How to increase productivity while reducing
environmental impact?
A new ISO standard does just that, by helping
business cut costs linked to waste and emissions and enhancing their
environmental performance.
The standard, ISO 14051:2011, Environmental
management – Material flow cost accounting – General framework, assists
organizations to better understand the environmental and financial consequences
of their material and energy use practices, so that they can identify
opportunities for improvement.
ISO 14051:2011 establishes a management information
system approach called Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA), which can be used
to trace and quantify material input and output flows and stocks within an
organization. The system helps identify material and energy use practices, and
understand these in costs and physical terms. The information can then be
applied to reduce losses and increase gains.
Prof. Katsuhiko Kokubu, Convenor of the working
group that developed the standard says, “Many organizations are unaware of the
full extent of the cost of their material losses because this data is often
difficult to extract from conventional information, accounting and
environmental management systems. MFCA produces such precise and clear data
that it can motivate managers to enhance material productivity and
significantly reduce unnecessary waste far more effectively than through
conventional means.”
“The bottom line is that not only do organizations
increase profits, but they improve their environmental performance and
contribute to sustainable development,” concludes Prof. Kokubu.
MFCA is applicable to all industries that use
materials and energy, including extractive, manufacturing, service and other
industries. It can be implemented by organizations of any type and scale, with
or without environmental management systems in place, in emerging economies as
well as in industrialized countries.
MFCA is one of the major tools of environmental
management accounting and is primarily designed for use within a single
facility or organization. However, MFCA can be extended to multiple organizations
within a supply chain, to help them develop and integrated approach to more
efficient use of materials and energy.
ISO 14051 was developed by ISO technical committee
ISO/TC 207, Environmental management.
ISO 14051: 2011, Environmental management –
Material flow cost accounting – General framework, is available from
ISO national member institutes (see thecomplete list with contact
details). It may also be obtained directly from the ISO Central Secretariat,
price 140 Swiss francs respectively through the ISO
Store or by contacting the Marketing, Communication & Information
department (see right-hand column).
Source: www.iso.org
29 March, 2012.