Setting an example: public administration and EMAS in Austria
Upper Austria is using it. So is Lower Austria, and the market town of Breitenfurt. They all have implemented the European Eco-Management und Audit Scheme (EMAS), committing themselves to continually improving their environmental performance.
Hardly any other Member State of the European Union has as many EMAS-registered organisations as Austria. Looking at the number of registrations, Austria is in fourth place in an EU-wide comparison, and in second place when looking at EMAS registrations in relation to the number of inhabitants. Public bodies are setting a good example: currently ten administrative units in Austria are using the voluntary Eco-Management und Audit Scheme which enables enterprises and organisations of all sizes and sectors to evaluate and continually improve their environmental performance. The Offices of the State Government of Upper and Lower Austria obtained their EMAS registration in 2009/2010. But smaller administrative units are implementing EMAS as well. Several district authorities in Lower Austria obtained their EMAS registration in 2010, as well as a large number of municipalities, including the market town of Breitenfurt in 2014.
Especially in the area of public procurement, public bodies have enormous leverage. This is why they also are important contacts for ENHANCE (EMAS as a Nest to Help And Nurture the Circular Economy). ENHANCE, a project in which the Environment Agency Austria is significantly involved, creates new incentives for EMAS organisations and aims at identifying and reducing the barriers encountered by EMAS organisations in Europe. The project partners (from Austria, Italy, Spain, Estonia and the Czech Republic) carry out regional studies and stakeholder workshops to this end. The results are fed into a freely accessible database with best practice examples, which serves as a basis for national action plans. With the regional policy instruments proposed in these plans the framework conditions for EMAS in Europe are improved and important steps towards a circular economy are taken.
Public bodies show how it works
As regards the implementation of EMAS, public bodies in Austria are on the right track. The action plan for sustainable public procurement for example has paved the way for eco-friendly purchasing, and makes it easier for municipalities and other corporate bodies to make tendering processes environmentally friendly via www.nachhaltigebeschaffung.at.
The Environment Agency Austria obtained its EMAS registration in 2005. It defines new strategies and policies to improve its environmental performance in the environmental statement every year. The experts from the Environment Agency Austria act as advisors for companies wanting to use EMAS in order to save energy, raw materials and waste and to improve their communication with public authorities and residents, or to achieve legal certainty.
Workshops as of May 2020
At the beginning of May 2020 the Environment Agency Austria is launching a series of workshops for public administrations. These workshops will be aimed at persons from public bodies who want to learn about effective tools for environmental protection which they can use in a targeted way to reduce the ecological footprint of their organisations.
