The Green Dragon Environmental Standard is a stepped standard recognising effective environmental management. The Standard offers an environmental management system relevant to the specific needs of your company and rewards actions taken to achieve environmental improvements.
There are five levels of the standard, with each step contributing towards acheivement of the International and European environmental standards, ISO 14001 and EMAS. During the appraisal and audit processes for the Green Dragon Standard, there is an evaluation of costs as well as environmental performance - this means that at each stage the company will have an outline environmental management system that relates to its bottom line.
The standard is made up of five steps each incorporating the key elements of Planning, Taking Action, Checking Progress and Reviewing Achievements to realise continual environmental improvement.
Some organisations may progress through each of the steps until they reach level 5. However, businesses can enter the process at any level and remain at whichever level is most appropriate.
All the accommodation businesses featured on this site have achieved Level 2 or above of the standard.The Green Dragon Standard Level 2 focuses on understanding relevant environmental legal obligations and taking action to ensure that these obligations are met.
In order to achieve Level Two, a business must have achieved all the requirements of Level 1 in addition to the requirements set down in Level 2 itself.
There are four main elements to this second level of the Green Dragon Standard. These elements are designed to build upon the initial steps taken in Level 1 to work towards a more robust environmental management system, whilst still being relevant to the smaller organisation.
The elements of Level 2 include:
Statement of Environmental Impacts
Using the Environmental Review prepared for Level 1, the organisation should highlight those areas of its activities and operations that have a key impact on the environment. These activities and their associated environmental impacts should be documented and recognised by senior management.
Register of Environmental Legislation
Using the information gathered as part of the Environmental Review for Level one, the organisation should identify and record all environmental legislation and other obligations that are applicable to the operations of the organisation. Steps should be taken to ensure compliance with the identified environmental obligations.
Internal Communication
The organisation should ensure that all employees are aware of the organisation's key impacts on the environment and understand their responsibilities and duties with regard to protecting the environment, complying with legal obligations and generally improving the organisation's impact on the environment.
Environmental Records
Monitoring should be carried out to obtain information on key environmental indicators within the organisation. The organisation should ensure that adequate records are maintained to ensure the effectiveness of the environmental management system.
Organisations achieving the Level 2 standard will receive a certificate demonstrating their commitment to environmental management, and their company details and environmental policy will be registered on this website.
The organisation will be audited annually to ensure the standard is being maintained.
For further information on the Green Dragon Environmental Standard and an up to date list of certified companies visit http://www.greendragonems.com/english/standard/index.asp
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