"Measuring Environmental Performance"

“Measuring Environmental Performance (MEP)” is about the design of a metrics program. Metrics is a set of standards for measurement.

The favorable context of MEP is i) the increasing costs of environmental operations ii) market & regulatory & public pressures iii) international standards (ie ISO 14001) and iv) voluntary initiatives.

There are two types of MEP indicators i) leading, which is an in-process management indicator and ii) lagging, which is an end-of-process measurement. The percentage of facilities conducting self environmental auditing is type of leading indicator and the output of chemicals released in air an example of lagging indicator.

Considering this context and indicators, the application of MEP leads to i) measurement of progress against other companies & average industrial performance (benchmark) ii) compliance with trade associations & principles, goals, and Corporate Social Responsibilities iii) designing of more efficient processes iv) decreasing of material usage and environmental impact & increasing yield and profitability.

A successful MEP program follows this order i) design ii) implementation iii) evaluation iv) improvements.

http://www.gemi.org/resources/MET_101.pdf