Moving Beyond Environmental Compliance

Since the U.S. Department of Energy (as well as other Federal and International agencies) will stop granting contracts to companies that fail to comply with 14000 standards, the search is on for any book that will make 14000 compliance easier. Tom Welch, with more than 20 years experience in environmental engineering and project management, provides such a book! Moving Beyond Environmental Compliance: A Handbook for Integrating Pollution Prevention with ISO 14000 is the first text to combine the best aspects of Pollution Prevention (P2), Total Quality Management (TQM), and ISO 14000, into a comprehensive "how-to" guidebook for achieving environmental compliance. The ever-increasing cost of environmental compliance as it is passed onto consumers, cuts into the profit margin and reduces an organization's competitive edge. At the very least, compliance cuts into operating budgets, and directs attention away from the primary business of an organization. This handbook demystifies the implementation of effective environmental management systems as described in the ISO 14000, and clarifies the application of effective pollution prevention methodologies that can drastically reduce this compliance burden.

Since the U.S. Department of Energy (as well as other Federal and International agencies) will stop granting contracts to companies that fail to comply with 14000 standards, the search is on for any book that will make 14000 compliance easier. Tom Welch, with more than 20 years experience in environmental engineering and project management, provides such a book! Moving Beyond Environmental Compliance: A Handbook for Integrating Pollution Prevention with ISO 14000 is the first text to combine the best aspects of Pollution Prevention (P2), Total Quality Management (TQM), and ISO 14000, into a comprehensive "how-to" guidebook for achieving environmental compliance. The ever-increasing cost of environmental compliance as it is passed onto consumers, cuts into the profit margin and reduces an organization's competitive edge. At the very least, compliance cuts into operating budgets, and directs attention away from the primary business of an organization. This handbook demystifies the implementation of effective environmental management systems as described in the ISO 14000, and clarifies the application of effective pollution prevention methodologies that can drastically reduce this compliance burden.

"Beyond Compliance' traces the recent experiences of a selection of companies that have publicly stated a determination to move toward environmental excellence. It shows how new products, processes, and programs - in the front office, the plant, and the community at large - grew out of a combination of community, government, stockholder, employee, and market forces. It reviews how companies set environmental goals, how they allocate responsibility for meeting them, and how they measure their success. Contributors share stories of how they took their message to the public, which carrots and sticks worked and which didn't, and how they are building on both successes and failures to plan for the future. A few also tell of efforts at industry-wide reform.

This book offers refineries a practical guide for implementing environmental management systems (EMS).The author, who has implemented hundreds of successful EMS programs throughout North America, Europe, Russia and the Middle East, provides a detailed explanation of what an EMS is and how it can benefit refinery operations in complying with environmental laws and improving the overall efficiency of their operations. The author’s approach has been internationally recognized as an integrated model that captures improved compliance and financial savings by reducing operating costs through dedicated pollution prevention programs.

In the context of the worldwide concern with the sustainability of current forms of development, business managers are being required to engage with environmental policy more creatively than in the past. At the broadest level, business managers are being advised to embrace regulation as a source of competitive advantage rather than viewing it simply as a compliance cost and administrative burden. Irrespective of whether managers accept that “going beyond compliance” is a stimulus for innovation, business managers frequently face a policy environment in which choices need to be made over how policy agendas should be responded to. Contemporary policy approaches may mandate demonstration of best practice, without de ning what constitutes best practice or use policy approaches that give the option of “paying for pollution” or investing in clean technology. Frequently, the argument is made that there are reputational gains to being a first mover and putting the organization ahead of regulation, but the implication can be considerable upfront investment for uncertain returns. Against this context, this book provides a guide to the new world of environmental regulation for managers within business and students with a particular interest in understanding how environmental regulation works.

Publisher description

In the context of the worldwide concern with the sustainability of current forms of development, business managers are being required to engage with environmental policy more creatively than in the past. At the broadest level, business managers are being advised to embrace regulation as a source of competitive advantage rather than viewing it simply as a compliance cost and administrative burden. Irrespective of whether managers accept that "going beyond compliance" is a stimulus for innovation, business managers frequently face a policy environment in which choices need to be made over how policy agendas should be responded to. Contemporary policy approaches may mandate demonstration of best practice, without de ning what constitutes best practice or use policy approaches that give the option of "paying for pollution" or investing in clean technology. Frequently, the argument is made that there are reputational gains to being a first mover and putting the organization ahead of regulation, but the implication can be considerable upfront investment for uncertain returns. Against this context, this book provides a guide to the new world of environmental regulation for managers within business and students with a particular interest in understanding how environmental regulation works.