MEANING AND DEFINITION:

The term environment has been derived from a French word “Environia”

means to surround. It refers to both abiotic (physical or non-living) and

biotic (living) environment. The word environment means surroundings,

in which organisms live. Environment and the organisms are two

dynamic and complex component of nature. Environment regulates the

life of the organisms including human beings. Human beings interact

with the environment more vigorously than other living beings.

Ordinarily environment refers to the materials and forces that surrounds

the living organism.

Environment is the sum total of conditions that surrounds us at a given

point of time and space. It is comprised of the interacting systems of

physical, biological and cultural elements which are interlinked both

individually and collectively. Environment is the sum total of conditions

in which an organism has to survive or maintain its life process. It

influences the growth and development of living forms.

In other words environment refers to those surroundings that surrounds

living beings from all sides and affect their lives in toto. It consists of

atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. It’s chief

components are soil, water, air, organisms and solar energy. It has
provided us all the resources for leading a comfortable life. Environment

is defined as the conditions and circumstances that surround someone.

The combination of external physical conditions that affect and influence

the growth, development, behavior, and survival of organisms. All of the

conditions, circumstances, etc. that surround and influence life on earth,

including atmospheric conditions, food chains, and the water cycle

1. According to P. Gisbert “Environment is anything immediately

surrounding an object and exerting a direct influence on it.”

2. According to E. J. Ross “Environment is an external force which

influences us.”

Thus, environment refers to anything that is immediately surrounding an

object and exerting a direct influence on it. Our environment refers to

those thing or agencies which though distinct from us, affect our life or

activity. The environment by which man is surrounded and affected by

factors which may be natural, artificial, social, biological and

psychological.

Components of Environment:

Environment mainly consists of atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere

and biosphere. But it can be roughly divided into two types such as (a)
Micro environment and (b) Macro environment. It can also be divided

into two other types such as (c) Physical and (d) biotic environment.

(a) Micro environment refers to the immediate local surrounding of the

organism.

(b) Macro environment refers to all the physical and biotic conditions that

surround the organism externally.

(c) Physical environment refers to all abiotic factors or conditions like

temperature, light, rainfall, soil, minerals etc. It comprises of atmosphere,

lithosphere and hydrosphere.

(d) Biotic environment includes all biotic factors or living forms like

plants, animals, Micro-organisms.

Meaning, Definition and Components of Environment- puja mondal

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-components-of-environment/6157)

Environment is the total set of surrounding; the ecological complex of

physical, chemical and biological factors that act upon an organism,

population or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form,

functions and survival.

Environment is the product of a complex of variable factors which

include (i) substances (soil, water), (ii) conditions (temperature, light), (iii)
forces (wind, gravity), (iv) organisms (plants, animals and microbes) and

(v) time

Jayanta kumar biswas(2018)

Basic types of environment

Natural environment: Include water, light, land, air and all organisms that

live in nature.

Industrial environment: Include cities, villages, factories and all humans’

synthesis.

Social environment: Include authorities, universities, schools, companies

and other establishments along with their output legal and their

communication ways. https://www.ukessays.com/

What are Environmental Concerns?

Our Mother Earth is currently facing a lot of environmental concerns. The

environmental problems like global warming, acid rain, air pollution,

urban sprawl, waste disposal, ozone layer depletion, water pollution,

climate change and many more affect every human, animal, and nation on

this planet.

Over the last few decades, the exploitation of our planet and the
degradation of our environment has gone up at an alarming rate. As our

actions have been not in favor of protecting this planet, we have seen

natural disasters striking us more often in the form of flash floods,

earthquakes, blizzards, tsunamis, and cyclones.

ISSUES UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

1. Air Pollution

Pollution of air, water, and soil takes a huge number of years to recover.

Industry and engine vehicle fumes are the most obvious toxins.

Substantial metals, nitrates, and plastic are p While water contamination

is brought about by oil slicks, acid rain, and urban sprawl; air

contamination is created by different gasses and poisons discharged by

businesses and manufacturing plants and burning of fossil fills; soil

contamination is majorly created by mechanical waste that takes

supplements out of the soil.

2. Water Pollution

Clean drinking water is turning into an uncommon thing. Water is turning

into a monetary and political concern as the human populace battles for

this need. Waste from industrial and agricultural activities pollute the

water that is used by humans, animals, and plants.

3: Soil and Land Pollution

Land pollution simply means degradation of the earth’s surface as a result

of human activities like mining, littering, deforestation, industrial,

construction, and agricultural activities. Land pollution can have a huge

environmental impact in the form of air pollution and soil pollution

which in turn can have an adverse effect on human health.

4. Climate Change

Climate change is yet another environmental concern that has surfaced in

the last couple of decades. Environmental change has different

destructive impacts that include, but are not limited to, the melting of

polar ice, change in seasons, new sicknesses, and change in the general

climate situation.

5. Global Warming

Environmental asset abuse is also an important environmental concern.

Fossil fuel utilization brings about the discharge of greenhouse gasses,

which causes environmental change. However, individuals are taking

endeavors to move to renewable energy sources

6. Deforestation & Logging

Our woodlands create new oxygen and additionally help in managing

temperature and precipitation. At present, timberlands cover 30% of the

area, but wooded areas are being lost on a regular basis because people

are looking for homes, food, and materials. Deforestation is a huge

problem and will just continue to get worse

7. Increased Carbon Footprint

Temperature increases, like climate change, are the consequence of

human practices, including the use of greenhouse gasses. When the

atmosphere changes and the heat increases, it can cause a number of

problems and start to destroy the world we live in

8. Genetic Modification

Genetic modification utilizing biotechnology is called genetic

engineering. Genetic engineering of food brings about expanded poisons

and sicknesses as qualities from a hypersensitive plant can exchange to

the target plant. Some of these crops can even be a threat to the world

around us, as animals start to ingest the unnatural chemicals and such.

9. Effect on Marine Life

The amount of carbon in the water and the atmosphere is continuing to be

a problem in the world around us. The primary effect is on shellfish and

microscopic fish, and it has similar effects on osteoporosis in humans.

10. Public Health Issues

The current environmental concerns represent a considerable measure of

danger to the well-being of people and creatures. Dirty water is the

greatest well-being danger of the world and poses a risk to the health and

lifespan of people and animals.

11. Overpopulation

The number of inhabitants on the planet is arriving at unsustainable levels

as it confronts a deficiency of assets like water, fuel, and food.

Overpopulation is one of the most important environmental concerns.

12: Loss of Biodiversity

Biodiversity is yet another casualty due to the impact of human beings on

the environment. It is the result of 3.5 billion years of evolution. Habitat

destruction is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Habitat loss is caused by

deforestation, overpopulation, pollution, and global warming.

13. Household and Industrial Waste

The overutilization of assets and the formation of plastics are making a

worldwide emergency of waste transfer. Developed nations are infamous

for creating an unreasonable measure of waste or junk and dumping their

waste in the seas and, less created nations

14. Ozone Layer Depletion

The ozone layer is an undetectable layer of protection around the planet

that secures us from the sun’s unsafe beams. The depletion of the critical

Ozone layer of the air is credited to contamination brought about by

Bromide and Chlorine found in Chlorofloro carbons (CFCs). When these

poisonous gasses reach the upper parts of the atmosphere, they cause a

gap in the ozone layer, the greatest of which is over the Antarctic.

15. Mining

Mining results in the extraction of minerals from the earth’s core. These

minerals also bring out harmful chemicals from deep inside the earth to

the earth’s surface. The toxic emissions from mining can cause air, water,

and soil pollution.

16: Natural Resource Depletion

Non-renewable resources are limited and will get expired one day.

Consumption of fossil fuels at an alarming rate can lead to global

warming which can further result in the melting of polar ice caps and an

increase in sea levels

17: Natural Disasters

Natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, cyclones, volcanic

eruptions can be unpredictable, devastating, and can cause irreparable

damage. They can cause a huge loss of life and property.

18: Nuclear Issues

Radioactive waste is a nuclear fuel that contains radioactive substances

and is a by-product of nuclear power generation. The radioactive waste is

an environmental concern that is extremely toxic and can have a

devastating effect on the lives of the people living nearby, if not disposed

of properly. Radioactive waste is considered to be harmful to humans,

plants, animals, and the surrounding environment.

19. Loss of Endangered Species

Human overpopulation is prompting the elimination of species and

environmental surroundings and the loss of various biomes.

Environmental frameworks, which took a huge number of years to come

into being, are at risk when any species populace is huge.

20. Acid Rain

Acid rain happens because of the vicinity of specific poisons in the

climate. Corrosive downpour might be brought about because of the use

of fossil fuels or volcanoes or spoiling vegetation which discharges sulfur

dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air.

21: Agricultural Pollution

Modern-day agriculture practices make use of chemical products like

pesticides and fertilizers to deal with local pests. Some of the chemicals

when sprayed do not disappear and in fact, seeps into the ground and

thereby harms plants and crops. Also, contaminated water is used for

irrigation by farmers due to the disposal of industrial and agricultural

waste in local water bodies.

22: Light and Noise Pollution

Noise pollution is another common form of pollution that causes

temporary disruption when there is an excessive amount of unpleasant

noise. Construction activities, industrialization, an increase in vehicular

traffic, lack of urban planning are a few of the causes of noise pollution.

23. Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl alludes to the relocation of the populace from high

thickness urban ranges to low-density provincial zones which bring about

the spreading of the city over the more rustic area. Urban sprawl brings

about expanded movement, environmental concerns, and well-being

concerns

24: Disposal of Medical Waste

Medical waste is any kind of waste that is produced in large quantities by

healthcare centers like hospitals, nursing homes, dental clinics, and is

considered to be of a bio-hazardous nature. The waste can include needles,

syringes, gloves, tubes, blades, blood, body parts, and many more.

There are a lot of medical waste companies that deal with medical waste

disposal and are unique in the waste management industry. They must

maintain a fleet of removal vehicles that use especially containment

receptacles so that the medical waste is not exposed to the air, or at risk

for spilling should there be an accident.

25: Littering and Landfills

Littering simply means disposal of a piece of garbage or debris

improperly or at a wrong location usually on the ground instead of

disposing them at a trash container or recycling bin. Littering can cause a

huge environmental and economic impact in the form of spending

millions of dollars to clean the garbage of roads that pollute the clean air.

