Total environmental audit
Introduction
Environmental audits or environmental audits seek to quantify the achievements and environmental position of an organization. In this way they perform a function analogous to financial audits. The report of an environmental audit must contain a characterization of the performance and the environmental situation achieved, and may aim to define the pending needs to maintain or improve the indicators of such achievements and achievements.
The Environmental Audit is an instrument for the transformation of the production process and business policy. It is based on an assumption of voluntariness and a decision to transform environmental budgets, and should not be confused with other procedures such as inspections, diagnoses or environmental evaluations. Initially it was part of the philosophy included in the V EC Program for the Environment (1993)[1] which already invited a transformation of socioeconomic agents and their activities. The Audit can be adopted from the company itself and when a comprehensive environmental policy has already been incorporated into its management; so this represents a control of what is already being done. It can also be considered as the examination or evaluation of a company to detect everything that may have a negative impact on the environment and establish the framework for transformation.
three types
According to Mattsson and Olsson (p. 178) there are three types of audits:
• - 1. Responsibility audits: evaluate compliance with legal obligations.
• - 2. Management audits: they verify that an Environmental Management Strategy meets its objectives.
• - 3. Functional audits (sometimes called activity or thematic audits): investigate a specific area against a series of ecological criteria, such as water or energy use.
Environmental audit in the European Union
The Community Environmental Management and Audit System (EMAS) of the European Union (2001)[2] defines audit as "a management instrument that comprises a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization, the management system and the procedures aimed at protecting the environment."