The state of environmental performance evaluation in the public sector: the case of the Portuguese defence sector

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of organizations is becoming an autonomous management tool. The main goal of this research was to assess the state of EPE practice in the Portuguese defence sector, as a particular part of public services. A questionnaire survey was conducted involving all Portuguese military units that have a person in charge of environmental issues. The questionnaire was designed to assess: (i) the importance and drivers of EPE; (ii) the ISO 14031 knowledge and implementation; (iii) the knowledge and use of environmental indicators; (iv) the optimal format for indicators; and (v) the advantages and drawbacks of using environmental indicators. Despite various initiatives driving environmental practices in public organizations, most of that experience is only centred on an environmental management system, and EPE is quite a new issue. Nevertheless, general environmental performance evaluation is a growing reality and one in which Portuguese military units are taking an increasing interest. Overall respondents agree on the importance of measuring and communicating environmental performance related to their main missions and activities. The main drivers for EPE in military units are the prevention of health risks and compliance with regulations. However, to date, ISO 14031 and environmental performance indicators are almost unknown in the respondent military units. Among the three military branches, the Navy revealed the worst environmental performance evaluation knowledge, awareness and practice.

Environmental Orientation in Swedish Local Governments

“…When local governments increase their environmental orientation, the use of environmental performance indicators seems to grow [18,58] and the interest in reporting the environmental performance within the municipality to various stakeholders increases. Prior research dealing with environmental performance indicators is quite diverse and a number of studies have been carried out with different focuses.…”

“…The indicators used in the reporting convey information so that it is understood by a multitude of stakeholders, i.e., politicians, municipal staff, companies, engineers, economists, administrators and the general public [61]. The reporting provides an assessment of internal sustainability efforts and control [18,58]. Environmental performance indicators facilitate decision-making and management within the organization [18,46,58,61].…”

“…The reporting provides an assessment of internal sustainability efforts and control [18,58]. Environmental performance indicators facilitate decision-making and management within the organization [18,46,58,61]. Selecting relevant indicators is also found to be one of the critical tasks [62] in organizations.…”

Análise da gestão ambiental nos institutos federais de educação, ciência e tecnologia

“…A fim de combinar os resultados obtidos em cada questão do questionário de ADA, um índice, o IADAIFE, foi desenvolvido para processar as informações de forma simplificada e útil, tomando como base teoria proposta por Ramos et al (2009) …”

“…Por conseguinte, pode refletir diferentes problemas, tais como: a tendência para melhorar o meio ambiente, o estado do meio ambiente, a eficiência do meio ambiente, o cumprimento das normas ambientais, entre outros. Apesar dos diferentes significados, uma série de ferramentas de gestão ambiental utilizam a expressão desempenho ambiental: auditoria ambiental, avaliação de impacto ambiental, avaliação de risco ambiental, sistemas de gestão ambiental (SGA), entre outros (RAMOS et al, 2009).…”