Environmental Management at the Government Offices

Since 1999, the Government Offices has had an environmental management system in place in order to contribute to the achievement of the generational goal and the national environmental quality objectives (see fact box). An environmental management system is an instrument to streamline and facilitate environmental efforts in an organisation. It involves the integration of environmental considerations in normal operations.

The Government Offices is to regularly follow up, evaluate and improve environmental efforts. The Government Offices must be alert to and examine possible impacts on the environment both when formulating draft decisions and in activities that have a direct environmental impact.

Environmental effects of administrative operations

In the spring of 1998, the Government Offices embarked on the first phase of its environmental management efforts by surveying the environmental effects of its internal administrative operations. The survey covered procurement and selection of goods and services, the consumption of office supplies, disposable materials and environmentally hazardous products, electricity consumption, heating and other resource consumption. The Government Offices now follows an environmental management system that has been designed in accordance with the criteria in the ISO 14001 standard.

The following internal environmental objectives apply for the period 2012 – 2016:

• IT support is to be utilised in a manner that contributes to reducing the burden on the environment.
• Sustainability aspects are to be systematically considered in all procurements.
• The use of resources is to be minimised, and systems for source separation and recycling are to be efficient and well utilised.
• Travel, meetings and transport are to be conducted in an eco-efficient manner.

Environmental consideration in Government decision-making

Government decisions have an impact on the environment through, for example, the operations undertaken by agencies, businesses and others as a result of these decisions. The Government Offices' environmental management system therefore involves integrating environmental considerations into government decisions by identifying and taking account of the environmental effects of decisions during their preparation.

Coordination by the Office for Administrative Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment

The Office for Administrative Affairs at the Government Offices is responsible for coordinating environmental management efforts in internal administrative operations, while the Ministry of the Environment is responsible for coordinating environmental management efforts in Government Office decision-making processes.

Contact the Office for Administrative Affairs at the Government Offices for information on the Government Offices' internal environmental efforts.

Contact the Ministry of the Environment on environmental management in decision-making processes at the Government Offices.