Environmental Benchmarking

Environmental Benchmarking                                                                                   

Base for Nordic Environmental Benchmarking

A world wide survey on existing benchmarking systems is presented in the report “Enviromental Benchmarking; a Tool for Continuous Environmental Improvements in the SME Sector (50 p.).

 The main results are:

§         Environmental benchmarking is an emerging tool for environmental work.

§         No Scandinavian environmental benchmarking systems were found. Relations of Scandinavian eco-labels and EMS were discussed.

§         A handful of environmental benchmarking tools were found worldwide, both generic and sector specific tools.

§         A large number of the specific tools found pertain to the tourism sector.

An MS research was launched in conjunction with this work. The research question was “Is environmental benchmarking a viable methodology for small and medium sized enterprises in the Nordic tourism industry?” The answer was that benchmarking of environmental performance can be a powerful tool in improving environmental performance of SMEs (Sparf, 2005).

This project proposes a framework for an environmental benchmarking tool.

The tool:

§         Is based on available scientific knowledge, such as LCA to choose the key indicators.

§         Is supported by Green accounting to collect key figures.

§         Identifies deviations from good practice – by comparison, environmental benchmarking.

§         Cooperates with eco-labels and EMS systems.

Report