Landfills, on the other hand, are nothing but huge garbage dumps that

make the city look ugly and produce toxic gases that could prove fatal for

humans and animals. Landfills are generated due to the large amount of

waste that is generated by households, industries, and healthcare centers

every day.
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/top-25-environmental-concerns.

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UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPT OF NEWS REPORTING

The reporting concentration focuses on the skills needed to become a

journalist across media platforms, informing the public about events and

issues of social importance. Students gain the critical skills needed to be

successful in any reporting environment or topic area, whether working

for an online news site, print newspaper or magazine, radio or television

station, or social or other emerging platforms — or some combination of

these media.

Definition of News Reporting

News simply means the timely account of events, happenings and issues

in media.

News reporting involves discovering all relevant facts, selecting and

presenting the important facts and weaving a comprehensive story.

Reporting involves hard work, which in turn involves stamina and

patience. The main function of journalistic profession is news reporting.

A reporter needs not only energy to spend long hours chasing a story,

collecting facts from various sources in an effort to dig up the truth, he

needs must have the will to pursue the course of his investigation to the

very end in order to produce a really comprehensive story without any

missing links or unanswered questions.

In the modern age news journalism the responsibilities of the press have

grown manifold. These days, the people are governed by multiplicity of

authorities, viz. Municipality, District Administration, State Government

and the Central Government. Even non-governmental authorities are

involved in the lives of the people in one-way or the other. Man cannot

live alone. He is a social animal. The way his neighbours behave or act

affects him. Man is thus anxious to know more about the world he lives

in. Satisfaction of this curiosity is the major task of a good journalist.

The variety and the depth of news has, of late, increased manifold. In fact,

newspapers, magazines and periodicals have become the main source of

information for the people. This fact underscores the need for accuracy in

news reporting. Giving inaccurate news or putting out news in a casual

manner is fraught with grave dangers. A journalist, who is careless in

news reporting or indulges in lies, is a disgrace to the profession. It is

better to ease him out from this profession. If a journalist reports that 50

persons belonging to a particular community ,died as a result of

communal riot when in fact only 5 persons had lost their lives, his

misreporting can trigger off a major communal flare up and pose grave

threat to law and order.

A journalist should not only perform unbiased news reporting but should

bear full responsibility for the accuracy of the facts

Types of News Reporting

There are different types of news reporting which are as under:-

Investigative Reporting

Court Reporting

Accidence Reporting

Political Reporting

Fashion Reporting

Business Reporting

Sports Reporting

Specialized Reporting

Requisites of News Reporting

A News Reporter should follow the following steps

* A reporter must appreciate the importance of having a good.

reputation for absolute reliability. For this purpose he must be systematic

in his habits and punctual in keeping his appointments. By observing

these principles, every reporter can make his path smooth and trouble

free.

* A reporter should have the ability of news reporting and writing

skills in the language of his paper. He should possess the quality to

compose in a condensed manner as per allowable space.

* The reporter of any local newspaper occupies a unique position

and he becomes quite popular with the people of his town. He

reports the local events, functions, fairs, socials etc. and comes

closer to the social life of the town.

*A reporter should follow some professional ethics in his work.

Sometimes, while engaged in his profession, he may come to some

persons and develop confidential relations with them.

Sometimes, a reporter may be asked to write short length paragraphs

regarding the local intelligence or about the city news. For this he

should keep his eyes and ears open and develop a nose for local

news. He should develop a system to ensure that none of the

interesting news is missed by him. * He should try to know the

secretaries of social, religious, political, musical dramatic, legal,

 official and other organizations and should call upon them regularly

to get some interesting stories. He should make inquiries from the

police regarding news of accidents and crimes. He should also

contact the fire-station for the particulars of local fires.

* Every reporter should keep an engagement diary. In this way he

can systematize his working and attend to all his appointments

properly and punctually. By keeping an engagement diary he can

know about the important engagements and other events in the

future and cover them without fail.

*The reporter should not forget to give a head line to his typed copy.

Every copy which goes to the printer to be set is given a catchline.

The catchline is a key word, because during the production it

identifies all the sheets of the copy. Tile catchline is given on each

sheet so that the printer can collate the whole story. The catchline

should be chosen very carefully. It is better to choose an uncommon

word, which may not resemble with another news catchline.

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ites/
Objective Reporting:

Reporting should be an impersonal job. A reporter should essentially be a

story teller. He should tell the story in an objective and truthful manner,

without lacing it with any personal opinions or comments. He should be

fair and impartial in presenting the story.

Some argue that to achieve complete objectivity is not possible. Complete

objectivity is a mere concept. Their argument is that the reporter is a

human being and he has certain ideas, feelings, attitudes, opinions and

prejudices and that will definitely reflected in the news story.

A good reporter however should try to rise above all of them and tell the

facts as he has collected them in his search for truth. A reporter should be

responsible in his presentation. No responsible reporter would behave like

the notorious American journalist, Janet Cooke, who won the prestigious

Pulitzer prize in 1980 for a story about drugs which was later proved to be

fictional. The reporter committed a fraud by dramatist a fake scene in

which an eight year old boy was injected with heroin supplied by the

lover of the boy’s mother.

A national daily carried on its front page that there was a “mass rape” at a

students function in a Madhya Pradesh town which was found later on to

be baseless. After the report appeared on the front page of the newspaper
it caused a sensation.

The Editor asked a reporter to investigate. The reporter first questioned

the reporter of the news item, who insisted that the mass rape had

happened. To corroborate he produced a number of eye witnesses.

However, when they were cross-examined and asked specifically to

reveal only what they had seen, they baffled and the investigator soon

realized that the reporter had written the story on the basis of a gossip and

filed it without verifying the facts.

The fact was during a function to celebrate the annual day of a local

college, a portion of the shamiana came down, the electricity got cut off

and a few students entered the women’s enclosure and molested some of

the girls.

Reporter must remember that facts are sacred. He must check and

cross-check the facts from different sources until he is absolutely sure of

them. Only then he should write the story. The golden rule of reporting is

tell the truth of course, objective reporting is not synonymous with

dullness. It means fair and impartial reporting that is free from personal

bias or prejudice.

https://www.owlgen.in/discuss-different-types-of-reporting-in-journalism/

Gray R. H. (2005) “Environmental Reporting” Kaikeigaku Jiten

(Dictionary of Accounting) Y.Jinnai (eds) (Tokyo: Aoki Shoten) (in

Japanese)

ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM AND OBJECTIVES

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM?

Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production,

distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends,

and issues associated with the non-human world. To be an

environmental journalist, one must have an understanding of scientific

language. The individual needs to put to use their knowledge of historical

environmental events. One must have the ability to follow environmental

policy decisions and environmental organizations. An environmental

journalist should have a general understanding of current environmental

concerns, and the ability to communicate information to the public in a

way that is easily understood.

Environmental journalism falls within the scope of environmental

communication. Its roots can be traced to nature writing. One controversy

in environmental journalism is, how to distinguish the genre from its

allied discipline.

Although each expert brings his or her own unique style, environmental
journalism can be defined as current affairs journalism related to

nature and the environment, especially the impact of human activity

on their environment, with the aim of raising awareness among people.

In addition to informing and raising awareness among people in society,

other environmental journalism objectives include:

* Generating debate on issues related to the environment.

* Promoting among the population.

* Providing synergies to topics ignored in the general media.

*Creating sinergias among members of the public, communicators,

institutions, NGOs and any agents involved in environmental issues.

* Promoting the approval and improvement of environmental policies.

An example of the importance of environmental journalism can be seen

in the fact that climate change has recently become the main concern

for European people, surpassing global terrorism. This is the main

conclusion of a survey - the Eurobarometer - conducted by the European

Parliament at the end of 2019. A change in priorities that not only paves

the way for more effective policies to counter global warming, but also

encourages companies to be responsible for the impact of their actions on

the environment in order to maintain their reputation

ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM TOPICS

In addition to climate change, environmental journalism addresses a wide

range of topics, covering local issues about the specific circumstances in

each country. These may include:

Biodiversity: The global biodiversity crisis is an issue that

environmental journalists cover.

Water resources: Information related to water health and water

resource management,, etc.

Pollution: Emissions and spills, fossil fuels, pollution from plastics,

etc.

Natural disasters: The fires in Australia, Hurricane Dorian and the

heat waves that scorched Europe in summer were some of the

catastrophes that featured in 2019.

Environmental policies: The new environmental policies approved by

the administrations are analysed with a magnifying glass.

Initiatives and events: The actions of NGOs, climate negotiations -

for example, the COP—, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

etc.

Renewable energies: Any news related to the rise of non-polluting

energies captures the attention of these professionals.

Sustainable development: News related to the impact of our actions

on the environment and how to minimise it for future generations.

Research: Studies and reports on the environment prepared by the

institutions are a great source of information.

Sustainable habits: Information that aims to encourage recycling,

composting and reducing the use of plastics through advice.

Environmental journalism and its challenges

Environmental journalists are expected to be advocates for changes to

improve the quality of the planet. They should educate people about the

serious state of the environment and use the power of the news media to

bring about changes to improve the quality of the air, water, wildlife and

natural resources.

Environmental journalists are expected to be advocates for changes to

improve the quality of the planet. They should educate people about the

serious state of the environment and use the power of the news media to

bring about changes to improve the quality of the air, water, wildlife and

natural resources.
Trying to convince people about the importance of protecting the

environment sometimes falls on deaf ears, in India and all around the

world. Many people are simply not interested; society tends to assume

that things like land, trees, plants, animals, and water resources - the

resources they depend upon for their livelihoods - will always be there.

Overuse or abuse of resources is not, most of the times, an important

issue. But catching audiences’ attention is not the only hard thing

environmental journalists have to face. Writing about the environment as

a core issue for society sets numerous challenges for journalists.

According to the analysis and interviews made, below are a few listed :

* Lack of environmental and scientific training. Reporters without

specialized training might ignore complicated environmental stories

altogether or, if they attempt them, the results might be less than

satisfactory for readers.

*Limited access to governmental data on environmental conservation.

*The existence of forest mafias threatens their professional activities as

well as their private lives.

* Wildlife journalists have to balance the incongruity that comes as a

produce of the short attention span that is affecting news consumers in a

society that unfolds around consumerism combined with the fact that
environmental stories are frequently complex and difficult to report.

* Citizens’ experiences of many environmental issues are mediated, in

large part, by the interests of governmental agencies as well as the private

sector (big corporations). These two spheres continually influence the

media's presentation of environmental issues putting at stake public

perceptions.

