Prioritized Aspects and Targets
The aspects ranked according to their significance indicate which aspects can impact the environment more compared to other aspects, but they may have to be prioritized further to decide which aspects should be addressed before others. Ranking and prioritization of aspects is influenced by a number of factors such as severity of impact, consequences of laws violated, probability of imminent risks, resources available for addressing the aspect, organization’s environmental goals, etc. Based on these factors, the aspects should be prioritized.
After prioritizing the aspects, the next step is to establish targets for controlling their impacts. The targets are goals based on the environmental objectives of the organization for controlling the impacts. Establishing targets requires identifying current impacts of particular aspects and their proposed level in the future. For example, a target could be to reduce to electricity use by 25% in 12 months. These targets essentially provide the organization environmental goals to accomplish by managing the activities.
It may not be possible at times to establish targets for all prioritized aspects at once due to resource or other constraints, and they may have to be spread out over a period of time. The table below shows the environmental objectives and their targets for a sample situation.
Objectives |
Targets |
Reduce energy use
|
Reduce electricity and natural gas use by 25% annually
|
Improve compliance with wastewater discharge
|
Zero permit violations within 3 months
|
Improve employees’ awareness of environmental issues
|
Train 75% of employees within 6 months
|
Reduce use of hazardous chemicals
|
Eliminate CFCs by month, year
|
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