EEA ACHIEVES EMAS REGISTRATION

13/04/2005 - The European Environment Agency has now an externally verified environmental management system.

The EEA has received certification under the EU eco-management and audit scheme, EMAS. This means that the Agency and its staff comply with a set of clearly defined rules and procedures to ensure eco-efficiency in many aspects of its daily operations.

A string of measures is now being introduced to make sure the Agency sticks to the agreed targets. These include more energy-efficient ventilation, double-sided printing and copying - and also more use of telephone and video conferences instead of travelling.

Prof. Jacqueline McGlade points out that even though many such measures have been introduced by the Agency from its early days, the EMAS scheme enables the Agency to turn these informal initiatives into a coordinated and coherent programme.

'We wish to encourage other organisations to opt for EMAS registration and will be delighted to share our experiences', says Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency.