Introduction
ISEP was formed by the merging of three organisations in 1999 – the Institute of Environmental Assessment (formed mainly of corporate members), the Environmental Auditors Registration Association (EARA, formed of individual professionals working in Environmental Assessment), and the Institute of Environmental Management. In 2014, ISEP merged with the Global Association of Corporate Sustainability Officers, incorporating corporate sustainability into the environmental agenda.
As a natural evolution, ISEP is now embarking on the next leg of its journey by rebranding as The Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP).
Now is an ideal time to reflect on the relationship between environmental management and sustainability, and how these approaches work hand-in-hand to deliver a safer environment for current and future generations.
Environmental management
What do we mean by environmental management? Across different organisations, countries, and regions, ‘environmental management’ takes on differing emphasis. For some, environmental management has a strong focus on complying with environmental laws, regulations and obligations (examples can include such things as waste and hazardous substance management, water quality protection, noise, dust, emissions and vibration monitoring, pollution prevention plans and soil management plans.) For others, environmental management is sounding much more like ‘sustainability’, incorporating economic and social considerations, as we’ll see below.
Already in 1992, there was an environmental management system standard, BS 7750, which went on to become the internationally renowned ISO 14001 in 1996. Of course, there are other routes to environmental management from the European Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) to individually-run organisational and country schemes.
Sustainability
In 1987, the United Nations defined sustainability as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ The same report was the basis of the three pillars of sustainability as we know them now – social, economic, and environmental. Again, as we’ll see below, the last of these seems to be doing most of the heavy lifting.
In 2004, ESG – Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) – was coined by UN Global Compact and was adopted by the world of Finance, introducing ‘governance’ into the common parlance of sustainability.
What has this meant for environmental management?
Terms such as ‘sustainability’ and ‘ESG’ have become very fashionable (this isn’t a bad thing!) and environmental management has somewhat taken more of a back seat. And yet, behind the scenes of sustainability and ESG you’ll most likely find an environmental management system of some kind acting as an engine of measurement, monitoring and management.
