Manage your environmental impact

Managing your environmental impact doesn't just benefit the planet. It also has advantages for your business:

• Cost savings – Reduce your costs by spending less on raw materials, energy, water and waste management.
• Reputation – Many people prefer to support a business that cares about its impact on the environment.
• Resource recovery – Reusing and recycling resources can be profitable.
• Work health and safety – Reducing chemical use and waste materials can improve workplace health and safety.

Whatever size and type of business you run, there are ways to manage your impact on the environment. Follow these steps to plan ahead and prioritise your environmental management activities.

An environmental audit helps you assess how your business is impacting the environment. Use this information to:

• identify ways to reduce your impact
• prioritise environmental management activities
• demonstrate your accountability to government, customers and shareholders.

You can use this audit as a benchmark to measure your progress against.

Once you understand your current impacts, an environmental management system (EMS) can help you to plan ahead to manage future impacts. An EMS can also make it easier to get permits for some business activities.

Your EMS should:

• identify the environmental impact of your business
• set your environmental objectives and targets
• provide your operational and emergency procedures for environmental issues
• outline responsibilities and your reporting structure
• identify areas for ongoing improvement.

Consider getting your EMS accredited. The ISO 14001 standard sets out the requirements for a certified EMS.

It's a good idea to monitor and regularly report on your environmental impacts. Common environmental reports made by businesses include:

• greenhouse gas and energy reporting
• corporate sustainability or triple bottom line reporting
• environmental, social and governance reporting
• natural resource management monitoring.

Environmental reporting is voluntary for most businesses. But mandatory reporting applies in some industries. For example, the:

• National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme for certain large corporations
• National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) for businesses that exceed an emissions threshold
• Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS) for industrial chemicals.

Federal, state and local governments jointly administer environmental protection laws in Australia.

Which environmental laws affect your business will depend on your business type. You need to understand what laws apply to your business and make sure you meet requirements.

Government agencies and industry groups also develop voluntary codes of practice to guide businesses' impact on the environment.

Licences and permits

You need environmental licences and permits for some business activities.

If an activity might affect areas of national environmental significance, you’ll need to get licences or permits from the Australian Government. You can check for areas of national environmental significance with the Protected Matters Search Tool.

If your activity is likely to impact the local environment (such as local parks, heritage sites, air or water) check licence and permit requirements with your state, territory or local government.

If you sell to the Australian Government

If you sell goods or services to the Australian Government, you may need to comply with the Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Policy. Find out the rules for suppliers on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website.

Consider getting recognised for your environmental initiatives.

There are environmental awards and certifications available from federal, state, territory and local governments, including:

• Banksia Foundation environmental awards
• Climate Active certification for carbon neutral businesses
• national, state and territory Landcare Awards.

Check your state, territory or local government website for other awards in your area.