Ensuring compliance with environmental legislation
GoodCorporation was asked by a leading provider of IT infrastructure services to conduct a comprehensive review of its environmental obligations in law. This included a review of current and future legislative requirements in several different jurisdictions in which the company operated, together with a gap analysis of the company’s compliance with these environmental obligations and recommendations to address any gaps identified.
The gap analysis would ensure that the company gained clear oversight of its environmental responsibilities in law and would be prepared for the changing legislative landscape which is placing ever greater demands on businesses to account for their environmental impacts.
Project scope
A detailed analysis of all applicable existing and forthcoming environmental legislation in the regional scope was carried out to provide an in-depth assessment of the company’s environmental obligations.
Drawing on this review, we evaluated the ways in which the company’s activities triggered different environmental legislation in the jurisdictions in which it operated and conducted a gap analysis of current levels of legal compliance.
Using the findings of the gap analysis, a series of recommendations was produced to help the company address any gaps in compliance and an action plan provided to enable the correct systems and processes to be put in place. GoodCorporation prioritised the action plan to help ensure the most critical issues were addressed first.
GoodCorporation was also asked to produce a timeline of emerging environmental legislation to provide the company with a broader understanding of legislative trends and an indication of any future legislative requirements that they would need to prepare for. This included an analysis of legislation in areas where the company was planning to expand its operations. The project also encompassed an assessment of emerging best practice and standards which informed the recommended action plan and ensured that the company would be confirming to the latest standards of best practice.
Environmental evaluation methodology:
The methodology consisted of four phases:
Stage 1: Scoping and planning: this involved desktop research of environmental legislation in scope of the assessment and the selection of key stakeholders to be interviewed. Interviewees were selected across a range of business functions to obtain information about the environmental management processes and potential environmental impacts of the company’s activities and services.
Stage 2: Identification of applicable legislation: the list of all applicable environmental legislation was produced and added to the company’s internal legislation tracking sheet. .A detailed analysis of the key requirements of each environmental legislation was then conducted in partnership with a French environmental law firm, SKOV Avocats. Additionally, examples of emerging legislative trends were also identified to enable the company to analyse the direction of travel and ascertain where further developments of the compliance programme may be required.
Stage 3: Gap analysis: this comprised a review of the company’s internal process and policy documents underpinned by Teams interviews with 18 managers across key business functions, to evaluate the extent to which the stated practices were embedded within the organisation. The document analysis and interview findings provided a verified and detailed understanding of the company’s business activities, how they relate to environmental legislation and the practices currently in place to comply with any legal requirements. This information was evaluated against all identified legislative requirements and standards contained in the legislation tracking document, to identify any gaps in the company’s practices and procedures.
To find out more about our environmental services view our ESG services or contact a member of our team.
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