* In recent years, it seems as though media interest in the environment

has taken a backseat to other issues impacting the international scenario.

Wildlife journalists have to deal with the priority of other subjects such as

terrorism, poverty, economy, politics, and international relations.

* Journalists have to face the lack of training, resources or support from

news editorials or sponsors.

The recognition of these challenges and a solution to them will impact the

creation of a collective dialogue and deliberation on environmental issues

that are of broad public concern.

Children should be one of the main targets of environmental journalism,

in India and everywhere

History and Regulation

Although environmental reporting has occurred for some time, modern

environmental reporting tends to be dated from 1990 when the first

substantive stand-alone environmental reports from companies such as

Norsk Hydro (Norway and the UK), British Airways (UK), BSO/Origin

(Netherlands) and Noranda (Canada) set the pace in a new wave of

voluntary environmental reporting.

The vast majority of current environmental reporting is voluntary. It has

grown slowly but steadily and become much more widespread throughout

the last 10 years or so. It remains, however, dominated by the big,

corporations. These businesses have expended great effort to persuade the

public and governments that environmental reporting can remain a

voluntary activity but, unfortunately, as long as it remains voluntary the

majority of the world’s companies will continue to ignore it.

The United Nations has been at the forefront of attempts to make

environmental

reporting compulsory. Countries as diverse as Denmark, Netherlands,

Australia and Korea have all introduced some form of compulsory

reporting and despite business efforts (most obviously in New Zealand

and the UK), the trend is now one of slow but inexorable progress

towards much-needed compulsory environmental reporting

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
 Definition and Introduction

“Environmental reporting” refers to the preparation, presentation and

communication of information relating to an organisation’s interactions

with the natural environment. Such reporting can relate to all

organisations but is most usually associated with (typically large)

companies. Equally, environmental reporting is most commonly

associated with self-reporting by organisations although reporting about

other organisations by government agencies and other independent bodies

and pressure groups remains an important pressure for environmental

accountability.

Reporting about environmental interactions may occur within the

financial statements. Typically, such reporting would be related to

liabilities, commitments and contingencies for such matters as the

remediation of contaminated land or other financial concerns arising from

pollution. (The USA’s `Superfund’ legislation and reporting is perhaps the

best known and developed reporting in this area). However, such

financial reporting is really not about environmental issues as such but

about financial issues which, in this case, arise from environmental

legislation.

Environmental reporting is much more typically associated with the

reporting of
quantitative and detailed environmental data within the non-financial

sections of the annual report or in stand-alone (including website-based)

Environmental Reports. Such reports might include pollution emissions

to land, air or water, resources used, or wildlife habitat damaged or

re-established.

Environmental reporting is the process by which management reports to

the public about environmental impacts of business activities and

environmental initiatives undertaken to mitigate them by disclosing the

environmental information related to those activities. Environmental

reporting allows enterprises to fulfill their accountability to society as

businesses that use natural resources, to provide stakeholders with useful

information that may affect their judgement, and to promote

environmental communication with them. Environmental reporting

should provide relevant information systematically and comprehensively

and in accordance with the general principles for environmental reporting

specified in the guidelines.

“Environmental reporting” refers to the preparation, presentation and

communication. of information relating to an organisation's interactions

with the natural environment. Such reporting can relate to all

organisations but is mo Environmental reporting is primarily concerned

with reporting an organisation’s environmental performance and is the

focus of this topic. Sustainability reporting incorporates environmental

performance reporting but also covers much broader aspects of an

organisation’s activities, including social, economic and governance

performance.

The requirements and contents of an environmental report are explained

in this topic including how to report environmental management system

performances, as well as the requirements for mandatory reporting of

greenhouse gases and other impacts contained in the Companies Act and

related regulations. Also included in this topic are details for EMAS

registration, which requires detailed information on specific performance

indicators. The environment report, which EMAS refers to as an

Environmental Statement, must also be independently verified and made

publicly available.

Given the threats associated with climate change, greater importance is

also being placed on reporting carbon and other greenhouse gas

emissions.

Non financial report

In Practice

Reporting Environmental Management Performance

Organisations are encouraged to report publicly on their environmental

performance to demonstrate corporate transparency and commitment to

environmental protection. Larger organisations are required by law to

publish non-financial information (including environmental performance),

as part of their statement on non-financial information.

There are numerous voluntary codes of practice on environmental

performance reporting. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural

Affairs (Defra) has published two that are particularly helpful.

Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including mandatory greenhouse

gas (GHG) emissions reporting guidance and streamlined energy and

carbon reporting guidance (SECR) — designed to help companies in

complying with the GHG reporting regulation, a requirement from the

Climate Change Act 2008.

Environmental Key Performance Indicators — Reporting Guidelines for

UK Business — explains how to manage and report environmental risks

and impacts against 22 key performance indicators including air, water

and land emissions, resource use, biodiversity and environmental

penalties.

Environmental management system (EMS) reporting covers the

management system itself and improvements in environmental

performance that follow implementation.

EMS verification under the EU Eco-management and Assessment

Scheme (EMAS) requires organisations to publish an Environmental

Statement, detailing performance against an organisation’s environment

policy, including legal compliance, environmental aspects and impacts,

and overall improvements in performance.

ISO 14001 requires only that the environmental policy is made publicly

available but certification does entail internal reporting on performance

and audit findings. ISO 14031 provides guidance on how to evaluate

environmental performance — a precursor to environmental reporting.

A new ISO standard, ISO 14016 Environmental Management —

Guidelines on Assurance of Environmental Reports, which aims to assess

the credibility of environmental performance data and other

environmental information is under development.

Companies whose activities or processes are subject to legally-binding

requirements either because of national targets or potential risks to the

environment are required to report on their environmental performance.

Others, whose activities pose minimal risks and not subject to mandatory

compliance can report on a voluntary basis — see Mandatory Reporting

below.
Mandatory Reporting

Organisations whose industrial processes are regulated are required to

collect and report specified environmental information to the appropriate

regulatory authorities. Examples include activities or processes subject to

the integrated pollution prevention and control regime, local authority

pollution prevention and control and local authority integrated pollution

prevention, and waste management operators. Businesses that discharge

to sewer and/or water and those subject to the waste duty of care or which

handle hazardous wastes also need to record and report environmental

data and performance information to regulators and others as necessary.

Those with producer responsibility obligations for waste electrical and

electronic equipment, packaging, batteries and end-of-life vehicles must

also make information available. Some organisations are required to

make environmental product declarations, while others choose to do so

voluntarily.

Following implementation of the EU Accounts Modernisation Directive

(AMD), the UK Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’

Reports) Regulations 2013, quoted companies are required to report on

environmental matters “to the extent it is necessary for an understanding

of the company’s business within their Annual Report”. The directors of

quoted companies are required to report on environmental matters, the

company’s employees and social matters.

The introduction of the Companies, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts

and Non-Financial Reporting) Regulations 2016 means Public Interest

Entities with over 500 employees are required to include a non-financial

information statement, including environmental performance in their

strategic report.

The Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships

(Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018 implement the

government’s policy on Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting

(SECR) and requires quoted companies to make statements in their

directors’ report concerning energy consumption. They also provide for

new requirements on large unquoted companies to make statements in

their directors’ report concerning greenhouse gas emissions, energy

consumption and action taken to increase energy efficiency if any.

The Occupational Pension Schemes Amendment Regulations 1999

introduced a statutory framework, to complement the Pensions Act 1995,

which required pension schemes to disclose the extent to which “social,

environmental or ethical (SEE) considerations are taken into account in

the selection, retention and realisation of investments”.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has introduced new

regulations requiring pension schemes to have a policy on financially

material environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors including

climate change. Many will also be required to report annually to pension

scheme members on what they have done to implement their approach to

these subjects.

Benefits of Environmental Reporting

Producing an environmental report can bring a number of benefits:

reputation — publishing an environmental report informs all stakeholders

that an organisation is transparent about its environmental performance

and confident about its future strategies FTSE4Good, Dow Jones

Sustainability Index and Business in the Community’s Environment

Index are good platforms for getting this message across

legal requirements — the environment report acts as a benchmark for

legal compliance, highlighting particular aspects that may require extra

vigilance

robust data analysis — key performance data gathered to produce a report

can help improve environmental management, minimise risk and identify

opportunities for resource savings and operating costs

employee recruitment — companies with good environmental

performance reporting are more likely to attract and retain high-calibre

employees

increase market share — large organisations and businesses are requiring

their suppliers to issue environmental reports as a way of tracking

whole-life cycle impacts of products and services. Environmental

reporting can also help organisations manage their supply chains more

effectively.

Basic Environmental Reporting Principles

Environmental reporting follows basic principles that apply to most

reporting criteria.

Relevancy :Ensure the data and other information collected and reported

accurately reflects the environmental performance of your organisation,

as defined by the environmental management system boundaries.

Quantitative Analysis :Environmental performance indicators must be

measurable. Details of whether objectives and targets have been achieved

should be recorded. This will help determine whether the environmental

management system is achieving the aims of the environmental policy.

Quantitative information should be accompanied by a narrative,

explaining why the data is being recorded and its performance.

Accuracy. This ensures the integrity of the information reported and

enable users to make decisions with reasonable confidence as to current

environmental performance of the organisation and what further actions

can or should be taken.

Completeness. This is determined by the scope of the EMS and the

boundaries set. Progress on all aims and objectives outlined in the

environmental policy should be reported. Where there are omissions,

these should be highlighted and justified.

Consistency: Meaningful comparisons of environmental performance

data over time requires consistent methodologies. Any changes in an

organisation’s activities, processes and products and methods for

recording these and other relevant factors should be recorded and

explained in the environmental report.

. Organisations should report data using accepted environmental

performance indicators — these are the benchmarks for improving

environmental performance and are discussed in more detail below. The

report provides the opportunity for discussion over issues that might arise
in managing environmental performance, including what works well and

what can be improved.

Transparency. All relevant performance data and other issues should be

presented in a factual and coherent manner, including records of

methodologies used. Internal processes, systems and procedures are

important and the quantitative data will be greatly enhanced if

accompanied by a description of how and why the data are collected.

Transparency adds credibility to environmental reporting.

Identify the Audience

Reports may be of interest to a range of stakeholders. These will vary

between organisations, but are likely to include some or all of the

following.

