Federal Environment Minister Altmaier today opened the third German EMAS conference, which has adopted the motto "Doing sustainable, efficient and competitive business". Altmaier and Director-General of the EU Commission Karl Falkenberg presented the current joint study of the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency, which includes the results of a survey of all EMAS users in Germany.
EMAS stands for Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. Also hosting the event are the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), the German EMAS Advisory Board, and DAU, the German accreditation and licensing body for environmental verifiers, who also carry out EMAS functions within Germany.
The conference marks the 20th anniversary of the EU regulation on the eco-management and audit scheme EMAS. The aim of the conference is to come up with well-founded proposals from EMAS users for the mandatory review of the EU regulation, scheduled for January 2015 at the latest. The participants will be discussing, among other topics, how EMAS can further the ecological potential in companies. In addition, the interaction of environmental management systems and products, the position of the EMAS environmental verifier and the future contents of the European EMAS regulation will be discussed at the conference.
The survey of EMAS users carried out in Germany showed that EMAS is an established and voluntary instrument for environmental protection with an excellent reputation. The great majority of those asked considers EMAS to be a good system. Transparency, credibility and environmental performance are all quality characteristics that users attribute to EMAS. Once again it was shown that EMAS organisations, through conviction and the high standards they set themselves, have gone the extra mile for environmental protection as called for by EMAS. However, there is still a need to strengthen communication and better inform the public and consumers about EMAS.
In relation to the future regulation, survey participants would like to see an improvement in the recognition of EMAS in the form of fee reductions and tax relief. Furthermore, there is great interest in relief measures in the areas of reporting obligations, licensing procedures and measuring obligations.