２．６．２００５
UNECE Working Group
on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Japanese Environmental policy
and tools for the monitoring,
reporting and SMEs’ EMS
Toshihiko Goto
Chair, Environmental Auditing and
Research Group
1
Diagram of Policy Approaches Used in Policy Mixes
Characteristics of environmental problems
Causes are limited, and measures
urgently taken to maintain
national minimum
Low
Relationship of causes and effect are
complex, or causes cannot be limited,
so preventive measures must be taken
Various parties are causing the problem,
so it is necessary to reform the behavior of
multiple parties to solve the problem.
Expected effects
Direct regulatory methods
Prohibition of obligation
of specific actions
PRTR Law
Emission trading
Environmental
taxes
Manifest system
Tax
concessions
Emission methods
Chemical substance
control based on Air
Pollution Control Law
Total pollutant
load control
Change in social system
Framework control methods
Technical
development and
environmental
investment
Voluntary agreements
Subsidies
Green
purchasing
Voluntary action plans
Change in values
and behavior
Voluntary action plans
High
Procedural methods
Static environmental assessment
Environmental labeling
Environmental impact assessment system
Environmental management system
Presentation: Ministry of the Environment
Information methods
Environmental
design
LCA
Environmental performance assessment
Environmental reports
Environmental accounting
Note:The items in this figure are
loosely classified for the purpose of
Illustrating the concept of policy
mixes.The decision–making
freedom varies according to the
specific details of each system,
so the positions of methods in
the figure do not accurately
represent the degree of freedom.
Presentation:Ministry of the
Environment
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2
Company Activities and Environmental Communication
Governments
Stakeholders,
Investors,financial
Institutions,etc
・control
・Green investment,
Green financing
・Green purchasing
・Environmental reports
Consumers
Companies
Environmental Management System
NGOs,researchers,
Mass, media,etc
・Rating and awards
・Investigations and analysis,
Opinions and proposals
Client companies
subsidiaries
・Green procurement
・Transportation
・Green purchasing
・Questionnaires and
opinion surveys
・Seminars
・information
disclosure
・Explanatory meeting for
local communities
Local
residents
Disclosure of environmental information
○ Environmental advertisements
(TV,newspapers,magazine,etc)
○Environmental reports
・Environmental accounting
・Environmental performance assessments,etc
○ Web sites
・Factory inspections,
site reports
Waste after end of product
life
＜Company activities such as supplying products and services＞
(raw material procurement ,manufacturing,transport,sales,product,collection,etc)
Waste
generation
○Environmental labeling
＜Environmental actions in companies＞
・Policy formulation
Providing environmental education to employees,cultivating
Their environmental awareness and evaluating the environmental
performance of work
Reduce and
energy utilization
Politics
Divisions
Employees
Ministry of the Environment
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Evaluation of Environmental Management
and Environmental Communication
Improvement in quality of environmental management
3
Environmental
competition
Green purchasing
Green investment
Disclosure of
Environmental
information
etc.
Reaction of financial markets
・Pursuit of environmental
efficiency
Use of economic methods
In environmental policies
Introduction
of EMS
Acquisition of
ISO4001
Certification
Recognition of environmental problems
・Introduction of
environmental accounting
・Environmental reporting
Environmental strategies
Time
1990s
Ministry of the Environment
2000
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4
Transition of ISO14001 certified companies ratio
Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment
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5
Types of Recognized Environmental Loads
(multiple answers allowed)
Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment
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6
Information disclosed (multiple answers allowed)
Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment
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Social and Economic Aspects Mentioned on the Reports
Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment
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Transition of the number of
environmental report creation companies
Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment
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Distribution of Environmental reports
Results from the Green Corporate Activity Survey 2003 / Ministry of the Environment
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Trends of reporting in Japan
■Japan has produced a large number of high quality environmental reports,
and is beginning to broaden full sustainability aspects.Japan has the largest
number of companies are notable in that most of their reports conform to
published guidelines-whether government or GRI- enabling effective
comparison.
■The Japanese Ministry of Environment plans to establish a third party
review scheme for environmental reports on a voluntary participation basis. It
is estimated that the number of environmental reports published for domestic
corporations larger than SMEs will increase within a few years. Japan is now
planning to establish a simplified certification of public environmental reports.
Towards transparency: progress on global sustainability reporting 2004 / ACCA
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KPMG International Survey of Corporate Sustainability
Reporting 2002
The KPMG International Survey of Corporate Sustainability
Reporting 2002 covers environmental, social and sustainability
reports from a total of almost 2000 companies, including the top 250
companies of the Global Fortune 500 companies (GFT250) and the
Top 100 companies in 19 countries (Top100).
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Number of GFT250 companies with a corporate report
by country (1999, 2002)
KPMG International Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting 2002
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Corporate reporting by country, Top 100 in 19 countries
(1996, 1999, 2002)
KPMG International Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting 2002
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Principle Functions of Environmental Reporting
Environmental reporting has two fundamental functions: external (or social) function and internal function,
which promotes environmental activities in business activities. It plays very important role in strengthening
environmental activities in voluntary business activities.
The following three are external functions, which can be considered as a tool as environmental communication between
the business organization and the public.
(1) Function to disclose information to fulfill the responsibility of social accountability of businesses
(2) Function to provide information that is useful for decision making of interested parties.
(3) Function to promote environmental activities as a pledge and review between business organizations and the
public.
The following two are internal functions.
(4) Function to establish or revise environmental policies, objectives and programs of business organizations.
(5) Function to motivate the management and employees and to encourage environmental activities of them.
When writing and publishing environmental reporting, it is important to design the environmental reporting properly
work as these functions.
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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General Reporting Principles of Environmental Reporting
Environmental reporting is published as a tool for environmental communication from the perspective of
social accountability. The following five principles are essential in order to make environmental reporting
an effective tool for environmental communication and discharging social accountability. Environmental
reporting which does not meet with these principles is more as an environmental pamphlet.
1.Relevance
Environmental reporting needs to provide information which is useful for interested parties’
decision making by reporting the state of environmental burden caused by business activities and
environmental programs that mitigate the burden and it needs to be issued in proper timing.
2.Reliability
Environmental reporting needs to state reliable information.
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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General Reporting Principles of Environmental Reporting
(2)
3.Clarity
Environmental reporting needs to provide necessary information with clear and easily understood expressions
to avoid misunderstandings among interested parties.
4.Comparability
Information included in environmental reporting needs to be comparable between different reporting periods
of the business organization. Even among different business organizations, information that enables certain
comparison should be provided.
5.Verifiability
Information written in environmental reporting needs to be accompanied by the basis and foundation of the
statement and it should be verifiable with objective standpoint.
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Reporting
There are “Necessary Components of Environmental Reporting”. These are components,
essential for making environmental reporting a tool for environmental communication that
provide useful information to interest parties’ decision making, and for discharging social
accountability. All these components are included in the most current environmental reporting.
The necessary components and information for environmental reporting are:
1. Basic Headings,
2. Summary of Policy, Targets, and Achievements of Environmental Conservation,
3. State of Environmental Management,
4. State of Activities for Reduction of Environmental Burden, and
5. State of Performance of Businesses in Social Aspects.
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Reporting (2)
1.Basic Headings
This includes CEO’s statement (including summary and pledge), the foundation of reporting, and a summary
of the nature of the business, this contains fundamental components to ensure the reporting functions as a
communication tool between the business and the society, and provides useful information to interest parties’
decision making. It is also necessary that CEO’s statement includes not only a greeting, but also a summary of
environmental activities of the business organization and pledge of the commitments to society.
The necessary components are the following three headings.