Lenders, investors and insurers.

Local communities and neighbours.

Customers, including business customers.

Employees.

Suppliers of goods and services.

Government departments and regulatory agencies, at national and local

levels.

Academics/commentators and relevant pressure groups.

The format, style and content of the report will be influenced by the

targeted audience. Investors and regulators, for example, will require

more detailed analysis than say local communities or the media. Equally,

employees and suppliers will want to know how they are performing and

whether policies are likely to change. Transparency is essential and the

report should be written clearly using language, terms and data the

intended audience can understand.

Environmental Reporting — Format and Content

Environmental reports come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but would

normally include two essential elements.

Commentary, which outlines the organisation’s environmental policy and

explains its interaction with the environment, including where

improvements have been made and future challenges.

Detailed assessment and analysis, which contains a description of the

EMS and quantitative information about environmental performance

indicators, resource management, regulations and other aspects of

business operations.
The following format is not prescriptive and is presented only as a

suggested list of contents and the framework in which information might

be presented.

This section of the report explains what an organisation does, who is

involved and a summary of current environmental performance. Contents

are likely to include the following.

Company profile and title, size, number of sites and range of activities.

Details of production sites, services and activities.

Environmental policy — outlines the organisation’s aims and objectives

and general commitment to improve environmental performance, with

reference to the environmental management system.

Outline of key environmental aspects and interactions, with reference to

various activities, products and services.

Regulations — summary of the organisation’s obligations and

performance, including any non-compliances and remedial action.

General summary of the organisation’s environmental performance trends,

a description of where improvements have been made and where

challenges still remain, and a future strategy — signed by the chief

executive or senior board member.

Detailed assessment

This section provides more detailed descriptions and data analysis that

may be included in the main body of the report or as appendices. It

explains the scope of the report — what is included and what is excluded

— and why.

Environmental management system (EMS)

The environmental report should include a description of the EMS and a

general description of what it involves with reference to ISO, EMAS or

other certification or verification scheme. Some organisations use the

EMS as the main part of the environmental report, while others simply

use key elements to highlight what the organisation is doing to back up

their environmental policy. For those without an EMS, the basic reporting

criteria still applies. As a general rule, this part of the report should

contain references to the following.

Legal compliance (and non-compliance), including details of permits and

consents etc and the links to various regulatory agencies.

Aspects and impacts and their significance ratings.

Objectives and targets and how these are being addressed to meet policy

aims.
Organisation structure — how the EMS is managed within the

organisation and which departments are involved.

Training and other staff development initiatives to improve performance.

EMS implementation programme and timetable.

Summary of internal and/or external environmental audit findings,

including performance improvements and further actions that are needed.

Reference to certification (eg ISO 14001) or third-party verification (eg

EMAS).

Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI)

EPIs facilitate management decisions regarding environmental

performance actions and improvements. This section of the report

provides a more detailed assessment of the key EPIs and will include

details of monitoring, measuring, data analysis with reference to agreed

objectives and targets.

EPIs depend on the type of organisation and business activities, but core

EPIs are likely to include:

energy consumption and efficiency measures

water consumption and conservation

materials procurement and consumption

waste arisings and recycling

biodiversity and land use issues

emissions and discharges.

Other EPIs that might be covered include:

risk management — with reference to normal, abnormal and emergency

management response procedures

product life cycle — including materials inputs and options for choosing

environment-friendly materials

transport — data relating to fuel consumption and options for improving

transport logistics

stakeholder engagement — including regular dialogue with local

communities, investors, regulators etc

environmental financing — investment costs and benefits related to

actions taken to improve environmental performance.

Where appropriate, all EPIs would reference any regulatory controls that

apply and reference to legal compliance. Defra’s Environmental Key

Performance Indicators — Reporting Guidelines for UK Business

provides a useful set of environmental performance indicators. Further

details of EPIs and how these are presented in an environmental report

are presented in EMAS Reporting Criteria below.

The environmental report is basically a benchmark of how well the

organisation is performing and whether performance is improving. Future

reports will review and explain where further progress has been made.

Further guidance on EPIs is presented in the topic Environmental

Performance Evaluation (EPE).

Assurance or Verification Statement

The verification statement should include comment on the accuracy of the

data in the report. This may be by the organisation’s own internal audit

function or by a third party. The statement may go further and comment

on the significance of the aspects and impacts being reported and whether

others should be considered. This type of comment is more likely to be

from a third-party verifier. Further details of EMS accreditation and

verification are presented in the topic EMS Accreditation, Certification

and Verification.

How to Report

There are many different formats for environmental reporting, but these

generally fall into three basic types.

Included in Annual Report and Accounts

For larger organisations, this has the advantage of meeting mandatory

requirements under the EU Accounts Modernisation Directive and can

easily be linked to overall business performance. However, it is unlikely

to be appropriate for some target audiences such as local communities.

Stand-alone Hard Copy Report

These tend to cover only environmental reporting and can be easier to

disseminate to target audiences. It can be split into several sections to

appeal to different audiences. For example, extracts can be used for local

interests and the media and an executive summary might be more widely

available than a full report with data analysis.

Web-based Report

Web-based environmental reporting is popular because it is accessible,

and audiences can choose which section is appropriate for them. It can

facilitate feedback from different audiences. Online reports are also

cheaper and easier to update and performance can be tracked and

recorded over time.

An environment report can be produced in a variety of formats to suit

different audiences. Publishing the report can also bring positive publicity,
which strengthens reputation across a wide range of business partners and

stakeholders.

EMAS Reporting Criteria

Communicating and reporting environmental performance information is

one of the distinguishing features of EMAS. The revised regulation

(EMAS III) sets out additional reporting criteria to support the validated

release of an independently verified environmental statement.

Published environmental statements, as part of EMS registration, allows

the business and its stakeholders to compare environmental performance

over time and for comparison with others in the sector, as well as national

or regional benchmarks.

Key Performance Indicators

Key performance indicator must be included in environmental statements.

Organisations that have achieved EMS certification for ISO 14001 can use

the same environmental performance indicators for EMAS statements, as

outlined above.

The European Commission has also released a wide range of “Sectoral

Reference Guides” on best environmental management practice (BEMP)

that provides guidance on how to further improve environmental

performance of a particular indicator (EPI).

For each BEMP, the suitable environmental performance indicators and

the related benchmarks of excellence are also given. For each of the

different measures and techniques outlined, more than one environmental

performance indicator is mentioned to reflect the fact that different

indicators are used in practice.

The primary core indicators are:

energy efficiency

material use and efficiency

water

waste

biodiversity

emissions.

Each core indicator is composed of:

total annual input/output in the given indicator (A)

overall annual output of the organisation (B)

ratio of A/B. For each indicator, all three elements are required to be
reported in the environmental statement.

Energy efficiency

There are two categories of energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency concerning the “total direct energy use” shall indicate

the total annual energy consumption, expressed in MWh or GJ.

Energy efficiency concerning the “total renewable energy use” shall

indicate the percentage of total annual energy (electricity and heat)

consumption produced by the organisation from renewable energy

sources.

Material efficiency

Material efficiency concerns the “annual mass-flow of different materials

used” (excluding energy carriers and water), and is expressed in tonnes.

The EU has adopted a circular economy action plan and outlined new

legislative proposals designed to improve material efficiency.

Water

This concerns the “total annual water consumption” and is expressed in

m3. For some organisations water management is a key issue.

Performance criteria may be reported to take account of different

activities or processes, enabling a more detailed assessment of where

environmental performance has been or could be improved most cost

effectively.

Waste

There are two kinds of waste, as follows.

Waste concerning the “total annual generation of waste” is broken down

by type and expressed in tonnes.

Waste concerning the “total annual generation of hazardous waste” is

expressed in kilograms or tonnes.

Biodiversity

This concerns the “use of land” and the potential added “natural capital”

value of biodiversity. Natural capital is defined as, “our ‘stock’ of waters,

land, air, species, minerals and oceans, which underpins all other types of

capital — financial, manufactured, human and social — and is the

foundation on which our economy, society and prosperity is built”.

Assessing the value of those stocks allows businesses to:

compare different environmental impacts such as “hectares of land use”

or “tonnes of nitrogen emissions”

identify risks in supply chains — such as potential resource scarcity (eg

water)

compare environmental performance of various products and processes

and their impacts

enhance natural biodiversity and improve reputation with stakeholders.

Further details of the benefits of natural capital are available here.

Emissions

There are two categories.

Emissions concerning the “total annual emission of greenhouse gases”,

including at least emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs and SF6, are

expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e).

Emissions concerning the “total annual air emission”, including

emissions of SO2, NOx and PM are expressed in kilograms or tonnes. In

addition to the core set of indicators, the European Commission has

developed sectoral reference documents (SRD). These reference

documents include information on best environmental management

practice in a sector; environmental performance indicators for specific

sectors; and, where appropriate, benchmarks of excellence and rating

systems that identify environmental performance levels. The guidance

will support environmental performance improvement across the whole

value chain, rather than focus on direct “operational” environmental

aspects and will be most relevant at the unit or process level. So far, 11

sectors are included and further details are available on the European

Joint Research Centre website.

Environmental Statement

The environmental statement must be produced after completion of an

environmental review and then following each audit of the site. This

means that there can be up to three years (the minimum audit cycle

required) between the production of full statements. In the intervening

years, simplified statements must be produced, unless there have been no

significant changes from the time of the previous statement or the

agreement of the accredited environmental verifier has been obtained.

Information to be Included in an EMAS Environmental Statement

A description of the organisation registering under EMAS and a summary

of its activities, products and services and its relationship to any parent

organisations as appropriate.

The environmental policy and a brief description of the environmental

management system of the organisation.

A description of all the significant direct and indirect environmental

aspects that result in significant environmental impacts of the

organisation and an explanation of the nature of the impacts as related to

these aspects.

A description of the environmental objectives and targets in relation to

the significant environmental aspects and impacts.

A summary of the data available on the environmental performance of the

organisation against its objectives and targets. The summary should

include legal requirements, data on pollutant emissions, waste generation,

consumption of raw material, energy and water, noise and other aspects.

The data should allow for year-by-year comparison to assess

improvements in environmental performance of the organisation. Sectoral

Reference Documents (SRDs) on best environmental management

practice are available for specific sectors to guide performance

improvements. Details of SRDs and relevant industry sectors are

available here.

