In Hackefors Industrial District in Sweden, 26 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) have formed an environmental network and implemented a joint environmental management system (EMS) according to ISO 14001. Based on interviews with the environmental co‐ordinators at these enterprises, the effects on business and environmental efforts and impacts are analysed. It can be concluded that the joint EMS has resulted in better relations with important stakeholders, such as existing and potential customers. For example, three‐fifths said that their EMS had made it easier to receive a contract for the sale of products and services. Several environmental improvements have been observed and are presented in the paper, many of which are considered as consequences of the EMSs. Moreover, based on observations during the study, this paper discusses how boundaries and screening affect the connection between EMSs and environmental performance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

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Do standardised environmental management systems (EMS) lead to improved environmental performance? This depends on to what extent these systems lead to changes in important flows of material and energy, which for manufacturing companies, in turn, mean that the product development process is important. Consequently, it appears vital to investigate the connection between EMS and "Design for the Environment" (DFE), i.e. the connection between these management systems and concepts that deal with environmental issues in product development. This paper presents product-oriented environmental management systems (POEMS), including characteristics of existing models, experiences from projects where these models have been tested and experiences concerning the product connection in 'normal' EMS. It includes a discussion of important factors influencing to what extent DFE activities are integrated into EMS and/or the outcome of such integration.There are many motives for integrating the two concepts. Firstly, DFE-thinking might enrich EMS by contributing with a life-cycle perspective. If EMS encompassed products' life cycles to a greater extent, they would be a better complement to the often facility-oriented legal requirements and authority control. Secondly, EMS might remove the pilot project character of DFE activities and lead to continuous improvement. Thirdly, integration could lead to successful co-operation, both internally and externally. However, existing studies show that there is a mixed picture concerning to what extent 'normal' EMS encompass products today.

Improving the CO2 performance of cement, part I: Utilizing life-cycle assessment and key performance indicators to assess development within the cement industry, 2015, Journal of Cleaner Production, (98) AbstractCement is a vital and commonly used construction material that requires large amounts of resources and the manufacture of which causes significant environmental impact. However, there are many different types of cement products, roughly ranging from traditional products with rather linear resource flows to more synergistic alternatives where industrial byproducts are utilized to a large extent. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies indicate the synergistic products are favorable from an environmental perspective.In co-operation with the global cement producing company CEMEX a research project has been carried out to contribute to a better understanding of the CO2 performance of different ways of producing cement, and different cement products. The focus has been on Cluster West, which is a cement production cluster consisting of three plants in Germany.This paper is the first in a series of three, all of which are included in this special issue. It has two main aims. The first is to carry out an attributional LCA and compare three different cement products produced in both linear and synergistic production setups. This has been done for cradle to gate, focusing on CO2-eq emissions for Cluster West. The second aim of this part is to develop and test a simplified LCA model for this production cluster, with the intention to be able to compare different versions of the production system based on the information of a few parameters.The attributional LCA showed that cement products that contain a large proportion of byproducts, in this case, ground granulated blast furnace slag from the iron and steel industry, had the lowest unit emissions of CO2-eq. The difference between the lowest emission product (CEM III/B) and the highest (CEM I) was about 66% per tonne. A simplified LCA model based on six key performance indicators, instead of approximately 50 parameters for the attributional LCA, was established. It showed that Cluster West currently emits about 45% less CO2-eq per tonne of average product compared to 1997. The simplified LCA model can be used effectively to model future changes of both plants and products (which is further discussed in part II and part III).

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The ISO 14001 standard leaves a lot to be interpreted by its users. As the standard is growing in popularity the external environmental auditors are becoming key players in the environmental arena. Through interpretations, they form the linkage between the standard document and its application in reality.This study is based on interviews conducted with auditors representing all nine certification bodies in Sweden and at the board that accredits these firms. The paper presents how auditors interpret and apply central requirements of ISO 14001, with the aim to illuminate important issues from an environmental point of view.It can be concluded that many important requirements are interpreted differently. There are disagreements regarding what criteria are approved when determining which environmental aspects are significant. Further on, the standard's requirement for continual improvement is normally transformed to improvements regarding a few ratios. The paper, amongst other issues, also deals with auditors' competence, their objectivity and their opinions about the efforts of certified organizations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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