Business benefits & planning Businesses with successful environmental management plans and practices not only help the environment but can also introduce significant benefits for their own business.
Environmental legislation All Australian businesses can play a part in environmental management, but whether environmental laws will affect your business directly will depend on your business activities.
Grants & Assistance Finder To help you locate environmental grants and assistance relevant to your business, we have created a search tool called Grant Finder. Using Grant Finder, you can search for grants and assistance programs available within your state or territory, in addition to those provided by the Australian government.
Reporting Before you can reduce your impact on the environment, you need to know which areas of your business are causing the most impact.
Tools Useful tools and resources to help your business be more environmentally aware and help you meet environmental reporting requirements.
Calculators Useful calculators to help your business be more environmentally aware and help you meet environmental management requirements.
Licences & labelling To ensure your business and the environment is protected, you need to know if your business activities fall under environmental legislation, licensing and labelling requirements.
Licences & permits Approvals for environmental licences and permits can be obtained from federal, state and local environmental agencies, and the type of approval you need will depend on the jurisdiction and type of your business activity.
Sustainability Using sustainable or renewable resources in your business is one way of reducing your business' impact on the environment and saving money.
Databases Useful databases to help your business be more environmentally aware and help you meet environmental management requirements.
Minimising your impact Without proper environmental management, businesses will have some degree of impact on the environment. There are however various ways you can minimise your impact and create significant savings for your business. Federal and state governments also provide various tools to help you achieve these savings.
Recycling One of the simplest ways to minimise your business' impact on the environment is to employ sound recycling practices. Not only does recycling reduce pollution, it conserves materials for the future.
Standards & labelling Product environmental standards are sets of quality benchmarks that promote the environmental performance of a product. While many standards are mandatory such as energy ratings for televisions, others are voluntary and are a great way to promote your brand as environmentally friendly.
Environment grants & assistance You can access grants and other funding programs for environmental projects from federal, state and territory governments and in some cases from your local council.
Waste reduction Developing or improving your waste management system can save you money, increase the efficiency of your workflow and improve the reputation of your business.
Tools & resources Federal and state governments have a number of online tools, calculators, guides and databases available to help you make your business sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Advice, support & awards Gaining recognition of your efforts to make your business more environmentally friendly can be a good way to make your business stand out from it's competitors. There are awards provided across federal, state and territory, and local government levels.
Business benefits By introducing sound environmental management practices and reducing your environmental impact overall, your business can profit from cost savings through efficiency or productivity gains.
Climate Change Climate change is likely to affect Australians and Australian businesses by altering long term weather patterns. The potential costs to the environment and economy should be of concern to everyone.
Energy rating Energy ratings are an important tool for comparing the energy efficiency of appliances. As a supplier of an electrical appliance, you can use the rating to allow your customers to compare your products with your competitor's.
Energy star Energy star is a voluntary international standard for electronic equipment that has an energy-efficient standby function enabled. By selling or using products compliant with the energy star standard, you can help the environment and your customers by reducing the amount of energy needed.
Environmental auditing An environmental audit is useful in assessing which particular areas of your business impact on the environment, and to what extent. An audit is also an effective risk management tool which enables you to check how effectively your business acts in accordance with environmental legislation.
Environmental management As a business you could have some impact on the environment, whether large or small. Managing your impact as well as your environmental responsibilities can ensure your business is environmentally friendly and reaping the added benefits.
Environmental management systems An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a system you can set in place to manage your current and future environmental impact. An EMS integrates environmental management into your business' daily operations, long term planning and other quality management systems.
Environmental planning Planning for your business is an important part of ensuring your business' success. Likewise, when you decide to make your business more environmentally friendly, you can expand your business plan to include environmental management strategies.
Fuel consumption The Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 covers national safety and environmental requirements for all vehicles manufactured in Australia. Under the Act, manufacturers and importers must also comply with the Australian Design Rules (ADRs) that cover fuel consumption labelling requirements.
Greenhouse gas emissions Find out what greenhouse initiatives are available to recognise your business as environmentally friendly.
Water efficiency The mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme was introduced to help the environment by reducing water consumption.
