ENVIRONMENT AUDIT

Audit practice assignment

Submitted to- Submitted by-

Mr. Digvijay Singh Katoch Shivam tripathi
Assistant Professor, BBA LLB(3rd sem)
Management
1120192046

Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla

Ghandal, Himachal Pradesh 171011

Page | 0
Contents
Introduction-..............................................................................................................3
Background................................................................................................................3
Environmental Audit in Academic Institutes............................................................5
Research methodology..............................................................................................6
Pre-audit Stage.......................................................................................................6
Establishment of Environmental management system......................................6
Declaration of Environmental Policy................................................................7
Planning of Programmes or Activities..............................................................7
Audit Stage............................................................................................................8
Actual Auditing.................................................................................................8
Review of Environment Policy.........................................................................8
Review of Programmes or Activities................................................................8
Post-audit Stage.....................................................................................................8
Evaluation of Findings......................................................................................8
Reporting with Recommendations....................................................................8
Preparation of an Action Plan............................................................................9
Follow-up..........................................................................................................9
Checking of Documents and Evaluation...........................................................9
Certification.......................................................................................................9
Continuous Process Assessment............................................................................9
Generating carbon foot print data..........................................................................9
Energy management............................................................................................10
Solid Waste Management....................................................................................10
Water management..............................................................................................11
Hazardous waste Management............................................................................12
E-waste management...........................................................................................12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................12
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
  
The success and final outcome of this assignment required guidance and assistance from
many people and I am extremely fortunate to have got this all along the completion of our
assignment work. I express my gratitude towards my subject teacher for giving me this
opportunity to do work on this topic and learn so much along the way. Ever encouraging
seniors helped me at every step of the assignment.  

Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the staff of Himachal Pradesh National Law
University, who gave me the permission to access to all the required equipment in
completing this project. This assignment could not have been completed without each
one’s help.
Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect
man.
Stewart Udall

Introduction-
Earth is the only planet where we can live, so its environment is essential to
breathe and make our life to live. No life can exist without a suitable environment
for a human being. Increasing population, civilization, industrialization, and
urbanization on earth bring the environment under tremendous pressure.

India is the first country, which makes the environment audit compulsory. The
Government of India on 13 March 1992 made it mandatory for all industries to
provide annual environmental audit reports of their operation, beginning with
1992-93. According to this provision, the industry has to give details of water, raw
materials, energy resources used, and the products and wastes generated by them.

It can be defined as an essential management tool comprising systematic,

documented, periodic, and objective evaluation of how well environmental
organizations, management systems, and equipment perform. The audit aims to
facilitate management control or ecological practices and enable the company to
assess compliance with its policies, including meeting regulatory requirements.

Background
The green audit was first implemented in the USA in the early 1970s by some
companies after implementing the Clean Air and Clean Water act. This audit
process initiated from response of the US's commercial policies to natural
requirement and not from the authorities. Afterward these policies results into an
act to compensate the environmental loss that they were causing.

In UK, a few major companies mainly the the British Petroleum introduced
guidelines of environmental auditing for the first time in 1975. It was then made
applicable to local authority sections in this country when ‘Enviornmental Charter
for Local Government of the friends of the Earth’ came in light in the year 1989.
By 1992, more or less half of the local authorities of UK stood for the audit
completely or partially.

The United Natons Conference on environment and Development, also kanown as

Earth Summit Rio-1992 held at Rio de Janerio, Portugeese from 3rd to 14th June
1992 inspired the countries on the globe to review their environmental stand to act
effevtively to save the earth with sustainable approach. It was the major
achievement of Earth Summit Rio-1992 the most of the countries have accepted
their national strategy for sustainable development consisting of policy and
programmes aimed to promote environment. This Rio sprit shows significant
progress in most of the countries and they have changed and upgraded the
environmental situation to the possible extent. Its works also motivated the Asian
countries to focus on environment conscious.

India was the first country in the world, which make environmental audit
compulsory. All the industries were communicated to report their annual
environment audit to their concerned state Pollution Board, giving details of water,
raw materials and energy resources used while their operation and as well as
production from 1992 ( National Environmental Policy 2006).

The environmental audit could not make much headway even after the two years.
Out of the lakh of industries that existed in India, only 2995 audits were filed. The
possible reasons would be.

