Environmental auditing is essentially an environmental management tool for measuring the effects of certain activities on the environment against set criteria or standards. These are used to help improve existing human activities, with the aim of reducing the adverse effects of these activities on the environment. An environmental auditor will study an organisation’s environmental effects in a systematic and documented manner and will produce an environmental audit report. There are many reasons for undertaking an environmental audit, which include issues such as environmental legislation and pressure from customers.

Depending on the types of standards and the focus of the audit, there are different types of environmental audit. Organisations of all kinds now recognise the importance of environmental matters and accept that their environmental performance will be scrutinised by a wide range of interested regulators.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) produced a definition in 1989 defines environmental audit as a management tool comprising systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well environmental organisation, management and equipment are performing with the aim of helping to safeguard the environment by facilitating management control of practices and assessing compliance with company policies, which would include regulatory requirements and standards applicable.

There are other definitions available, although the above definition is still seen as the industry standard. The key concepts, which occur in all the definitions, are as follows.

Environmental auditing should not be confused with environmental impact assessment (EIA). Both environmental auditing and EIA are environmental management tools, and both share some terminology but there are some important differences between the two.

Environmental impact assessment is an anticipatory tool, that is, it takes place before an action is carried out. EIA therefore attempts to predict the impact on the environment of a future action, and to provide this information to those who make the decision on whether the project should be authorised. EIA is also a legally mandated tool for many projects in most countries.

Environmental auditing is carried out when a development is already in place, and is used to check on existing practices, assessing the environmental effects of current activities. Environmental auditing therefore provides a ‘snap-shot’ of looking at what is happening at that point in time in an organisation.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has produced a series of standards in the field of environmental auditing. These standards are basically intended to guide organisations and auditors on the general principles common to the execution of environmental audits. These are addressed elsewhere in this module.

Environmental auditing refers to checking systems and procedures against standards or regulations, but it is often used to cover the gathering and evaluation of any data with environmental relevance. Environmental auditing is often used as a generic term covering a variety of management practices used to evaluate a company’s environmental performance.

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