Regulatory requirements
There are no general duties to provide environmental information to customers. However, the CHIP Regulations require a limited amount of environmental information to be provided as part of the Health and Safety data sheet which must be supplied with a packaged product (see emissions overview and hazardous substances in the Health and Safety Guide).
Environmental management systems
Environmental management systems do not require you to initiate specific communication with your customers. However, they do generally require that information is available on request to any interested party – which by definition includes your customers.
ISO14001:2004 requirements
ISO14001:2004 requires that your environmental policy document is available to be sent out on request.
EMAS requirements
EMAS requires the production of a verified public environmental statement.
It must include the following:
- a description of the company's activities at the site;
- an assessment of all the relevant significant environmental issues;
- a summary of figures on: emissions; waste arisings; consumption of raw materials, energy and water; noise and other significant aspects;
- other factors regarding environmental performance;
- an environmental policy for the site;
- the deadline for submission of the next statement
- the name of the accredited environmental verifier; and
- significant changes since the previous statement.
Such statements are prepared following an initial review and on the completion of each subsequent audit at sites participating in the scheme, with simplified annual statements.
The statement is made available to customers and anyone else who wants a copy.
Customer requests
If your company operates in a market place where customers are developing their own environmental management systems, you can expect them to request information from you.
There is no set format for the information you should provide. Often, requests from your customers will arrive in the form of a questionnaire. The information which you might consider having ready to pass on to your customers could include:
- emissions data for your site;
- transport emissions;
- energy consumption;
- waste and waste minimisation;
- status of your EMS;
- environmental Initiatives;
- life cycle data on your product; and
- details of any convictions or complaints against you.