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Review on Environmental Auditing

Article · December 2012

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 ARTICLE WRITING

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING

SUBMITTED BY: S. M. TAFSIRUL ISLAM, S.M. ASGER ALI

29TH DECEMBER 2012

URBAN AND RURAL PLANNING DISCIPLINE, KHULNA UNIVERSITY

 Content desk
Page No.

Content Desk 1

1. An introduction to environmental auditing 2

2. Definitions 2

3. Types of environmental auditing 2

4. Objectives of environmental auditing 3

5. Scope of auditing 4

6. Environmental auditing and procedures 4

7. When is an environmental audit required? 5

8. Environmental auditing and environmental management systems (ems) 5

9. The benefits of auditing 5

10. Conclusion 6

References 6

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1. AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING
There is now a range of practices which come under the label of
environmental auditing. This Note is provided as an introduction to
an activity which is of increasing interest in the public and private
sector. The Environment Protection Act 1970 allows for
environmental audits of any segment of the environment and the
issuing of a certificate or statement of environmental audit for that
segment. This system is aimed at clearly identifying the
environmental quality of a segment, and any detriment to the
beneficial uses of that segment. An environmental audit of land is
designed to inform decisions by the planning authority, prospective
purchasers, financial institutions and others regarding the
environmental condition of a site and its suitability for use.
2. DEFINITIONS
The term 'environmental auditing' is broad. Many definitions cover
auditing in the private and public sector. It can be said as “A
systematic, documented, periodic and objective review by a
regulated entity of facility operations and practices related to
meeting environmental requirements (USEPA).”
Private sector environmental auditing has been variously defined as:
'a management tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic
and objective evaluation of the performance of the organization,
management system and processes designed to protect the
environment with the aim of: (1) facilitating management control of
practices which may have impact on the environment, and (2)
assessing compliance with company policies'. (CEC,1993). And, the
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systematic examination of the interaction between any business
operation and its surrounding. This includes all emissions to air,
land and water legal constraints; the effects on the neighboring
community, landscape and ecology; and the public's perception of
the operating company in the local area' (CBI, 1990).
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC, 1991) defines
environmental auditing as:
“...A management tool comprising a systematic, documented,
periodic and objective evaluation of how well environmental
organization, management and equipment are performing with the
aim of contributing to safeguarding the environment by:
* facilitating management control of environmental
practices; and
* assessing compliance with company policies, which would include
meeting regulatory requirements…”
3. TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING
Many types of audit have been carried out by companies (ERM,
1996, Thompson & Therivel, 1991)
 compliance audit - the most common type of audit
consisting of checks against environmental legislation and
company policy;
 issues audit - an evaluation of how a company's activities
relate to an environmental issue or (e.g. global pollution,
energy use) or an evaluation of a specific issue (e.g.
buildings, supplies);
  health and safety audit - an assessment of risks and
contingency planning (sometimes merged with
environmental auditing because of the interconnected
impacts of industrial processes and hazards);
 site audit - an audit of a particular site to examine actual or
potential environmental problems;
 corporate audit - an audit of the whole company and its
polices, structures, procedures and practices;
 due diligence audit - an assessment of potential
environmental and financial risks and liabilities carried out
before a company merger or site acquisition or divestiture
(e.g. contaminated land remediation costs);
 activity or operational audit - an assessment of activities
that may cross company departments or units (e.g. energy or
waste management) and
 product or life cycle audit - an analysis of environmental
impacts of a product throughout all stages of its design,
production, use and disposal, including its reuse and
recycling (cradle to grave).
The above have been described as partial environmental audits
(Welford and Gouldson, 1993) to distinguish them from the more
specific environmental audit and, in particular, the periodic audit
that forms a crucial step in environmental management systems
(EMS). In the public sector, local authorities have led the way in
environmental auditing.
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External audit - 'An assessment of the condition of the local
environment, usually resulting in a State of the Environment Report
(SoE or SOER)'
Internal audit - consisting of two areas:
 'Policy Impact Assessment - a review of the activities
(objectives, services, practices and policies) of the authority'
and
 'Management Audit - a review of the procedures and
structures by which environmental policies are managed by
the authority'.
4. OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING
The overall objective of environmental auditing is to help safeguard
the environment and minimize risks to human health. Clearly,
auditing alone will not achieve this goal (hence the use of the word
help); it is a management tool. The key objectives of an
environmental audit therefore are to:
· determine how well the environmental management systems and
equipment are performing
· verify compliance with the relevant national, local or other laws
and regulations
· minimize human exposure to risks from environmental, health and
safety problems.
5. SCOPE OF AUDITING  Measure performance against the requirements of an
As the prime objective of audits is to test the adequacy of existing environmental management system standard
management systems, they fulfill a fundamentally different role
from the monitoring of environmental performance. Audits can Environmental audits should be appropriate to the particular
address one topic, or a whole range of issues. The greater the scope circumstances. As environmental auditing draws upon various
of the audit, the greater will be the size of the audit team, the time methodologies, each organization will define its own system
spent onsite and the depth of investigation. Where international depending upon its size, its activities and its corporate culture. The
audits need to be carried out by a central team, there can be good scope and style of audits vary, but common stages and activities
reasons for covering more than one area while onsite to minimize include:
costs. Pre-audit stage
In addition, the scope of an audit can vary from simple compliance  full management commitment;
testing to a more rigorous examination, depending on the perceived  setting overall goals, objectives, scope and priorities;
needs of the management. The technique is applied to not only  selecting a team to ensure objectivity and professional
operational environmental, health and safety management, but competence;
increasingly also to product safety and product quality management, Audit stage
and to areas such as loss prevention. If the intention of auditing is to  on-site audit, well defined and systematic using protocols or
help ensure that these broad areas are managed properly, then all of checklists;
these individual topics must be reviewed  review of documents and records;
 review of policies;
6. ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING AND PROCEDURES  interviews;
The more specific type of environmental audit involves the  site inspection;
collection, collation, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of Post- audit stage
information that are used to:  evaluation of findings;
 Assess performance against a set of requirements or targets,  reporting with recommendations;
related to specific issues  preparation of an action plan; and
 Evaluate compliance with environmental legislation and  follow-up.
corporate policies; and

