C2.4 Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
What is EMAS?
The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance. The scheme has been available for participation by companies since 1995 and was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors.
Since 2001 EMAS has been open to all economic sectors including public and private services.
In July 2008 the European Commission proposed to revise EMAS to increase the participation of companies and reduce the administrative burden and costs, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).