(1) CEO’s statement (including summary and pledge)
(2) Foundation of reporting
(Reporting organization, time period, fields, division in charge of publication, and contacts)
(3) Summary of the nature of the business
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Reporting (3)
2.Summary of Policies, Targets, and Achievements in Environmental Conservation
This component is concerning with policies, targets, plans, achievements and material balance of business activities
with regard to business’ environmental conservation activities, and this part describes the state of environmental
burden and the outlines of environmental activities of the business. It is appropriate for targets, plans, and
achievements, including state of environmental burden, to be summarized in a table.
The necessary components are the following four headings.
(4) Environmental policies regarding environmental conservation
(5) Summary of objectives, plans of environmental activities and achievements in environmental conservation
(6) Material balance of the business activity
(7) Summary of environmental accounting information
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Reporting (4)
3.State of Environmental Management
This is a section in which the state of the entire environmental management is described. Each of the state of
the environmental management system, the state of supply chain management for environmental conservation, the
state of research and development of environmental, the state of the disclosure of environmental information and
environmental communication, the state of compliance with environmental regulations, and the state of social
contribution should be described independently.
The necessary components are the following six headings.
(8) State of environmental management system
(9) State of supply chain management for environmental conservation.
(10) State of research and development of technologies for environmental conservation and environmentconscious products/services
(11) State of the disclosure of environmental information and environmental communication
(12) State of compliance with environmental regulations
(13) State of social contribution related to environment
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Reporting (5)
4)State of Activities for Reduction of Environmental Burden
The current state and achievements of environmental performance of the business organization to reduce
environmental burden with yearly changes should be stated in accordance with the nine core indicators
described in the “Environmental Performance Indicators for Businesses” .
Measures which reduces environmental burden in the upstream and the downstream of the business, such as
green procurement and the reduction of environmental burden by producing or selling products that cause less
environmental burden throughout their life-cycle should be mentioned in this section.
This section would be the biggest in the volume of information in environmental report.
The necessary components are the following eleven headings.
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
(24)
Total amount of energy input and measures to reduce it
Total amount of material input and measures to reduce it
Amount of water input and measures to reduce it
Amount of greenhouse gasses emission and measures to reduce it
Amount of chemical substances emission and transportation and measures to reduce it
Total amount of products or sales
Total amount of waste generation and final disposal and measures to reduce it
Total amount of water disposal and measures to reduce it
State of environmental burden caused by transportation and measures to reduce it
State of green procurement and measures to promote it
State of products and services that contribute to reduction of environmental burden.
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Reporting (6)
5)State of Performance of Businesses in Social Aspects
In recent years, the scope of environmental reporting has been widened, and information on social
aspects in activities of business organizations have become to be a part of sustainability reporting or
social and environmental (CSR) reporting, as it is already mentioned. Reporting of social aspects is,
however, still in a stage of development. These guidelines, therefore, describe representative
information discussed in sustainability reporting guidelines published in Japan, show information that
is required to disclose by laws and regulations, and summarize information that will be important in
future.
