May 28, 2008 by
Brian Butler | Filed under: Overview,What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3]
For this workshop, the underlying assumption was that as a society we need to measure the environmental performance of every company, due in part to the concept that we cannot manage what we cannot measure properly. There were multiple examples of “what to measure” discussed during this workshop; for example, outcomes vs. drivers, absolute vs. relative indicators, industry specific vs. company specific, as well as measuring improvements over time.
To answer the “why” portion of this topic, the results of the workshop give the following examples of why to measure environmental performance: measuring performance can help to show the quality of the environment; regulatory compliance is another reason for performance measures; competitive advantage, as well as risk management (reduction of environmental liabilities) were also given as examples during this workshop.
With regard to the role of the environmental manager in performance measures, the workshops produced the following examples of how the environmental manager figures into this topic:
the EM is responsible for linking targets between environmental performance and corporate performance;
EMs must convince corporate managers on returns on environmental performance measurement and improvement;
EMs must communicate the results of performance measurement to stakeholders;
EMs must work toward organizing the performance management process;
EMs must also set attractive targets, specify indicators, quantify indicators, make reports for managers, and help to shift the corporate culture toward acceptance of environmental responsibilities.
You can view the symposium powerpoint HERE.
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April 27, 2008 by
LAUREN KERWAWYCZ | Filed under: What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3]
As April Terreri describes in her article, Eight Steps to a Green Supply Chain, it is quite evident that companies are carefully being instructed to make improvements throughout their business processes. The author points out that no universally accepted standards exist to calcualte the carbon footprint of a company. This article exists to be a guide for companies to evaluate their supply chain and take initiatives to make their business practices more sustainable. As this article stresses the number one reason why companies want to measure the sustainability is to increase their bottom line.
Here are the eight steps to a greener supply chain: 1. business model, 2. transportation, 3. LEED-certified buildings and energy-reducing initiatives,. 4. packaging reduction, 5. education and training, 6. carbon credits, 7. waste reduction, and 8. recycling
What I find interesting is that Terreri does not say that being at either end of the spectrum in terms of progress of a sustainable supply chain is not a “good or bad” thing but depends on the business dynamics. This emphasizes the need for an industry scale as well as an absolute scale to comparatively gauge organizations. Some standards that are mentioned include the EPA’s Energy Star compliance, LEED certified buildings, and the US Department of Engery is referenced as a regulator. This article describes what organizations should measure but not necessarily how to measure them. Ideally these environmental performance indicators would be measured using globally recognized systems.
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April 21, 2008 by
John Morelli ,
Mason Baziw ,
LAUREN KERWAWYCZ and
jsarkis | Filed under: What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3]
Anju Mathew, Brian Butler and I have been reading your interesting posts and discussing your topic. One thought comes to mind: should there be two scales of measurements, one that focuses on how a company performs within its particular industry and another on how it performs on an absolute scale. This might be an interesting approach that serves both current needs for measures and future trends because it will allow a company to be rated good or bad with respect to the others involved in similar activities, but also provide a way to compare the absolute performance compared to others across all industries and activities.
What are your thoughts about this?
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April 17, 2008 by
Mason Baziw | Filed under: What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3]
Jean-Francois Henri, Marc Journeault, Environmental performance indicators: An empirical study of Canadian manufacturing firms, Journal of Environmental ManagementVolume 87, Issue 1, , April 2008, Pages 165-176.
This article seems to be quite informative regarding using EPIs for measuring environmental performance and their importance. The entry explains that there are two different classifications of EPIs: financial/non-financial indicators and ISO 14031 guidelines. Financial and non-financial indicators work hand in hand and both are good indicators of organizations effectiveness. However, the ISO 14031 guidelines are widely used and suggest three different indicators including: environmental condition indicators, operational performance indicators and management performance indicators. It is very important to consider all of these types of indicators when we try to define how to measure environmental performance.
