6.1.1 Overall Environmental Performance

Best Available Techniques are technical reference points for the processes within the scope of the Industrial Emissions Directive: they describe techniques and associated consumption or emission levels that regulators and installations use when defining permits and good practice. An Environmental Management System such as ISO 14001 is a different instrument: it is the organisational framework a company uses to set targets, assign responsibilities, train employees, audit and improve performance across water, energy, chemicals and waste. BAT indicates what good practice in a process looks like; an EMS is how a company manages and documents its own performance against such references. The two are complementary and should not be treated as interchangeable.

Ask your supplier: Which environmental management system do you operate, what is its scope, and can you share the current objectives, audit findings and improvement actions?

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