(25) State of Performance in Social Aspects
Environmental Reporting Guidelines / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Relation Between Business Activities
and Circulation of Materials
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Relation with Environmental Performance Indicators
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Relations Between Business Activity and Core Indicators
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators
Operational Indicators
Core Indicators
Input
Output
Sub Indicators
Indicators That Qualitatively Supplement the Core Indicators
Environmentally important indicators which may not be
applicable to all business organizations
- Indicators that would be important for establishing
sustainable development
Environmental Management Indicators (Sub-Indicators)
Sub-Indicator
Management Related Indicators
Sub-Indicator
Management Indicators
Indicators that Measure Efficiency with Combination With
Operation Indicators
Indicators that Are Related to Management Indicators
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators (2)
Operational Indicators
Core
Indicators
Sub
Indicators
Input
①Total Energy Input
②Total Amount of Material Input
③Water Resource Input
Output
④Amounts of Greenhouse Gases Emissions
⑤Amounts of Emission and Transportation of Chemical Substances
⑥Total Amount of Production or Sales
⑦Total Amount of Waste Generation
⑧Total Amount of Final Disposal of Waste
⑨Total Amount of Water Disposal
Indicators That
Qualitatively
Supplement the
Core Indicators
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
●
Breakdown of Energy Input
Kinds of Resources, State of the Resources at the time of input
Breakdown of Water Resources
Emissions of Six Substances Under the Kyoto Protocol
Amounts of Releases and Transportation of Substances Under PRTR
Amounts of Other Substances Under Regulations
Amounts of Products or Services that Are Measured in Unit Other than Weight
Amount of Production or Sales of Products that Contribute to Reduction of
Environmental Burden
Amount of Production or Sales of Products with Environmental Labeling
Amount of the Use of Containers and Wrappers
Methods of Waste Disposal
Kinds of Waste Generated
Kinds of Water Area Where Waste Water Are Discharged
Quality of Water
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators (3)
Sub Indicators
Environmentally important indicators
which may not be applicable to all
business organizations
- Indicators that would be important for
establishing sustainable development
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
●
Repeated Use of Water within the Business Organization
Emission of Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide
Concentration in Emissions that are under Regulation
Noise, Vibration, Odor
Nitrogen, Phosphorus
Concentration in Emissions that are under Regulation
Repeated Use of Materials within the Business
Organization
Recycled Materials within the Business
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Structure of Environmental Performance Indicators (4)
Environmental Management Indicators (Sub-Indicators)
Sub-Indicator
l
l
l
l
l
l
Environmental Management System
Technology for Environmental Protection, Research and Development for
Designing for the Environment of Products and Services
Environmental Accounting
Environmental Communication and Partnership
Obedience of Environmental Law and Regulations
Occupational Safety and Health
Social Contribution concerning the environment
Management Related Indicators
Sub-Indicator
Management Indicators
Indicators that Measure Efficiency with
Combination With Operation Indicators
Amount of Sales
Amount of production
Area of Floor
Number of Employees,
Etc.
Indicators that Are Related to Management
Indicators
Indicators that Measure Ecoefficiency
Integrated Indicators of
Environmental Burden
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Core Indicators
(Quantitative
Information)
Sub-Indicators
(Qualitative
Information)
Relation Between the Core Indicators and The Sub-Indicators
from the Viewpoint of Material Balance
①Amount of Total
Energy Input (joule)
②Total Amount of Material Input (ton)
③Amount of Water
Resources Input (m3)
Breakdown of energy input
-Purchased electricity
-Fossil fuel
-New fnergy
-Other
Example of Indicator Kinds of resources
-Metals / Plastics / Rubber, etc
State of materials at the input
-Parts, Semi-products, products, merchandise / Raw materials /
Supplemental materials / Containers and packaging
Other Indicators
-Recyclable Resources / Exhaustible natural resources / Renewable
natural resources / Chemical substances / Green purchasing
Breakdown of water resources
-City water
-Industrial water
-Ground water
-Sea water, river water
-Rain water
Input
BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
Output
Core
Indicators
(Quantitative
Information)
Su-Indicators
(Qualitative
Information)
④ Greenhouse
gasses emission
(ton-CO2)
⑤Amounts of
Emission and
Transportation of
Chemical Substances
(ton)
⑥Total Amount of Production or
Sales (ton)
⑦ Amount of Wastes, etc
Generated (ton)
⑧ Amount of Final Disposal of
Waste (ton)
⑨Total Amount of
Water Disposal
Emissions of Six
Substances
Under Kyoto
Protocol-CO2,
CH4, N2O, HFC,
PFC, SF6
Breakdown of
emitting
activities
Amounts of releases
and transportation of
substances under
PRTR
Amount of production or sales
measured in unit other than
weight.
Amount of production of sales of
products which contribute to
reduction of environmental
burden.
Amount of production of sales of
products with environmental
labels
Amount of containers and
packaging used
Methods of disposal of wastes,
etc.