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April 2, 2008 by
Gabor Harangozo and
| Filed under: What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3]
Dear All,
Thanks for your comments on my initiative post. You already covered partly my first concern, regarding “what to measure?”, i.e. what do we regard as environmental performance, as some aspects were indirectly already formulated as follows:
- Level of emissions, pollution (Mason)
- Legal compliance (Mason)
- Environmental initiatives (Lauren)
- “Greenness” of supply chain (Lauren)
Information on all these aspects are important to get a complete view on the environmental performance of a corporation (there might be some more…) In many cases these aspects support each other, but not necessarily at all. Just consider a company going beyond regulation (as it is too loose, or missing regarding a special pollutant), we cannot say it would perform well, if pollution records are high. Or as another example, taking a company with high environmental load (pollution), partly because of industry characteristics, we cannot state, that its performance is for sure bad, if it launches at the same time lots of initiatives to control emissions and tries to cooperate also along the supply chain in this respect.
What you both address (whether 10 or 20 tons of emissions is good – Mason, or what metrics we should use – Lauren) is already focusing on a next step (how to measure? – and whether it is possible to establish a standardized metrics for that purpose) but this is relevant when we already agreed on what to measure? (and why?)
What I would recommend is to complete this list with some more aspects (if you find relevant ones). A good starting point can be to scan the suggested indicator systems of some environmental performance measurement systems. This will provide hint also on how to measure? But indirectly, we can also see what fields they recommend to measure. These systems can be for instance:
- Indicators ISO 14031 standard (the whole standard might not be available on the internet, but the indicator system should be in many places),
- Indicators of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) – http://www.globalreporting.org , (it is a guideline on sustainability reporting, but the suggested environmental indicators might suggest us what to measure!)
- Methodology of Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes – http://www.sustainability-index.com - Measuring eco-efficiency – for example http://www.wbcsd.org
- etc.
So what we might do now is a sort of literature review based on these sources. These also can provide information on our second and third concerns (why to measure and examples for commercial benefits of good env. perf.).
For further quality readings (also to Lauren’s question) I can recommend databases like ABI/Inform Global or EBSCO if these are subscribed by RIT, but almost all management or business databases should contain relevant material.
If you have any questions or comments pls feel free to put them
Gábor
Ps: on Lauren’s question regarding final product on the workshop I can copy Professor Morelli’s information on the role of this discussion now.
- “Based on their findings, the students will have to identify and describe goals for the workshops to be held at the Symposium and post their findings on the EnvironmentalManager.org website.
- Then other students in the class will review the posting and participate in discussions to further flesh out and develop the topic.
- The deliverable will be due Monday, April 28th and will include workshop goals (note: these may be long term goals), objectives, and strategies for the workshop.
- The assigned grad students will participate in the workshops and keep notes on the discussion.”
Frankly saying I do not have exact information on the format of our “product” but I will forward this question to Professor Morelli.
1 Comment »
March 21, 2008 by
Gabor Harangozo ,
Mason Baziw ,
amathew and
LAUREN KERWAWYCZ | Filed under: Collaboratory,What Should Be Measured and Why? [1,3]
Welcome all to the topic „What should be measured and why?” Let me introduce myself very briefly. My name is Gabor Harangozo, working at the Dept. of Environmental Economics at the Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary. I was honoured by Professor Morelli to be able to co-think with you all on the mysteries of corporate environmental performance measurement.
The question „What should be measured and why?” is a key issue for an environmental manager.
First of all, one has to address the question: “What to measure?”, “What do I regard as (good) environmental performance?” What we need is to cover the main characteristics of good environmental performance to be able to have a description on what do we talking about. It does not have to be a scientific definition, rather a brainstorming on the main characteristics of (good) corporate environmental performance (production vs. products, environmental load vs. efforts of the management etc.)
Secondly, we should try to consider as many aspects as possible why environmental performance measurement can be beneficial for the company (or the environmental management).
Thirdly, we should consider ways how good environmental performance can contribute to the improvement of corporate performance. Actually that is a key issue, as otherwise how to convince company management to support “greening”? To get started, it might be useful to collect some short practical examples, and then try to systemize them somehow.
I am looking forward to your ideas and comments. In the meantime I wish you all happy Easter!
Gabor
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