Sustainability at the EMCDDA

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), in response to the growing need to preserve and improve the environment and to the calls for its protection, is committed to continually improving its environmental performance as an important part of the Centre’s operating philosophy.

The EMCDDA’s environmental management system is based on the EU eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS). The environmental policy of the EMCDDA frames the intention of the agency and creates the legal framework defining the scope of the environmental management system. After 9 years of being in place, the environmental policy was updated to reflect the EMAS registration of the EMCDDA. The Director appointed a Working Group on Environment with a mandate to review, communicate and propose measures related to the environmental performance of the agency. There are two reporting lines within the environmental management system that include all mapped stakeholders. The environmental performance of the EMCDDA is reported within the annual work plan review process in the form of key performance indicators, and through the annual publication of the agency’s environmental report. The findings and targets of the environmental report are reviewed by the Working Group on Environment, which then issues recommendations to the Director. Environmental matters are internally promoted and published through the Working Group on Environment while the Environmental Statement is published on the EMCDDA website for the external communication to stakeholders. The use of green public procurement is required. The EMCDDA decided to achieve EMAS certification by 2023.

The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a premium management instrument developed by the European Commission for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance. EMAS is open to every type of organisation eager to improve its environmental performance. It spans all economic and service sectors and is applicable worldwide.

EMAS stands for…

• PERFORMANCE: EMAS supports organisations in finding the right tools to improve their environmental performance. Participating organisations voluntarily commit to both evaluating and reducing their environmental impact.
• CREDIBILITY: Third-party verification guarantees the external and independent nature of the EMAS registration process.
• TRANSPARENCY: Providing publicly available information on an organisation’s environmental performance is an important aspect of EMAS. Organisations achieve greater transparency both externally through the environmental statement and internally through employees' active involvement.

Since the first environmental impact assessment of the EMCDDA in 2015, the carbon footprint of the agency has been drastically reduced through a continuous improvement cycle.