Environmental policy deployment in an environmental management system context experiences from Swedish organizations

Abstract: The Environmental Policy Deployment (EPD) process is identified as the heart of an Environmental Management System. Since so little is known about EPD, the aims of this thesis is to characterise the EPD process and identify factors of importance, with focus on the processes of identification and assessment of environmental aspects, and deployment of environmental goals. This new knowledge constitutes the basis for development of new methods within EPD. The empirical base for this thesis is taken from 46 organizations from three counties in Sweden and from 14 business units within the integrated forest product company Stora Enso in Sweden. Six major areas where the process of identification and assessment of environmental can be improved are identified: the definition of environmental aspects, the procedures for update of aspects, the aggregation of aspects, the exclusion of business considerations in the assessment, employee and stakeholder participation and the competence levels of people involved in the process. In addition to these six problem areas, results from the study within Stora Enso also indicate great problems with subjectivity in the identification and assessment process. It is concluded that the subjectivity has negative effects on the stringency and transparency of the process. This thesis includes an approach for a new method based LCA methodology, with focus on the identification of aspects. The goal deployment process within EPD was also characterized. This process is strictly controlled by specifications in ISO 14001/EMAS. Many organizations find it hard to measure their environmental goals and to set long-term horizons for their goals. In addition, the organizations usually do not involve their employees in the process.