How to set environmental performance targets

There are a number of key reasons why your business should measure its environmental performance:

• Cost savings and improved productivity. Areas of your business such as raw material use, waste production and energy use can all be looked at closely to identify savings.
• Higher sales. Reporting environmental performance can have a positive impact on sales. Customers and potential customers can see evidence of how your business minimises its impact on the environment.
• Supplier status. Reporting key environmental performance indicators (KEPIs) can make your business more attractive to others in your supply chain.
• Greater investment opportunities. With environmental issues high on the agenda of consumers and organisations, investors are increasingly looking at the environmental performance of businesses when they make investment decisions.
• Service and product innovations. Measuring your business' environmental impact can reveal areas where you could develop new services or products.
• Employee recruitment. With increased environmental awareness among the public, if your business has measured and clearly reported KEPIs, this gives potential new employees a way of differentiating your business from others.
• Legal compliance. Listed companies must include relevant environmental information in their business review. KEPIs provide evidence that you are measuring and managing your environmental performance.

If you have an environmental management system (EMS), or you plan to set one up, you'll need to be able to measure and monitor your environmental performance. KEPIs provide the information needed for the targets and objectives in your EMS - see environmental management systems (EMS) - the basics.