EIRIS found that almost all companies demonstrating improvements in environmental performance have a good EMS. A good EMS is not, however, a guarantee of good performance as judged by the degree of environmental improvement a company can demonstrate. EIRIS urges investors and regulators to look beyond words to a company's actions. The report showed:
- most (72.6%) high impact companies analysed in over 20 countries have implemented an environmental management system of at least 'moderate' standard
- almost half (48%) demonstrated some improvement in performance over the previous three years. However, big differences remain. In Switzerland, Italy and Portugal, over 75% of companies had demonstrated some environmental improvement, but this is true of fewer than 25% of companies in Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland.
A copy of the report is available at www.eiris.org/Files/Otherpublications/EMSPerformanceOctober2005.pdf