The name of the verifier and the date the environmental statement was

validated.

Article 5 of EMAS specifies that the environmental statement should be

designed for the public and written in a concise, comprehensible form.

Determining an Audience for the Environmental Statement

The EMAS regulation allows extracts from the body of the information in

the environmental statement to be targeted at specific stakeholder groups,

badged with the EMAS logo. Information directed at shareholders could

be incorporated into a

company’s annual report and accounts and help satisfy them regarding

internal control of risk. Different information could be sent to local

residents and more detailed information to the environmental regulators.

A company may also need to provide an environmental report to pension

companies, and others to fulfil legal obligations, as discussed earlier.

Guidance on declaring environmental performance has also been issued

by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the form of

ISO 14021: 2016 Environmental Labels and Declarations —

Self-Declared Environmental Claims. The standard aims to ensure

certification is properly conducted to avoid negative market effects such

as trade barriers or unfair competition, which can arise from unreliable

and deceptive environmental claims.

accurate and non-deceptive

substantiated and verifiable

relevant and used in an appropriate context or setting

representative of the overall environmental performance of the

organisation

unlikely to result in misinterpretation

significant in relation to the overall environmental impact

making reference to the organisation's latest environmental statement

from which it was drawn.

https://app.croneri.co.uk/topics/environmental-reporting/indepth

Position of Environmental Reporting

Environmental, economic, and social challenges are expected to

diversify and become more complicated. As the relationships among the

environmental, economic, and social contexts of business are becoming

increasingly closely related, their activities and impacts must be discussed

together.

The guidelines’ environmental information concerns business activities as

they impact the environment; this includes not only environmental

information but also economic and social information relevant to the

environment. Through environmental reporting of these kinds of

information, an enterprise describes its environmental impacts and the

environmental initiatives taken to mitigate them.

Environmental reporting thus communicates information on

environmental impacts and their economic and social implications. To

enable users to understand their business, enterprises must select relevant

information and report it in a form suitable for users’ purposes. The most

effective way to explain the overall management picture is to report on

the significant impacts on and material activities occurring in the

environment, economy, and society; environmental reporting is one way

to do this. Environmental reporting, which includes detailed

environmental information and analysis as well as related economic and

social information, is the best way to help users understand business

activities by business segment, region, and facility Thus, environmental

reporting is an important communication tools by which an enterprise

explains its business activities and their environmental impacts, along

with related economic and social information.

Relationship between Information on Business Activities and

Environmental Reporting Social contexts Economic contexts

Environmental contexts Environmental information Environmental

reporting

Environmental reporting includes all reporting classified under the above

definition regardless of its name, whether it includes information about

areas outside the environment, or the type of report. Many types of

environmental report differing in both content and purpose are currently

being published.

They include not only the “environmental report” but also the

“sustainability report,” the “social and environmental report,” and the

“CSR report,” which describes initiatives intended to fulfill corporate

social responsibility (CSR). Thus, any report used for environmental

reporting, regardless of name, is regarded as an “environmental report” in

the guidelines.

A format of Environmental Reporting Various environmental reporting

formats are available, such as brochures, physical printed copies, and

on-line formats (e.g., on-screen PDF, a dedicated website, E-book).

Regardless of the channel and format used, the provision of information

described in the guidelines that disclose a comprehensive perspective on

the environmental impacts of business activities and environmental

initiatives undertaken to mitigate them could be considered

environmental reporting.
Publishing and Reporting of Environmental Reporting An enterprise

should provide relevant information in environmental reporting at least

once every fiscal year or accounting year. The environmental report can

be published at a best time for information providing to stakeholders,

such as the day just after the closing date or of annual shareholders’

meeting. Depending on the reporting channel, such as the corporate

website, and the contents to be disclosed, it is effective to increase the

frequency of publication.

Gray R. H. (2005) “Environmental Reporting” Kaikeigaku Jiten

(Dictionary of Accounting) Y.Jinnai (eds) (Tokyo: Aoki Shoten) (in

Japanese) ISBN 4-250-20508-8

The vast majority of current environmental reporting is voluntary. It has

grown slowly but steadily and become much more widespread throughout

the last 10 years or so. It remains, however, dominated by the big,

corporations. These businesses have expended great effort to persuade the

public and governments that environmental reporting can remain a

voluntary activity but, unfortunately, as long as it remains voluntary the

majority of the world’s companies will continue to ignore it.

The United Nations has been at the forefront of attempts to make

environmental
reporting compulsory. Countries as diverse as Denmark, Netherlands,

Australia and Korea have all introduced some form of compulsory

reporting and despite business efforts (most obviously in New Zealand

and the UK), the trend is now one of slow but inexorable progress

towards much-needed compulsory environmental reporting.

Environmental Reporting Functions

The Environmental Reporting has two fundamental functions, an external

(or social) function, as a communication tool between an organization

and society, and an internal function, which promotes environmental

initiatives in an enterprise’s activities. They play a very important role in

promoting voluntary environmental initiatives in an enterprise’s activities.

The following three are external functions:

(1) Disclose information based on the social accountability of an

enterprise

(2) Provide useful information for stakeholders making decision

(3) Promote environmental initiatives by “a pledge and review” between

an enterprise an d society The following two are internal functions:

(4) Establish or revise the environmental policy, objectives and action

plans of the organization

(5) Motivate and encourage the environmental activities of managements

and employees When presenting environmental reporting, it is important

to design the environmental reporting to properly achieve these functions.

Function as a tool for environmental communication between a business

enterprise and society Environmental reporting can be considered as “the

open-window of an organization and an important tool for environmental

communication.” Stakeholders are able to “view” the intended

organization’s ideas and measures toward environmental issues through

this “window.” An enterprise can also understand the needs and ideas of

its stakeholders by receiving feedback from them through this “window.”

In addition, the practice of “environmental communication” among

broader stakeholders increases the environmental consciousness of the

whole society. If it deepens the understanding of the state of each actor’s

activities and the difficulties faced, it is expected that environmental

communication can be useful for the “sophistication” of the

environmental activities of whole society within the partnership and in

accordance with each actor’s role.

(1) Function of disclosing information to fulfill an enterprise’s

accountability to society Enterprises, playing a key socio-economic role,

use the environment of public goods and thus generate significant

environmental impacts. Therefore, enterprises should fulfill their

accountability by reporting information concerning their usage of the

environment, the environmental impacts generated, the environmental

initiatives being taken to mitigate them, and the performance of those

initiatives. Environmental reporting is one of the most important methods

of fulfilling this accountability.

(2) Function to provide useful information for stakeholders Business

partners, consumers, public institutions, and others making choices from

among products and services as well as investors and financial

institutions choosing where to invest need many types of product and

management information. Risk management and environmental

information are important resources in this decision making. An

enterprise must provide useful information that helps its stakeholders

make their decisions.

(3) Function to promote environmental activities by “a pledge and

review” between a business enterprise and society When an organization

pledges and reports its policy and targets of environmental considerations

in its activities, steady improvements and setting higher target in these

activities would be expected. This is because the disclosure drives an

effect known as “pledge and review,” in which an enterprise commits to

policies and targets on environmental protection activities and then

society, in turn, evaluates them. Communicating with stakeholders and

feeding back their opinions and demands into business activities ensures

this “pledge and review” effect. Moreover, in environmental reporting, if

an enterprises worries about other people’s opinions and consider

possible differences between its own performance and those of other

companies in the same sector, it may improve environmental initiatives in

society as a whole.

(4) Function to establish or revise the environmental policy, objectives

and action plans of a business enterprise By environmental reporting, it is

expected that an enterprise will voluntarily improve the contents and

quality of environmental initiatives, because they wants to enrich the

contents of the environmental reporting. In addition, the improvement of

an internal collecting system of environmental information will provide

an enterprise opportunities to revise or establish the policy, objectives,

targets, and action plans concerning the environment.

(5) Function to motivate and encourage the environmental activities of

chairman/CEO and employees Employees may not know well the details

of an organization’s environmental conservation initiatives, and

environmental reporting can be used for training employees in order to

increase their awareness of its initiatives, and enhance their

environmental consciousness. Furthermore, the pride which employees

have in an enterprise would be increased through environmental

conservation activities. By including the commitments by the top

management in environmental reporting, it could potentially enhance the

environmental awareness of the chairman/CEO, as well.

Environmental reporting allows an enterprise to appropriately

communicate to users the status of its environmentally focused

management by describing “the environmental impacts and status of

environmental initiatives related to their own business activities.” The

guidelines use “environmentally focused management” as a collective

term referring to an enterprise’s initiatives to reduce or manage the

environmental impacts generated directly or indirectly by their business

activities and the related economic and social impacts, carried out with

the entire value chain in mind.

Stakeholders and users of environmental reporting

Environmental reporting allows an enterprise to describe to many

stakeholders the environmental impacts of business activities and

environmental initiatives. Furthermore, an enterprise that gets feedback

from their stakeholders about their environmental reporting can be

expected to enhance the mutual understanding between an enterprise and

the stakeholders and achieve progress in environmentally focused

management.

However, the information content and disclosure levels expected by

stakeholders and the types of reports used (such as brochures and Internet
reports) are extremely diverse; it is difficult to satisfy all stakeholders.

For example, investors will be interested in matters relating to overall

management, while community residents will be interested in matters

relating to neighborhood factories.

Furthermore, not only consolidated information across all business sites

but also detailed information by area and business is sometimes necessary

for a full understanding. There are multiple options for displaying this

information and the media used to disclose it. To fulfill their

accountability obligations, firms are expected to consider the demands of

their stakeholders, the users of the environmental reporting, and to

provide the information in a form optimal for their needs.

Types of stakeholders and their relationships to an enterprise

Stakeholders include the individuals and groups listed below. In addition

to those, an enterprise has a relationship to its society, including the

ecosystem.

1. Consumers are the entities who purchase environmentally friendly

products and services. They are interested in product information.

Consumer organizations raise awareness about consumer behavior and

facilitate products and services that are good for the environment by

providing consumers with information on products and services and

firms’ environmental initiatives.

2. Shareholders, financial institutions, and investors are fund providers

for an enterprise and participate in the management of an enterprise in

one form or another. In recent years, they have begun to perform complex

evaluations of enterprises in terms of the environment, society, and other

factors before making an investment or financing a company. They have a

strong interest in the impact of “the environment” on finance.