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7. WHEN IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT REQUIRED?
The system for auditing of land focuses on ensuring that sites
proposed for redevelopment for a sensitive use (for example, a
school) are suitable for that use. Minister’s Direction No. 1 requires
planning authorities, when considering a planning scheme
amendment that would have the effect of allowing potentially
contaminated land to be used for a sensitive use, to be satisfied that
the site is suitable for the use. The audit system is the mechanism by
which a planning authority must be satisfied. Similarly, where a
planning authority is issuing a planning permit that allows the use or
development of potentially contaminated land, it may require an
environmental audit. The system can also be used to confirm
whether a site is suitable for its existing use or to assess the
adequacy of works to clean up a polluted site. In some
circumstances, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) can
require an environmental audit of contaminated land. In some cases,
a person may choose to engage an auditor to undertake a statutory
environmental audit, even though the person is not required to do so
by a regulatory authority. For example, a person could use an
environmental audit to satisfy commercial due diligence
requirements.
8. ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING AND ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (EMS)
An EMS is a tool designed to enable organizations to target, achieve
and demonstrate continuous improvement in environmental
performance. It is one integrated management process with a
number of stages, which includes an environmental audit. There are
5|Page environmental auditing
a number of standards (e.g. the British Standard BS7750 (BS11992),
the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme for Industry
(CEC, 1993) and the DoE Eco-Management and Audit Scheme for
UK Local Authorities (DoE,1995)). These consist of most or all of
the following elements depending on the standard, to:
1. Adopt an environmental policy to confirm and promote
commitment to continual improvement in environmental
performance
2. Undertake an environmental review to identify significant
environmental issues and effects
3. Set up environmental programs of objectives, targets and
actions
4. Establish an environmental management system to ensure the
implementation of the necessary actions to achieve these objectives;
5. Undertake periodic environmental audits to assess the
performance of such components;
6. Prepare an environmental statement on environmental
performance; and
7. Obtain independent verification of the environmental statement.
9. THE BENEFITS OF AUDITING
While environmental audits are designed to identify environmental
problems, there may be widely differing reasons for undertaking
them: compliance with legislation, pressure from suppliers and
customers, requirements from insurers or for capital projects, or to
demonstrate environmental activities to the public. The benefits of
environmental auditing include:
  Ensuring compliance, not only with laws, regulations and
standards, but also with company policies and the
requirements of an Environmental Management System
(EMS) standard
 Enabling environmental problems and risks to be anticipated
and responses planned
 To demonstrate that an organization is aware of its impact
upon the environment through providing feedback
 Increased awareness amongst stakeholders; and
 More efficient resource use and financial savings
sophistication and detail, which can be tailored to the needs of the
client organization. The current focus on shifting business priorities
from just a financial profit bottom line to a broader “Triple Bottom
Line”. This means that organizations need to collect more data and
evaluate performance on a wider and more diverse basis. The
environmental audit assists in the process of testing performance in
the environmental arena and is fast becoming an indispensable aid to
business decision making.

10. CONCLUSION: REFERENCES

Environmental audits have traditionally dealt with the environmental
effects of industrial processes and, to a lesser extent, with resource Integrated Environmental Management Information Series,
consumption. Guided by the legislation and compliance procedures, Environmental Auditing, Department of Environmental Affairs and
the environment has usually been considered in terms of air land and Tourism Private Bag X447 Pretoria 0001 South Africa.
http://www.deat.gov.za
water. Considerable conservation benefits could be achieved by
broadening the focus of auditing to include natural heritage features http://www.wikipedia\environmental auditing.com
and objectives. This would include natural heritage legislation and
by the application of audit techniques to habitats and land use, such ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING OF CONTAMINATED LAND,
Publication 860.1, August 2007. www.epa.vic.gov.au
as farm units (Edwards et al.. 1992, LEAF, 1994), forest
management units, or sporting estates. Generic approaches could
contribute to the development of conservation management plans.

Environmental audits can “add value” to the management

approaches being taken by companies and organizations and is a
way of identifying, evaluating and managing environmental risks
(known and unknown). It can be undertaken at various levels of

6|Page environmental auditing

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