How To Guide - Developing policies, goals and targets
Once baseline values have been established for each indicator, they can be used to identify the key areas for improvement. This information should be reflected in a policy or vision, outlining the university's commitment to environmental improvement. This document sets the stage for the next step in creating an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), the development of goals and targets for the most crucial areas of environmental management on campus.
- Broad vs. Specific:
- Broad – e.g. "Take reasonable steps towards best practice environmental management"
- Specific – would cover the key areas identified by the initial measurements, such as energy, water, and waste
- For different stages of sustainability planning:
- Early – e.g. "Understand environmental impacts and possibilities"
- Mid – e.g. "Mainstream environmental management"
- Mature – e.g. "International leadership"
Resources:
- You may wish to choose a more limited number of items to develop goals for. The following considerations and tools may be useful when prioritizing:
- Which areas are the most critical in terms of environmental impact?
- Which areas are the most critical in terms of money spent and potential savings?
- Which areas have the best benefit vs. time ratio?
- Which items have the greatest level of current public attention?
- In developing goals, the following sources can be taken into account:
- Baseline data established in preceding step and historical data
- Reasonable achievements made possible by existing technology
- Goals of other universities
- National and international requirements/laws/etc.
- Financial, manpower, and organizational limitations
Resources:
