Environmental Policy: What is and examples

What is environmental policy? Well explained in a simple way, the Environmental policy It is the concern to help improve and care for the environment, conserve the natural principles of humans and promote sustainable development, through clear and long -term clear objectives related to all this together.

In addition, environmental policies such as strategies that are carried out from the different institutionsboth national and international, which through the elaboration and application of different environmental regulations, seek environmental existing.

Worldwide, we find that the UN has a specialized agency, whose main mission is to promote international cooperation in matters related to the environment, as well as evaluate environmental conditions worldwide, regional and national, elaborating for this national and international strategies, this body is UNEP (United Nations Environment Program)whose importance is indisputable, which contributes to the application of environmental law developing regulations and strengthening institutions for the rational management of the environment, acting in turn, as a coordinating body regarding environmental matters within the United Nations.

As for the EU, European environmental policies focus on:

Promote an innovative and circular economy in which the biodiversity is protected, is valued and restored and the health risks derived from environmental problems are minimized, enhancing the resilience of society by discouraging the growth of the use of resources.

As for the main principles that govern these policies, they are collected in the Treaty of Operation of the European Union (TFUE), specifically in its article.191 and are those of caution, prevention, and the principle of “who pollutes pays”.

As a summary, the Principles of environmental policies for sustainable development To achieve clean and ecological economic growth are:

• He Principle of responsibility Environmental: We can all improve our environment.
• He Prevention principle: better prevent than correct ecological disasters.
• He Replacement principle of hazardous substances for other less pollutants and high energy consumption processes for more efficient ones.
• The one that pollutes pay in cases that cannot be prevented by environmental damage.
• He Coherence Principle which requires the coordination of environmental policies with other departments and the integration of environmental objectives.
• Cooperation Principle in social groups that work with environmental improvement objectives and its realization is indispensable.
• Environmental policies should always be based on the results of Scientific research.

When talking about general principles, we are facing the main “ideas” that will serve as Base for the elaboration of different environmental regulations. In short, they are the structural basis on which the different strategies related to environmental protection will be sustained. These are the two main in environmental policies:

Principles of caution and prevention

They focus on the main purpose of managing risk, this means that, in cases where there is a suspicion of negative effects for human health or the environment derived from certain policies or actions, in these cases and after a previous objective scientific evaluation, if it cannot be ensured that such effects will not occur, negative will always be chosen not to continue with such policies or actions. An example of the application of this principle, we have it in cases where a doubt arises about the possible harmful effects of a certain product, if after the corresponding scientific evaluation, these doubts persist, you should always opt for the withdrawal of said product of the market.

“Who pollutes pay”

It is undoubtedly the “par excellence” of environmental law policies, its main application is made through the Directive on Environmental Responsibility, with the aim of preventing damage to the environment or remedying those that have already occurred. Basically it translates into the principle by which, professional activities that threaten the environment, have an additional lien derived from said risk, paying both preventive and repairing actions of the damage.

Environmental policy is an administration model adopted by an entity or company for relate to the environment and natural resources. This must begin with an environmental commitment, a document that must govern all activity in the company and that must reflect the basic points of the environmental policy.

Some of the points that must be included In this environmental commitment that will guide the company’s policy are:

• It will always act according to the laws and norms of environmental management.
• Any environmental impact will be minimized as much as possible.
• The generated waste will be minimized as much as possible.
• It will be advocated by reuse and recycling.
• Risks will be provided at the patrimonial, occupational and environmental level.
• Periodically environmental audits will be carried out to ensure that the established points are met.

The ISO 14001 2015 It is the norm in which the contents that must be present in the quality policy of a company in environmental matters are stipulated. Mark the points that the address must implement, maintain and enforce environmental policy in your company. Among the things that the norm imposes is that:

• The context of the company’s operations and the environmental impacts that can be derived from their activity must be established.
• The frame of reference must be put to establish the objectives at the environmental level.
• It must include a commitment to environmental protection, which must necessarily prevent pollution, use resources sustainably, mitigate climate change and protect ecosystems as well as biodiversity.
• Legal commitments must be included.
• A commitment on the improvement of the environmental management system must be included.

Besides, Environmental policies must:

• Stay documented.
• Be communicated to all members of the company.
• Be available for any interested party.

Environmental policy is something that must be present in all companies, from the smallest to the largest multinationals. There are a lot of aspects that we can take into account when following adequate environmental measures, then we explain some Environmental policy examples:

• Change the fleet of vehicles by electric vehicles, such as electric bicycles or electric cars.
• Recycle the paper used and always use recycled paper.
• Avoid printing all those documents that are not strictly necessary.
• Form, communicate and educate workers in ecological practice.
• Promote ecological activities under the amparo of the company, for example, make outputs to alimpy the forest or plant trees.
• Reduce the environmental impact of the company: conditioned air, heating, light and water.

The main expression of environmental policies arises from Cumbers on climate changein which the UN Member States, meet to manage and create the agreements on which regulatory regulations in environmental matters are going to be governed. From these summits, the main treaties and international agreements on which the current environmental policies rest, an example of these are, the Kyoto protocol, agreed in 1997, whose main objective is to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, the Paris Agreement, adopted at the Paris Climate Summit in 2015 with the aim of fighting climate change, which will begin to apply in 2020, which will begin to apply in 2020, as well as 2020, as well as the 2030 Agendaincluding the 17 objectives of sustainable development, successors of the Millennium Development Goals, approved during the celebration of the Millennium Summit in 2000 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

In 2019, the Climate Summit in Madridwith the aim of promoting world action against Climate emergency and implement the Paris Agreement in 2020, as well as ensure that different countries commit to a greater reduction of CO2 throughout 2020. It is still early to know what objectives have been achieved and what they will consist of, since it has been a summit not exempt from controversy, becoming lengthening including the entire weekend due to the impossibility of the different countries of reaching agreements.

One of the greatest examples of environmental policy worldwide, we find it within The 2030 Agendawhich include the objectives of sustainable development, constituting an action plan agreed by the UN member countries to, among other goals, protect the environment and combat climate change worldwide.

The objectives of sustainable development are 17among those that, in the field of environment we find the following:

• Guarantee the availability of water and its sustainable ordering.
• Guarantee access to affordable, sustainable and modern energy.
• Guarantee sustainable consumption and production modalities.
• Adopt urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects (taking note of the agreements held at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
• Keep and use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
• Protect, restore and promote the use of terrestrial ecosystems.
• Make a sustainable management of forests.
• Fight desertification, stop and reverse land degradation.
• Stop the loss of biological diversity.

The goals included in the 2030 Agenda are expressed as worldwide aspirationsbeing the governments of each country that will set their own national goals, taking into consideration the circumstances in which each country is located, but always chasing the common objective. Discover more about this agenda to improve the environment in this other ecology article about what is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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