Local Environmental Management Standards Spreading among SMEs

Environmental management system standards such as the Kyoto Environmental Management Standard (KES), which was devised by the Miyako Agenda 21 Forum, are gaining momentum across the country, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The KES certification and registration started in May 2001 and the number of certified cases reached 503 at the end of December 2004.

KES is an inexpensive and easy-to-understand environmental management standard for any size and kind of entity, including local governments, schools, and households, as well as SMEs, which account for more than 90 percent of companies in the city of Kyoto. The aim of this standard is to raise environmental awareness and allow users to tackle environmental issues on a daily basis.

Various standards exist for environmental management systems, such as the international ISO 14001 standard, and "Eco Action 21," Japan's own standard, established mainly by the Ministry of the Environment for SMEs, schools and public facilities to promote their environmental efforts. The KES uses simplified design and terminology, and offers two different steps that allow users to match their system to the stage of their environmental efforts. The first step is for organizations that have just begun to tackle environmental problems, while the second stage is for those that intend to acquire ISO14001 certification in the future. An easy-to-read handbook is available to help organizations create their own systems. Samples of operating manuals for the systems are also available.

Since May 2003, other auditing and certification initiatives with standards similar to the KES have been introduced in Japan. Examples include local governments such as Otsu City in Shiga Prefecture, Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture, and Aomori and Iwate prefectures, as well as major businesses, such as the Hitachi Group. Whether or not a suppler has introduced environmental management systems is also becoming one criterion companies with green procurement systems are using to select their suppliers.



Posted: 2005/04/25 06:57:11 PM
Japanese version