Effectiveness of EMAS: A case study of Polish organisations registered under EMAS

Balanced economic growth in line with environmental care is one of the greatest challenges facing the world nowadays. Entrepreneurs' interest in sustainable production schemes, including Environmental Management Systems (EMS), becomes an important part of many strategies and a frequent requirement of environmentally aware societies. Despite this, the number of organisations registered under the Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) decreased, while the implementation of EMS based on ISO 14001 continues to be popular. Many organisations registered in the EMAS scheme do not renew their registration; therefore, it is important to analyse the effectiveness of this environmental management tool as it should support sustainable development. This paper includes the results of research on EMAS registered organisations in Poland. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the EMAS based on analysis of (1) the degree of environmental objectives implementation, (2) core environmental performance indicators, and (3) the correlation between establishing environmental objectives and results of environmental indicators in specific areas. The study involves an analysis of secondary data based on organisations' environmental statements published by the EMAS competent body. The findings suggest that there is no linear relationship between the time the EMAS is implemented and its effectiveness and that there is a weak correlation between establishing environmental objectives and changes in environmental performance indicators. These results are unexpected and may be linked to numerous mistakes made by organisations during establishing their environmental objectives. The study results have an impact to the EMAS regulation and shall be considered during review of EMAS scheme and future revisions of EMAS regulatory requirements.