board and then published annually along with the company’s annual report and accounts. The nice thing about environmental auditing is that it is a gentle process. Done properly, it assesses the current situation and makes recommendations for gradual improvement within the management, human resources and financial capacity of the company. It should outline short-term, low-cost recommendations such as introducing recycling, and longer-term, capital-intensive proposals such as water recycling or improved insulation. The list of major companies that now produce annual reports on their environmental performance includes Nike, CocaCola, BT, Guinness, Black & Decker, American Airlines,The Body Shop, BP and Ford.While some may dismiss these as ‘greenwash’, the fact that they are even considering the subject at all is progress.