General Information

The Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement (COTA) is pleased to offer a series of workshops addressing environmental issues and to provide the tools and skills necessary to develop and implement an ESMS.

What is an ESMS?

An Environmental and Sustainability Management System is a set of management processes and procedures that allows an organization to analyze, control and reduce the environmental impact of its activities, products and services, and operate with a greater efficiency and control. An ESMS is useful for organizations of any size in both the public and private sectors.

The basic elements of an ESMS include:

• Identifying the organization’s environmental aspects and associated impacts
• Developing and establishing programs to mitigate risks associated with the threats and opportunities
• Identifying objectives and goals associated with programs
• Identifying compliance obligations
• Monitoring and measuring progress in achieving the objectives
• Ensuring employees’ environmental awareness and competence
• Reviewing progress of the ESMS and making improvements

What are the Benefits?

An ESMS provides tools to help manage your organization’s environmental impacts efficiently and to improve environmental stewardship across the entire organization.

Environmental benefits include:

• Reduction in the number, type and severity of environmental compliance incidents
• Improved relationships with state and federal regulators
• Reduction in waste and pollution
• Recovered resources
• Increased fuel economy

Performance benefits include:

• Enhanced public image with system users and the general public
• Improved communications and cooperation through training and outreach
• Reinforcement of environmental processes currently in place
• Proactive management of environmental issues
• Captures employee knowledge (“institutional memory”)
• Documentation of standard operating procedures
• Increased operational efficiencies

Upcoming Courses

Intro to ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems

"The EMS Institute led by Virginia Tech has set the standard of providing assistance to local governments managing their environmental issues effectively and efficiently."
Jim Horne, US Environmental Protection Agency