3. Business partners are partners that, due to the necessity of value chain

management, promote environmentally focused management together

with the company through environment-friendly evaluations of green

procurement, the purchasing of environment-friendly products and

services, and other methods. They are particularly interested in

information about environmentally focused management and

environmental risks, including measures for meeting the requirements of

regulations on chemical substances and other issues, the status of

greenhouse gas emissions, and so on.

4. Employees are the entities that advance environmentally focused

management organizationally. Their family members also understand and

promote pro-environment behavior. Employees are interested in the ideas

and environmental initiatives of managers. Furthermore, improving the

environmental awareness of employees leads to sustained environmental

initiatives.

5. Local residents’ interest is in conserving their living environment.

Important issues include whether pollution is generated by factories, the

nature of pollution prevention measures, and the impact on the region of

disasters and accidents. By providing these types of information in an

easily understandable format, an enterprise can gain the trust of local

communities and facilitate smooth communication as a member of the

region

6. The government decides the national direction of the administration of

environmental issues and measures. The administrative agencies of the

national government and regional public bodies establish measures to

encourage the implementation of environmental initiatives and establish

regulations. All of these entities can have a major impact on business

activities

7. Educational and research institutions are partners that work together

with an enterprise to develop new environmental technologies and

provide environmental education to future generations. Academics and

experts evaluate environmental initiatives objectively and give advice to

enterprises based on their research findings. Students are also interested

in firms’ environmental initiatives, particularly those undertaken by firms

for which they would like to work.

Many organizations such as environmental non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) are opinion leaders on environmental and social

issues and interpret those issues in an understandable form to society.

These organizations monitor firms’ environmentally focused management

and work together with enterprises to solve environmental problems.

Principles of Environmental reporting

The contents of environmental reporting vary depending on the

organizational model, industry type, scale, and business nature of the

enterprise. Enterprises must thus decide what types of report, format, and

report contents are appropriate for them, using the principles of

environmental reporting as judgment criteria. These principles comprise

the general principles, material issues to be referenced, and basic issues.

The general principles refer to the “qualitative characteristics of

information provided in environmental reporting that is likely to be most

useful to the users.” Preparing and presenting the report in accordance

with these principles is a basic requirement of environmental reporting. It

is important to show the “information element which is essential for

disclosure of the actual state of environmentally focused management”

and to present the important reference points that must be taken into
consideration when an enterprise defines the report contents of its

environmental reporting.

Finally, a basic issue in environmental reporting is the “procedure to

which particular attention should be paid in environmental reporting and

an approach to that procedure.”

Framework for Environmental Reporting

■ Overall Structure of Environmental Reporting

The items included in environmental reporting usually occur in the following order:
１．Report profile
２．Chairman’s/CEO’s statement
３．Overview of the report ・ Overview of environmentally focused management ・

Overview of KPI trends ・ Summary of activities to address an individual

environmental issue
４．Material balance
５ ． How is environmentally focused management, including the environmental

management system, working?

６ ． Environmental impacts of business activities and environmental initiatives

undertaken to mitigate them

７．Economic and social contexts of environmentally focused management
８．Miscellaneous contents to be disclosed

Include “7. Economic and social contexts of environmentally focused

management” taking care to link the information to the environmental

impacts and status of environmental initiatives included in 5 and 6.

Note that measures should be devised when writing the reports to record

matters to include that are specific to the corporation and have different

content based on the corporation’s business characteristics, etc.

MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN\ NIGERIA

1. Air pollution. Daily, millions of vehicles run throughout the country:

they consume plenty of fuel and produce exhaust fumes. One has to

mention that the level of protection, available at the industrial giant, it

does not always coincide with our expectations about the care of the

environment. Old equipment and a lack of modernization contribute to

the air pollution.

2. Water pollution. It is not a secret that Nigeria has a deficit of drinking

water. If you take a glance into the state of currently available water, you

will be shocked by the number of bacteria and industrial chemicals.

3. Desertification. This problem is caused by massive irrigation. The

country loses kilometres of lands.

4. Industrial waste. Social changes are the result of human migration

within the country. The problem is that searching for a better life, people

create difficulties with accommodation. Due to this, many residents have

to settle close to the industrial areas. As a result, they have to consume

water, which contains chemicals, breathe polluted air and eat food with

increased nitrates.

5. Solid waste. Nigeria is one of those countries with poor management of

sanitary infrastructure. It one of the main reasons, why people live rather

close to wasted areas.

6. Oil spills. People, who inhabit the area in the delta of Niger, suffer

from oil spills every year. This place is so much polluted that the oil is

found in the soil, even within five meters from the surface.

7. Deforestation. The high rate of urbanization, the industrial

development, and agricultural processes led to deforestation and

extinction of animals living in the woods.

8. Wind erosion. The lands which are situated in the northern part of

Nigeria are constantly being “blown away”.

9. Climate change.

10. Soil degradation. Pesticides and chemicals often used by people for

different purposes. However, they often forget about soil renovation and

drawing a balance of minerals back to its original state.

Floods and erosion.

Environmental pollution in Nigeria is a human-made problem. Thus, it is

up to people to do everything possible to reduce its harmful influence and

improve the state of the environment. What solutions can be offered to

reduce pollution in Nigeria trees are the lungs of our planet:

1. Plant more trees to make the air cleaner;

2. Keep to “3R” rule: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reusing and remodeling

things will save your budget and give the second life to goods. In this way,
you also save natural resources;

3. The government should pay more attention and control to the

industrial sector and defend not only the rights of business but also the

right of people to breathe freely within a healthy environment; 4.forest

reservations will help to save animals from extinction;

5. Do not throw garbage into the rivers; use bicycles instead of private

cars when it’s possible.

https://www.legit.ng/1206949-current-environmental-issues-nigeria-soluti

ons.html

https://www.legit.ng/1206949-current-environmental-issues-nigeria-soluti

ons.html

Oghogho Makinde and Temitayo Adeyoke(2007) Nigeria: Environment

Law In Nigeria

Environmental Policy and its Enforcement

1.1 What is the basis of environmental policy in Nigeria and which

agencies/bodies administer and enforce environmental law?

The basis of environmental policy in Nigeria is contained in the 1999

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Pursuant to section 20 of

the Constitution, the State is empowered to protect and improve the

environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wildlife of
Nigeria. In addition to this, section 2 of the Environmental Impact

Assessment Act of 1992 (EIA Act) provides that the public or private

sector of the economy shall not undertake or embark on or authorise

projects or activities without prior consideration of the effect on the

environment.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has promulgated various laws and

Regulations to safeguard the Nigerian environment. These include:

Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act of 1988 (FEPAAct). The

following Regulations were made pursuant to the FEPAAct:

National Environmental Protection (Effluent Limitation) Regulations:

National Environmental Protection (Pollution Abatement in Industries

and Facilities Generating Wastes) Regulations; and

National Environmental Protection (Management of Solid and

Hazardous Wastes) Regulations.

Environmental Impact Assessment Act of 1992 (EIA Act).

Harmful Wastes (Special Criminal Provisions etc.) Act of 1988 (Harmful

Wastes Act).

The Federal Ministry of Environment (FME) administers and enforces

environmental laws in Nigeria. It took over this function in 1999 from the
Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA), which was created

under the FEPA Act. FEPA was absorbed and its functions taken over by

the FME in 1999.

The Federal Ministry of Environment has published several guidelines for

the administration of the FEPA and EIA Acts and procedures for

evaluating environmental impact assessment reports (EIA Reports).

Other regulatory agencies with oversight over specific industries have

also issued guidelines to regulate the impact of such industries on the

environment such as the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the

Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN) 2002, published by the

Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

However, pursuant to the FEPA Act, each State and local government in

the country may set up its own environmental protection body for the

protection and improvement of the environment within the State. Each

State is also empowered to make laws to protect the environment within

its jurisdiction. All the States have environmental agencies and State laws;

e.g. Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory has issued the Abuja

Environmental Protection Board (Solid Waste Control/Environmental

Monitoring) Regulations 2005 ("the Abuja Environmental Protection

Board Regulations") which principally governs solid waste control in

Abuja. In Lagos State, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency

Law, was enacted to establish the Lagos State Environmental Protection

Agency (LASEPA). LASEPA’s functions include monitoring and

controlling the disposal of waste in Lagos State and advising the State

Government on all environmental management policies. Lagos State has

also enacted the Environmental Pollution Control Law, to provide for the

control of pollution and protection of the environment from abuse due to

poor waste management. Akwa Ibom State, has enacted the

Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency Law, which

established the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency.

This Agency is charged with responsibilities which include identifying

and proffering solutions to environmental protection problems in Akwa

Ibom, and monitoring and enforcing environmental protection standards

and regulations.

1.2 What approach do such agencies/bodies take to the enforcement of

environmental law?

The EIA Act was promulgated principally to enable the prior

consideration of environmental impact assessment of public or private

projects. Any person planning a project/activity which may have an

impact on the environment is statutorily required to prepare an EIA

Report, and the Report must set out the potential impact of the activity on

the environment and plans for preventing/mitigating the same, as well as

clean up plans. All such Reports must be approved by the FME. Attached

to the EIA Act is a schedule of activities and industries for which

environmental impact assessments are mandatory. These include

Agriculture, Airport, Drainage and Irrigation, Land Reclamation,

Fisheries, Forestry, Housing, Industry, Infrastructure, Ports, Mining,

Petroleum, Power Generation and Transmission, Quarries, Railways,

Transportation, Resort and Recreational Development, Waste Treatment

and Disposal, and Water Supply.

Any person who fails to comply with the provisions of the EIA Act

commits an offence and is liable on conviction, in the case of an

individual, to a fine or to a term of imprisonment for up to five years; and

fines are also imposed on guilty firms or corporations.

Furthermore, the FEPA Act empowers the FME to require the production

for examination of any licence or permit granted to any person, to enter

and search any land or building, and to arrest any person whom they have

reason to believe has violated any environmental regulation.

The approach of regulatory agencies is the prevention of environmental

damages, the regulation of potentially harmful activities and the

punishment of wilful harmful damage whenever this occurs. The

environmental agencies also adopt the approach of engaging individuals

and communities at risk of potential environmental damage in dialogue.

The EIA approval process adopted by the FME involves a system of

public hearings during the EIA evaluation process and interested

members of the public are invited to such hearings.

The respective State environmental agencies in Nigeria, e.g. the Lagos

State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), also take the same

approach.

