Page Updated: 17-Oct-2006
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Environmental Management Systems

About... Environmental Management Systems

…the part of an organisation's overall management system that includes organisational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining the environmental policy and enables an organisation to continuously improve its environmental performance….(ISO 14001 definition of EMS)

The principles guiding Environmental Management Systems are that NATO/EAPC countries working together can help guide and improve environmental practices to foster sustainability, thereby promoting broader peace and security objectives. Ministries of Defence would thus be seen to be supporting national interests by encouraging environmental stewardship. Furthermore, while fulfilling their military mission, NATO Forces should be committed to taking all reasonably achievable measures to protect the environment. To achieve this, commanders must know how their activities affect and are affected by the environment. Environmental planning is an essential process for ensuring appropriate environmental protection (based on STANAG 7141).

By integrating environmental issues in day-to-day operations practices, the environment will come to be considered as a factor in planning that is as important as other factors such as terrain, personnel, materiel and finance. The Environmental Management System is an important management tool for achieving that integration.

Defence organisations use a wide variety of materials (planes, ships, armoured and other vehicles) and real estate, and often they own and use land. All these assets are necessary for preparing to carry out the tasks of the Defence organisation that are usually laid down in a country’s constitution: protecting the interests of a country or state and promoting the international rule of law.

As with every large organisation, the operating processes of a Defence organisation have adverse effects on the environment. Raw materials are used, exhaust fumes are expelled, noise is caused, etc. To manage these effects on the environment, environmental management systems are used.

The internationally recognised ISO 14001 standard has been developed to help organisations build a tool called an Environmental Management System (EMS) for managing the impact of their activities on the environment. An Environmental Management System can be divided into the four elements of the Deming Cycle - Plan, Do, Check and Act.

Within NATO, it has been recognised that an Environmental Management System (EMS) is a useful tool to manage the impact on the environment, not only for protecting the environment today but also for cleaning up military "mess" from the past and for creating an environmentally sound future.

Three NATO/CCMS workshops have been organised: to create a model for the development of national environmental programmes in the military sector (1998), to discuss the use of these models (2001) and to exchange views on implementing an EMS in the Military Sector (2002).

On this site, you will find more information on the elements of an EMS, as well as national documents and tools to implement, maintain, evaluate and improve your EMS.

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