I. Hurriedly implementations of statue and law, and less aware of that laws
and liability under the enoviorment audit.
II. Expensive cost of environment audit.
III. Longer period of conmpletion.
IV. No follows of plans.
V. No evaluation of the reports by concerned PCBs and no feedback provided.
VI. The fear of reveals the secret trade secret concerned industries also was
found.
Environmental Audit in Academic Institutes.

In 2006, Government Of India has declared the National environment Policy

2006 and made green audit mandatory to each industry. According to this
policy it is a response to India’s national commitment to a clean
environment, mandated in the Constitution in Article 48A and 51A (g),
DPSP strengthened by the judicial interporetation of Article 21.
It is contented that only that manitience of healty environment is not
responsibility of nations, but every citizens should aware that and help the
nation achive the sustainable environment.
The provisions of environment audit was formalize by Supreme Audit
Institution (SAI) according to the guidelines given in Manual of Standards
Orders (MSO) issued by the authority of the Controller and Auditer and
Auditer General Of India 2002.
The Supreme Audit Institution of India is the highest Institution of auditing
in the country.

After realizing the responsibility toward the environment, NAAC, an

autonomous body under UGC has added the concept of environmental audit
in accreditation methodologies of universities and colleges.

Aims and objectives of Environmental Audit in Academic institutes.

a) To provide the baseline information to enable organization to evaluate and
manage environmental change, threat and risk.
b) To identify the and control the impact of activities of organizationa on
environment.
c) To identify the different pressures on organizations to improve their
environment.
d) To establish the parameters for maintaining health and welfare of the
community of the organization.
e) To set the procedure for disposal of all types of harmful wastes.
f) To reduce energy consumption, and promote the adopting the renewal
energy.
 g) To make sure that rule and regulations are taken care to avoid the
interruptions in environment.
h) To recognize, dignose and resolve the environmental problems.

To achieve the mentioned objectives following stages are implemented. It

includes three stages viz. pre-audit stage, audit stage and post-audit stage.
Each of these stages comprises a number of clearly defined objectives, with
each objective to be achibbved through specific actions and these actions
yielding results in the form of output at the end of each stage.
Keeping the importance of environmental audit in view, the present study
focuses on reviewing the process of environment audit and the major to be
taken by academic institutes to contributes towards environment.

Research methodology
In this article, secondary data is used. It is obtained from the environmental
audit reports of colleges across India.

Pre-audit Stage
Establishment of Environmental management system
The first and very important phase of green audit is establishment of an
environmental management systems by an organization. The environmental
management systems is the backbone of the auditing process and its role is broad
and wide. Every aspect of green audit is monitored by the system. The
organization should establish the environmental management.
“Environment Management System includes all stakeholders of an organization
comprising top management to the functional team. Each of them has given a
specific task of compliance within stipulated period.
Declaration of Environmental Policy
The Environment Management System should declare ‘Environment Policy of an
Organization’ and communicate it to all the concerns stakeholders. The policy is
the reflection of goals, objectives, scope and priorities of the organization related
to environment sustenance.

Planning of Programmes or Activities

As per the declared environmental policy, the Environment Management
System should plan and execute their programmes and activities in comprehensive
and systematic manner. All environmental aspects related to the organization and
their legal requirements should be studied before the planning of such activities.
Implementation and Operations

During implementation and operation processes the EMS requires to define roles,
responsibilities and authorities of key personnel, commit to staff training,
maintain effective communication channels, adopt effective documentation and
operational controls and maintain sufficient awareness on emergency
preparedness among the staff. The EMS should evaluate all implemented
programmes and processes and modify it as per the environment policy.

Audit Stage
Actual Auditing
The Environment Management System plans and executes the actual visit of an
auditor of concerned agency.

Review of Environment Policy

The auditor takes the review of the Environment Policy by evaluation of
documents as well as personal interviews of representatives of stakeholders.

Review of Programmes or Activities

The auditor also takes the review of all the planned and implemented programmes
or activities by evaluation of documents as well as personal interviews of
representatives of stakeholders.

Post-audit Stage
The post-audit stage is the role of an auditor. The auditor considers all the facts
and observations of the audit together in concern with the Environment
Management System.

Evaluation of Findings
The auditor evaluates the findings as per the standard procedure.

Reporting with Recommendations

The auditor prepares a brief report of the audit along with recommendations
in consultation with the EMS and sends it to the auditing agency.
 Preparation of an Action Plan
According to the recommendations given by an auditor the EMS should chalk
out the action plan and accomplish it effectively.

