Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) provide crucial information for organizations to evaluate their environmental efforts, helping in decision-making processes. They assist in assessing environmental impacts, progress, and outcomes, and are used to measure environmental burdens and the effectiveness of actions aimed at reducing negative environmental effects.
Objectives of Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI)
- Measure Environmental Burdens
- EPI helps organizations evaluate the environmental problems they need to address and assess the outcomes of their environmental efforts, facilitating decision-making and promoting the organization’s environmental activities.
- Facilitate Communication
- EPI provides a common foundation of information for stakeholders such as consumers, business partners, local communities, shareholders, and financial institutions, enabling them to understand the environmental activities of the organization.
- Support Policy Making
- At a macro level, EPIs provide a foundation of information for national and local governments, aiding in the formulation of environmental policies.
Types of Environmental Performance Indicators
According to ISO standards, there are two broad categories of environmental indicators for Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE):
- Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs)
- Environmental Condition Indicators (ECIs)
Within the category of Environmental Performance Indicators, there are two types:
- Management Performance Indicators (MPIs)
- Operational Performance Indicators (OPIs)
Environmental Condition Indicators (ECIs)
ECIs are principally about the state of the natural environment that may be affected by an organization’s activities, products, and services. This will include local air and water quality and the condition of land or whether the soil is contaminated. Overall responsibility for the state of the environment rests with those governmental and regulatory agencies responsible for protecting and improving it, hence the need for regulatory controls and statutory monitoring regimes.
ECIs refer to those activities and operations that might interact or have an impact on the quality of the natural environment. A key factor is ensuring that emissions to air, discharges to water, and waste meet regulatory compliance, but an organization may also carry out operations or activities that interact in other ways and should be included in performance evaluation.
ECIs might include:
- Air quality: e.g. polluting or non-polluting odours that can cause nuisance to local residential areas.
- Water condition: e.g. activities that release water causing turbidity in local streams. Equally, are local water resources suitable for operational use? Is there enough water resource for future business needs?
- Land: e.g. are activities likely to degrade soil condition? Equally, are there opportunities for enhancing local biodiversity by planting trees?
Management Performance Indicators (MPIs)
MPIs focus on the management system and help evaluate how well the organization is meeting its environmental goals. They include:
o policy issues and development, e.g. effectiveness of environmental commitments
o resource allocation and purchasing
o human resource issues, e.g. staff training
o planning and practices, e.g. which objectives are being pursued and achieved
o conformance with regulations and audit programs.
Operational Performance Indicators (OPIs)
OPIs focus on the performance of operations, measuring the direct environmental impact of the organization’s activities. They include:
- Inputs: Measuring the resources used by the organization, such as energy, materials, utilities, and contractor services.
- Throughputs: Assessing the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of facilities, as well as materials and equipment used.
- Outputs: Measuring the environmental impacts produced by the organization, including:
- Process emissions (e.g., air emissions, effluent)
- Solid and liquid wastes
- Noise, vibration, light, dust, litter, odor, and radiation