Environmental areas tracking and economic impact

Some years ago, I wrote about the "Tuning environment and strategy for the business". The idea was based on the fact that organizations want economic results and that is why they develop business strategies. Environmentally conscious organizations should try to obtain business results while complying with environmental legislation and improving its relationship with the environment.

Simplifying reality, an organization can compete based on:

• The lowest cost;
• The best service;
• The most innovative product/service.

While developing an environmental management system an organization must determine its aspects and impacts. To evaluate aspects and impacts significance an organization must develop some criteria to give a classification based, for example, on frequency, severity for the environment, and importance for the business.
If competition is based on the lowest cost your organization can consider as important those aspects that can increase costs. For example, hazardous waste disposal.

If competition is based on service, your organization can consider ways of improving relationships with the environment jointly with the customers. For example, once I worked with a company that worked together with a customer to start using reusable packaging for its supplies instead of single-use only.
If competition is based on innovative products/services, your organization can consider developing new products/services that reduce the environmental footprint of products and services throughout the life cycle as important. Allowing your organization’s brand to have a connotation of environmentally friendly.

Please check this information below with more detailed answers:

• 4 steps in identification and evaluation of environmental aspects - https://advisera.com/14001academy/knowledgebase/4-steps-in-identification-and-evaluation-of-environmental-aspects/
• What makes an environmental aspect significant in ISO 14001? - https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2015/03/09/what-makes-environmental-aspect-significant-in-iso-14001/
• Enroll for free in this course – ISO 14001:2015 Foundations Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course/
• Book – The ISO 14001:2015 Companion - https://advisera.com/books/the-iso-14001-2015-companion/