1.3 To what extent are public authorities required to provide

environment-related information to interested persons (including

members of the public)?

Public authorities are statutorily required to inform the public of

environment-related issues. The FEPAAct requires FEPAto collect and

make available through publications and other appropriate means, and in

cooperation with public or private organisations, information pertaining

to pollution and environmental protection regulations.

The EIA Act provides for the maintenance of a Public Registry for the

purpose of facilitating public access to records relating to environmental

assessments. The Lagos State Environmental Pollution Control Law

requires the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning to educate

the general public on the types of disposal methods acceptable by the

State Government for domestic and Industrial wastes. In addition under

the LASEPAlaw, LASEPA is required to carry out public enlightenment

exercises and educate the public on methods of environmental sanitation

and management.

The FME also issues guidelines from time to time for environmental

impact assessments for different industries and it also has publications

which inform the public of the prohibition of environmental pollution.

Furthermore, members of the public and persons requiring clarifications

on environmental issues can visit the offices of the FME or the relevant

State environmental agency for environment-related information.

As stated in question 1.2 above public hearings to which interested

members of the public are invited is a key part of the approval process for

EIA reports by the relevant agencies.

2 Environmental Permits

2.1 When is an environmental permit required, and may environmental

permits be transferred from one person to another?

The different pieces of legislation on the protection of the environment

contain provisions for the issuance of environmental permits. Such

permits are required for all potentially environmentally sensitive activities

and are typically granted by the FME and the relevant State agencies.

Specific legislation on permits include the Radioactive Waste

Management Regulations 2006 which provides that any person generating

or managing radioactive waste must apply for and obtain a permit from

the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority; the FEPA Act and the

regulations made thereunder.

The National Environment Protection (Pollution Abatement in Industries

and Facilities Generating Wastes) Regulations made pursuant to the

FEPAAct provide that a permit will be required:

for storage, treatment and transportation of harmful toxic waste within

Nigeria;

where effluents with constituents beyond permissible limits will be

discharged into public drains, rivers, lakes, sea, or as an underground

injection;

when oil in any form shall be discharged into public drains, rivers, lakes,

sea, or as an underground injection; and

for an industry or a facility with a new point source of pollution or a new

process line with a new point source. Such an industry or facility shall

apply to the agency for a discharge permit.

Some permits are industry specific; e.g. in the oil and gas industry, the

Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) also regulates environment

issues, and operators in the industry are required to obtain the necessary

permits.

The Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry

in Nigeria (EGASPIN) 2002, published by the DPR provides that the

Director of Petroleum Resources shall issue permits for all aspects of

oil-related effluent discharges from point sources (gaseous, liquid and

solid), and oil-related project development.

The EGASPIN also provides that environmental permits shall be issued

for existing and new sources of effluent emission. All projects in the oil

and gas industry must be issued with the requisite environmental permits,

and failure to procure the same may lead to penalties.

Relevant state permits are also required i.e. pursuant to the Abuja

Environmental Protection Board Act (Solid Waste Control /environmental

Monitoring Regulations 2005), all sponsors of major development

projects in Abuja must submit to the Abuja Environmental Protection

Board ("the Board") details of the project i.e. its nature and scope, the site

and area of the project, the activities to be carried out and any other

relevant information. Upon submission, the sponsor is issued an Impact

Clearance Permit by the Board. In Lagos State, the LASEPA law requires

any person manufacturing or storing chemicals, lubricants, petroleum

products, cement and other material used in building, radioactive

materials, or gases in residential or commercial areas to obtain a permit.

The permits are typically not transferable as they are project specific.

Where such permits are however transferable the consent of the regulator

will be required prior to any such transfer.

2.2 What rights are there to appeal against the decision of an

environmental regulator not to grant an environmental permit or in

respect of the conditions contained in an environmental permit?

Any entity or individual affected by a decision of an environmental

regulator has a right of appeal under the relevant laws and regulations.

The EGASPIN which is applicable in the oil and gas industry provides

that an aggrieved party shall be free to seek remedy at courts/tribunals.

The FEPA Act allows an aggrieved person to bring an action in the

Federal High Court against the FME for any act done in pursuance or

execution of any environmental law or of any public duties.

2.3 Is it necessary to conduct environmental audits or environmental

impact assessments for particularly polluting industries or other

installations/projects?

Nigerian law makes it mandatory for EIAs and environmental audits to be

carried out by polluting industries. The practice is that an EIA report must

be prepared in respect of all major projects and approved by the FME and
the environmental agency of the State in Nigeria in which the project is

located. In addition, for oil and gas projects, the requisite environmental

permit must be granted by the DPR.

Some activities have been classified as mandatory study activities under

the EIAAct. They include Agriculture, Airport, Drainage and Irrigation,

Land Reclamation, Fisheries, Forestry, Housing, Industry, Infrastructure,

Ports, Mining, Petroleum, Power Generation and Transmission, Quarries,

Railways, Transportation, Resort and Recreational Development, Waste

Treatment and Disposal, and Water Supply. The effect of this is that no

Federal, State or Local Government or any of their agencies shall exercise

any power or perform any duty or functions that would permit the project

to be carried out in whole or in part until the FME has approved the EIA

for such a project.

Other legislation which requires EIAs is the Abuja Environmental

Protection Board Act, which empowers the Board to request an EIA for a

development project and the sponsor must submit reports to the Board

from time to time. The Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and

Waste Management Agency Act (EPWMA) empowers the Agency to

conduct pre and post EIAs of projects and make recommendations for

corrective measures.

The EGASPIN sets out a list of activities in the oil and gas sector that
require environmental assessment. They include all seismic operations;

oil and gas field developments onshore, nearshore, offshore and

deepshore; hydrocarbon processing facilities; construction of waste

treatment; and/or disposal facilities.

After project completion, regular environmental audits must also be

carried out. The FME requires an environmental audit to be carried out

every 2-3 years. The DPR also carries out regular environmental audits of

oil and gas installations, stations, depots, etc.

2.4 What enforcement powers do environmental regulators have in

connection with the violation of permits?

Environmental regulators have wide ranging powers in the event of

violation of environmental permits and environmental laws in general.

The FEPA Act gives authorised officers of the FME powers to:

require to be produced, then examine and take copies of any licence or

permit, certificate or document required under the Act or regulations

made thereunder;

enter and search any land, building, vehicle, tent, vessel, floating craft or

any inland water;

cause to be arrested any person whom they have reason to believe has
committed an offence against the Act or any regulations made thereunder;

and

seize any item or substance which they have reason to believe has been

used in the commission of such offence or in respect of which the offence

has been committed.

The LASEPA Law also contains similar provisions authorising officers to

search and seize offending items and to arrest offenders. Some examples

of offences under the LASEPA Law include the discharge of raw

untreated human waste into any public drain, gorge, or any land in the

State, and the discharge of any form of oil, grease, spent oil including

trade waste brought about in the course of manufacturing into any public

drain, water-course, water gorge and road verge.

Similar provisions are contained in the Akwa Ibom State EPWMA Act.

The EPWMA Act empowers inspectors to inspect premises and take

samples of waste generated on premises. The EPWMA Act also provides

that any person who commits an offence under the Act shall be arraigned

before the Environmental Sanitation Court. The Environmental Sanitation

Court was established pursuant to the EPWMA Act to try offending

individuals or organisations. Offences under the EPWMA Act include

burying or dumping expired drugs or chemicals without a permit, using

gamalin 20 or any herbicide, insecticide or other chemicals to kill fishes

or any other aquatic life in rivers, lakes and streams.

Section 11 of the Harmful Wastes Act empowers the Minister charged

with responsibility for works and housing to seal up an area or site used

or being used for the purpose of depositing or dumping harmful waste.

Pursuant to section 37 of the Petroleum (Drilling and Production)

Regulations 1969 (Drilling Regulations) the holder of an Oil Mining

Lease (OML) or an Oil Prospecting License (OPL) is required to prevent

the escape of petroleum into any water, well, spring, stream river, lake

reservoir, estuary or harbour. The Drilling Regulations further authorises

inspectors to examine the premises of the holder of the OML or OPL to

ensure that such persons comply with the Drilling Regulations. Any

person who fails to comply with the provisions of the Drilling

Regulations may be prosecuted in court.

The DPR also has powers to seal up premises, seize offending substances,

impose fines and require the clean up of environmental damage. Violators

risk fines and in certain cases, a shutdown of the polluting/offending

facility until there is compliance.

3 Waste

3.1 How is waste defined and do certain categories of waste involve

additional duties or controls?

The relevant legislation defines "waste" and refers to categories of waste.

The LASEPA Law defines waste to include "industrial, solid, liquid,

gaseous gases containing substances such as sulphur dioxide, oxides or

nitrogen, hydrogen-sulphide, carbon-monoxide, ammonia, chlorine,

smoke and metallic dusts and particles, oil organic vapours, corrosive,

reagent, flammable liquid solid, poison, poly-chloringhed hiphenlys,

dynocyanide, methyl-melamine, ethylacetate, toxic substance, cement

waste etc.". Under the Harmful Waste Act, "harmful waste" is defined "to

mean any injurious, poisonous, toxic or waste-emitting radioactive

substance if the waste is in such quantity, whether with any other

consignment of the same or of different substance, as to subject any

person to the risk of death, fatal injury or incurable impairment of

physical and mental health; and the fact that the harmful waste is placed

in a container shall not by itself be taken to exclude any risk which might

be expected to arise from the harmful waste".

Certain categories of waste involve additional duties and controls.

Poisonous, toxic or radioactive waste is treated differently from

household or industrial waste or effluents that are non-toxic in nature.

Under the Nigerian Radioactive Waste Management Regulations 2006

radioactive waste which does not qualify for discharge or release to the

environment shall be disposed of in a near surface repository to be

established by the government and licensed by the Nigerian Nuclear

Regulatory Authority. In addition to this, radioactive waste must be

categorised and kept in suitable containers with visible labels indicating

the nature of waste generated, the date of waste generation, the waste

category and other relevant information. The more dangerous or

hazardous the waste is, the higher the level of control needed for its

storage, disposal and treatment.

3.2 To what extent is a producer of waste allowed to store and/or dispose

of it on the site where it was produced?

