Sara Emilsson (Gustafsson)

Implementation of standardised environmental management systems in Swedish local authorities: reasons, expectations and some outcomes

Environmental issues have become increasingly important in Swedish local authorities during the last decade. This has been shown as almost half of the local authorities are implementing environment ...

Towards sustainability management systems in three Swedish local authorities

This paper explores the development towards sustainability management systems (SMSs) in three Swedish local authorities. Many local authorities have extensive experience in using standardised Environmental Management Systems (EMSs). Recently EMSs have extended their reach by widening the scope of the systems including other dimensions of sustainable development. Case studies have been performed in three of the most EMS-experienced local authorities in Sweden. These authorities have extended their EMSs into a sustainability management approach in different ways. This paper discusses the development, possible contributions, and constraints with this development. Expanding EMSs into SMSs can be seen as a learning process in which a larger systems perspective leads to increased awareness that the management system becomes limited by only managing environmental issues. Expanding the EMSs into SMSs may lead to a more complete view of the organisations total impact on nature and society, and issues that need to be managed.

Managing Indirect Environmental Impact within Local Authorities' Standardized Environmental Management Systems

Abstract Many local authorities use standardized environmental management systems (EMSs) to improve their environmental management. These authorities often find it difficult to manage environmental impact caused by their exercise of authority i.e. indirect environmental impact (IEI) within their EMSs. Since this is connected to their core activities, it is important to understand how IEI could be more efficiently managed with respect to EMS work. The purpose for this paper is to study if and how IEI could be managed within the framework of EMS. In this study we have identified two different approaches to managing IEI. Because managing IEI is complex, it is often ignored when initiating EMSs or managed by explicitly avoid mentioning the concept. Managing IEI is seen as a matter of maturity within the organization. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding a developed definition of IEI and how management of IEI could be facilitated.

Potential benefits of combining environmental management tools in a local authority context

Today, there are many environmental management tools available to support integration of environmental perspectives in decision-making processes. However, a single tool is seldom the answer to all queries. This paper shows potential benefits of using a combination of different environmental management tools in a local authority context. Three environmental management tools used in Swedish local authorities are examined — Substance Flow Analyses (SFA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), and Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) — from mainly a theoretical point-of-view. The tools are positioned according to their key characteristics, and their individual contribution to environmental management in local authorities is explored. For the local authorities, a combination of tools allows decision-makers to integrate experience from individual projects to overall environmental management, which helps decision-makers to deal with some of the challenges that different environmental management situations require.