Follow-up
The auditor takes the follow-up of the programmes or activities periodically.

Checking of Documents and Evaluation

The auditor evaluates the documents rigorously and suggests necessary
recommendations

Certification
After successful completion of audit, an organization will be honoured with the
certificate and the certificate is valid for three years.

Continuous Process Assessment

As mentioned earlier the green audit is continuous process. The Environment
Management System of an organization should adhere to this continuous
process of green auditing as per the environment policy and recommendations
and go for the auditing process again after three years. Initiatives by academic
institutes for Green Campus

As green auditing aims at improving the environmental status, following measures

can be taken by academic institutes to contribute toward sustainable
environment.

Generating carbon foot print data

Carbon foot print is the total amount of Green House Gases (GHGs) emitted
in terms of carbon dioxide by a person, institute, company, state or country. For
calculation of carbon foot print the basic data regarding direct and indirect sources
of emission of Green House Gases is needed. The GHG emissions are generally
calculated through the application of documented emission factors. The
documented emission factors are ratios relating GHG emission to proxy measures
of activities (GHGP Ref) like use of electricity, use of diesel generators for
electricity generation or any other purpose, LPG consumption, food wasted and
vehicular emission. The software like ChevronTexaco are available to calculate
the GHG. Reduction of GHGs can be achieved by plantation. It is a widely
accepted solution for reduction of carbon foot print on campus. The plants selected
must be suitable to the soil and climatic conditions. Indigenous plants which
help in building soil fertility and coppicing ability are suitable for the academic
campus. Tree sensus should be conducted periodically. Measures for
biodiversity conservation also highlight the efforts towards environment. Even
though plantation is regular activity in the academic institutions, 50% institutes
take sincere efforts towards it while 50% of the institutes do not have sincere
concern about it. Following ‘No vehicle’ day, use of bicycles, public transport
are many options. However, readiness towards its acceptance is needed

Energy management
Consumption of energy helps in understanding the success towards green
environment. Lesser the consumption of energy more contribution the
environment is. Electricity can be used efficiently by replacing CFL bulbs and tube
lights with LED lamps and fluroscent tubes wherever possible and use of LED
screens in place of CRT. Star rated Air conditioners should be placed in
place of old air conditioners. Efficiency of air conditioners should be increased
by minimizing the leakage using through open doors and cupboards of the room.
Infrastructural changes that allows maximum natural light but minimizes heat in-
grace help in reducing the use of electricity. Simple practices like cleaning
skylights and lamps will increase the luminosity. There should not be any idle
energy consumption. Screen savers on computers increase energy consumption
than in sleep mode. Use of 15” monitor @1024*768 resolution consume 6
watt less energy than 17”-19” monitor with higher resolution (Gowri and
Harikrishna 2014). Considering there are 500 computers in the institute, it is
possible to reduce 3000 watt per day. Use of laptops over the desktops also help
reducing energy consumption. Energy consumed by laptop is less than that of
desktop (NRDC). Use of renewable source of energy is widely accepted option
now a days. The survey showed that 60% of academic institutions in India
opt for solar panels although not rely completely on to it. 20% of the
institutions do not harness solar energy while 20% are not take need of solar energy
seriously.
Solid Waste Management
Managing our own waste is the responsibility of every individual. The solid
waste produced in academic institutes mainly consists of papers and garden waste.
Other than that glassware and old instruments form the bulk. Paper waste can
be reduced by maximizing e-communication and e-learning. Use of one side
papers is one of the best solution for reducing paper waste. The papers after use
can be turned into handmade papers. Some papers which do not have confidential
data can be given into the scrap for recycling. Other recyclable materials like
cardboards, broken glassware, and metal should be given to the vendors. Use of
paper cups can be minimized by replacing them with ceramic cups. Single
used plastic bottles can be replaced with refillable vessels. Plastic waste can be
collected separately and given to the agencies which are specialized in recycling
plastic waste. Tetrapacks also can be collected separately and given for the
agencies reuse and recycle them. Disposal of sanitary waste should not be
neglected. At educational institute good quality incinerators is the best option
which reduces the sterile ash. Garden waste can be for composting. Many efficient
and effortless processes are existing for the same. Many academic institutions
follow most of these practices. Composting is one of the easiest ways to manage
biodegradable waste. During current study it was found that only 50% colleges do
composting, 20% do not do and 30% are not serious about it. Silvennoinen et al.
(2015) divide food waste between originally edible and originally inedible, the
latter referring to, for example, vegetable peelings, bones and coffee grounds. The
food waste of both the categories can be managed efficiently by having biogas
plants and anaerobic digesters. The sludge can be further processed into compost.
Study by California energy commission estimated that codigestion food processing
waste and waste water at waste water treatment plant could increase biogas
potential (Kulkarni 2009). However, the pre-processing of food waste before co-
digestion is needed (Kuo and Dow 2015). The biogas, thus generated can be used
to replace LPG in biogas and chemistry laboratories. Any academic institute
hardly indulge into biogas and sewage treatment plant in their institution.