-Reuse / Recycle / Thermal
recovery / Simple incineration /
Final disposal / Others
Kinds of wastes, etc
Valuable materials
General waste
Industrial
waste
of
which
Specially controlled industrial
waste
Disposing
water
areas
-Public
water
areas
-Sewer
Water quality
-BOD, COD
Environmental Performance Indicators Guideline for Businesses / Ministry of the Environment (Government of Japan)
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Components of the Eco-Action 21, EMS for SMEs
1.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Burden
2.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Measures
3.Environmental Management System Guidelines
4.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Burden
1.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Burden
This guide provides a simple tool to measure environmental burdens generated by each organization. It
is necessary to know what kind of and how much environmental burdens each organization produces in
order to establish an environmental system and to operate it in proper manner.
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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Components of the EcoAction 21 (2)
2.Guide to Self-Checking of Environmental Measures
This is a checklist that helps the determination of aspects that the organizations are expected to perform
environmental activities. This checklist enables the participating organizations to evaluate the achievement of
each environmental program and to determine how the program can be improved.
3.Environmental Management System Guidelines
The EcoAction 21 provides a set of environmental management system guidelines that is easier for SMCs to implement.
These guidelines are based on ISO14001 standards set by the International Organizations for Standardization and are
intended to promote environmental activities of SMCs and to make them more efficient and effective. When an
organization plans an environmental management system, it should start with the outcomes of these checklists described
in ① and ②.
4.Environmental Activity Report Guidelines
These guidelines describe environmental activity reports, which SMCs should compose and publish. Composing
and publishing an environmental activity report is a first step of environmental communication.
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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Procedure of the Eco-Action 21
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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Worksheet for choosing environmental aspects that are needed
to be included in environmental management system
Aspect
Environmental burden check
Environmental measure check
❑Total Energy Input
❑Amount of Electricity purchased, amount of fossil fuel
consumption, amount of new energy, etc.
❑Reducing energy usage
②Consumption of raw material,
parts and packaging
❑Total input of material
❑Input of recycled material, Input of natural resources, etc.
❑Reducing material usage
❑Green procurement
③Water consumption
❑ Total amount of water input
❑City water, industrial water, ground water, etc.
❑Reducing water usage, efficient
use of water
④Consumption of fossil fuel, etc.
❑Amount of greenhouse gases emissions
❑Carbon dioxide, methane, etc.
❑Reducing carbon dioxide
emissions
⑤Use and release of chemical
products, etc.
❑Amount of chemical products released and transferred.
❑Programs for chemical products.
⑥Production and sales of the
products
❑Total number of production and products sold
❑Development and design of
products to minimize
environmental burden
⑦Generation of the waste
❑Total amount of waste generated etc.
❑Materials with market value, general waste, industrial waste etc.
❑Reducing amount of waste
generated, recycling
⑧ Final disposal of waste
❑Amount of final disposal of waste
❑Proper disposal
⑨Disposal of waste water
❑Total amount of water disposed/amount of water contaminants
❑Waste water treatment p
①Energy consumption
❑Increase the use of new energy.
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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Environmental Management System Guidelines
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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Composition of Environmental Activity Reports
Environmental activity reports shall include the following information
①Environmental policy
②Environmental objectives and their performance
③Outlines of major environmental action plans
④Evaluation of the results of environmental activities
⑤Information of nonconformance to environment-related laws and regulations
and litigation if there is any.
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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Publication of Environmental Activity Reports
Organization shall equip environmental activity reports in their offices and provide
them for public review.
Organization shall send a copy of environmental activity report to the Secretariat
(The Secretariat will publish the name of the Eco-Action 21 organizations).
In addition, if it is possible, environmental activity reports should be submitted to
the “Environmental Report Data Base,” which is maintained by the Ministry of the
Environment, posted on the organization’s internet homepage, and published as a
form of pamphlet.
Eco-Action 21 Environmental Management System – Environmental Activities Report Guidelines
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