Water management
Water is a very valuable resource and everybody is gaining the awareness about
the value of water. Many known technologies can work efficiently. Rain water
harvesting, sewage treatment and its use for horticulture and garden, no leakage
from the tap, use of push button taps, use of lowflow faucets, automatic faucets,
and/or faucet aerators, use of condensed water of AC for gardening, use of
sprinklers for watering lawn, use of RO water, Recycling of RO waste water are
few of them. Rain water harvesting is choice for water management in 70% of
academic institutes of India according to the present study. The study also says
that only 20% have sewage treatment plant.

Hazardous waste Management

Green Chemistry approach helps in reducing the excess use of chemicals and also
provides approach towards reducing hazardous waste products. Broken glassware,
plastic needles, syringes, razor blades, slides, scalpels, pipettes, broken plastic or
glassware, micropipettes and pipette tips ware creates a potential hazard. Triple
rinse with copious amounts of water help in reducing the pathogens and
neutralizing harmful chemicals on to it. Collect the first rinse as
chemical/harmful waste. Rinse two and three can go down the sanitary sewer. The
empty/triple rinsed containers can then be placed in a glass only box, recycling
container or directly into the dumpster. Use of sterilized agar waste for
composting is one of the ways of waste management. Purchase of minimal
chemicals as per the requirement avoids wastage of chemicals.

E-waste management
Management of E-waste is more challenging problem rising along with
development in technologies. Kitila (2015) found in his study in educational
institutions of Ethiopia that desk top computers generate majority of E-waste
since most of the staff and students rely on them for their work and lifespan of
computers is very short. The main reason for voluminous E-waste is lack of
awareness about the potential hazard to living being and to environment,
absence of legislations, shortage of recyclers and refurbishing shops etc. There is
very scarce data regarding e-waste generation and its management in Indian
Academic Institutions. The survey conducted during the study showed that 50%
institutions handover the e-waste to the agency for further disposal whereas 50% of
them have not responded.
Conclusion
Green audit, also referred as environmental audit should be implemented by
higher education institutes. One should understand the process of
environmental auditing. It is a continuous process. Once learnt about the short fall
about the efforts towards environmental conservation, one can plan about some
of the initiatives mentioned above. Though academic institutes take part in
restoring the environment, still there is scope for the further action.
References
Arora, P. (2017). Environmental Audit – Need of the Hour. International Journal
Of Advanced Research In Engineering & Management (IJAREM), 3(4), 25-31.

National Environmetal Policy (2006) Government of India, Ministry of

Environment and Forest.

Aparajita Gogoi (1995). Environmental Audits- a Mean to Going Green.

Development Alternatives (Delhi, India), 5(4), 7.

Gowri, S., Harikrishnan, V. (2014) Green Computing: Analyzing Power

Consumption using Local Cooling. International Journal of Engineering Trends
and Technology (IJETT). 15 (3), 105.

Silvennoinen, K., Heikkilä, L., Katajajuuri, J.M., & Reinikainen, A. (2015).

Food waste volume and origin: Case studies in the Finnish food service sector.
Waste Management, 46, 140.

Kulkarni, P. (2009). Combined heat and power potential at the California

wastewater treatment plants. California Energy Commission,
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2009

Kuo, J. abd Dow, J. (2015). Biogas production from anaerobic digestion of food
waste and relevant air quality implications. Journal of the Air & Waste
Management Associatio, 67 (9), 1000.

Kitila A.W. (2015) Electronic Waste Management in Educational Institutions

of Ambo Town, Ethiopia, East Africa. International Journal of Sciences:Basic and
applied Research, 24(4), 319.