The laws allow the storage or disposal of waste on site subject to the

issuance of relevant permits. Regulation 10 of the National Environment

Protection (Pollution Abatement in Industries and Facilities Generating

Wastes) Regulations made pursuant to the FEPA Act provides that no

person shall engage in the storage, treatment or transportation of harmful

toxic waste without a permit issued by FEPA. Where harmful toxic waste

is produced on-site, it may only be stored or disposed on-site where a

permit has been issued to the producer of such waste.

Where it is environmentally safe to so do, solid waste may be stored or

disposed of on-site, subject to the issuance of the requisite permit -

Regulation 16 of the National Environment Protection (Pollution

Abatement in Industries and Facilities Generating Wastes) Regulations.

3.3 Do producers of waste retain any residual liability in respect of the

waste where they have transferred it to another person for

disposal/treatment off-site (e.g. if the transferee/ultimate disposer goes

bankrupt/disappears)?

Producers of waste may retain residual liability, particularly where a

transferee or person engaged to dispose of the same absconds. If the

regulator is able to trace the waste back to the producer, it would be liable

for the clean up.

The FEPAAct provides that the collection, treatment, transportation and

final disposal of waste shall be the responsibility of the industry or

facility generating the waste.

Regulation 11 of the National Environment Protection (Pollution

Abatement in Industries and Facilities Generating Wastes) Regulations

provides that the collection, treatment, transportation and final disposal

of waste shall be the responsibility of the industry or facility generating

the waste. The ultimate responsibility lies with the producer, as under

Nigerian law, the "polluter pays" principle applies.

3.4 To what extent do waste producers have obligations regarding the

take-back and recovery of their waste?

The law places the responsibility for the take-back or recovery of waste
on the waste producer.

The Nigerian Radioactive Waste Management Regulations 2006 provides

that the primary responsibility for the safe management of radioactive

waste lies with the waste generator and the waste generator shall take all

necessary actions to ensure the safety of radioactive waste unless the

responsibility has been transferred to another person or organisation

approved by the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority. The Regulations

further provide that the waste generator shall be responsible for collection,

characterisation and temporary storage of radioactive waste arising from

his activities and discharge of exempt waste.

EGASPIN provides that as much as possible, all the reusable components

of hazardous wastes should be recovered by using the best practicable

technology currently available. The National Environmental Protection

(Management of Solid and Hazardous Wastes) Regulations made

pursuant to the FEPA Act provide that waste should be recovered at the

point of generation, where practicable.

4 Liabilities

4.1 What types of liabilities can arise where there is a breach of

environmental laws and/or permits, and what defences are typically

available?
The FEPA Act provides that a person who breaches the provisions of the

Act commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine, or

imprisonment, or both. The FEPA Act also provides that where there has

been a discharge of any hazardous substance in violation of

environmental laws/permits, the person responsible for the discharge will

bear the liability of the costs of removal and clean up.

The Harmful Wastes Act provides that any person found guilty of

purchasing, selling, importing, transporting, depositing or storing harmful

waste shall on conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life.

A typical defence is that the act (e.g. discharge of hazardous substance

into the air, or upon the land and the waters of Nigeria or at the shorelines)

was done within the permissible limit or was authorised under any law in

force in Nigeria.

Another defence under the law is that the breach of the environmental law

or any permit given thereunder was caused solely by a natural disaster or

an act of war or sabotage and as such, the owner or occupier of the

facility would seek to avoid liability on this ground.

Ignorance of a breach of environmental law is typically not a defence to

an environmental offence. Section 25(9) of the Environmental Pollution

Control Law of Lagos State provides that it shall not be a defence for the
owner of any land on which waste is buried or dumped to state that the

offence was committed without his knowledge.

4.2 Can an operator be liable for environmental damage notwithstanding

that the polluting activity is operated within permit limits?

An operator would typically not be liable for a polluting activity which is

within the limits of any environmental permit granted to it, provided that

such activity is strictly in compliance with the terms and conditions of the

relevant permit.

The EPWMA Act provides that no person is allowed to discharge into any

public drain, water course, or roads verge any form of oil, grease, spent

oil brought about in the course of manufacturing or other type of business

without the written permission of the Agency. The operator will be liable

for any discharge outside the limit of the permit which is renewable

annually.

4.3 Can directors and officers of corporations attract personal liabilities

for environmental wrongdoing, and to what extent may they get insurance

or rely on other indemnity protection in respect of such liabilities?

Directors and officers may in certain circumstances attract personal

liability for environmental wrongdoing. Under the FEPA Act, directors

and officers of a company who were in charge of or responsible to the

company for the conduct of the business of the company at the time the

environmental wrongdoing was committed shall be deemed to be guilty

of an offence and shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished, usually

by payment of a fine or imprisonment.

The EPWMA Act specifically provides that where an offence is

committed with the consent or connivance of or attributed to any neglect

or omission on the part of the director, manager, secretary or other similar

officer of the company such person shall be liable on conviction to a

maximum of five years imprisonment without an option of a fine.

The only defence open to such directors and officers is that the offence

was committed without their knowledge or that they exercised all due

diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

Directors and officers are typically able to obtain the necessary

indemnifications from the company with regard to liabilities arising in the

course of business, including environmental pollution. It is also possible

for companies to take out insurances protecting their officers, employees

and directors from potential personal liability arising in the course of

operations.

Under the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990

(CAMA), an officer may be indemnified in respect of anything done or

omitted to be done in the course of the company’s operations, if there is a

subsisting provision (whether contained in the articles of the company or

in any contract with the company) to this effect.

4.4 What are the different implications from an environmental liability

perspective of a share sale on the one hand and an asset purchase on the

other?

There are different implications from an environmental liability

perspective of a share sale on the one hand and an asset purchase on the

other. A shareholder of a company would typically not be personally

liable for environmental damage or other liabilities of a company, under

the principle of limited liability. A shareholder is liable to the extent of his

shareholding in the company, unless he is proved to have been aware of

the environmental breach and is involved in the offending acts. Thus, a

shareholder who has purchased shares in a company that may have

environmental liabilities arising from its operations would not be

personally liable for any environmental damage arising from the

company’s operations. Nigerian law places liability on the directors and

officers of a company for environmental damage created by the company.

The definition of officers of a company under CAMA does not include

shareholders of the company.

An asset purchase, on the other hand, makes the purchaser an owner who
may be held liable for any environmental liability. Under Nigerian law,

environmental liability is based on the owner/occupier principle. Thus,

the owner/occupier of premises where a polluting activity takes place is

liable for the damage and will have the responsibility of cleaning up such

pollution as well as paying any fines imposed. Such owner/occupier can

only avoid liability if he is able to prove that the polluting activity took

place prior to the asset purchase, in which case the actual producer of the

waste will be liable, if he can be located.

4.5 To what extent may lenders be liable for environmental wrongdoing

and/or remediation costs?

Lenders are typically not liable for environmental wrongdoing and/or

remediation costs as they usually insert appropriate protective provisions

in the relevant financing documents.

Lenders may become liable for environmental wrongdoing and/or

remediation costs where such lenders have exercised any step-in rights

pursuant to the financing documents, and when they are in effective

occupation of the polluting facility. Such lenders may be held liable for

any environmental wrongdoing and/or remediation costs under the

principle of occupier’s/owner’s liability. We are not aware of any instance

where a lender is liable for environmental wrongdoing and/or remediation

costs.
5 Contaminated Land

5.1 What is the approach to liability for contamination (including historic

contamination) of soil or groundwater?

The approach to contamination of soil or groundwater is that the polluter

pays the costs of clean up and may also be liable to fines or imprisonment.

The person responsible for the contamination will be required to restore

the soil and groundwater to appropriate safety levels.

The FEPA Act provides that any person who discharges hazardous

substances into the air, upon the land or waters of Nigeria shall upon

conviction be subject to a fine and/or imprisonment for a term not

exceeding 10 years. If this offence is committed by a company, the

company shall on conviction be liable to a fine. The FEPAAct also

provides that unless the owner or operator of any vessel or onshore or

offshore facility from which the hazardous substance is discharged can

show that the discharge was caused by a natural disaster or an act of war

or sabotage, the owner or occupier shall be subject to the cost of removal

and restoration or compensation as the case may be.

The Akwa Ibom EPWMAAct provides that any person who allows toxic

waste to be dumped in any land or water commits an offence and shall be

liable on conviction to a maximum term of five years imprisonment.

EGASPIN provides as follows:

The Licensee/Lessee who is responsible for the generation of the waste

shall be liable for any contamination associated with such waste.

Such Licensee/Lessee shall bear all the costs associated with the

investigation, remediation and monitoring, even when the same are

conducted at the discretion of the Director, Petroleum Resources.

Adequate compensation shall be paid appropriately by such

Licensee/Lessee to the relevant community and landowners, in

consultation with the local government(s) and the Director, Petroleum

Resources

Under the Harmful Waste Act, where any damage (e.g. contamination of

land or groundwater) is due to harmful waste, any person who deposited,

dumped or imported the harmful waste or caused the harmful waste to be

so deposited, dumped or imported shall be liable for the damage.

5.2 How is liability allocated where more than one person is responsible

for the contamination?

Under the Harmful Waste Act, each of the persons responsible shall be

deemed to have committed a crime. The liability of each such offender is

several.
5.3 If a programme of environmental remediation is ‘agreed’ with an

environmental regulator can the regulator come back and require

additional works or can a third party challenge the agreement?

Regulators may require additional steps to be taken with regard to an

agreed programme of environmental remediation i.e. pursuant to an

environmental audit and it is subsequently determined that additional

action is required.

Third parties may also challenge an agreed programme of environmental

remediation. Such interested third parties may file claims in the Court

challenging any arrangements they perceive to be inadequate to restore

the contaminated land.

5.4 Does a person have a private right of action to seek contribution from

a previous owner or occupier of contaminated land when that owner

caused, in whole or in part, contamination; and to what extent is it

possible for a polluter to transfer the risk of contaminated land liability to

a purchaser?

A polluter can contractually transfer pollution liability to a purchaser. If

the contract between the polluter and the purchaser says that all liability is

transferred upon completion and no exceptions are made for

contamination, a purchaser will be liable and will have no right of

recourse to the previous owner. Nigerian law recognises the principle of

‘buyer beware’ and potential purchasers are deemed to have conducted

proper due diligence prior to concluding asset purchase.

There is no general legal duty to disclose prior environmental pollution

on any land or facility to a purchaser and a buyer who did not enquire

about possible pollution during a due diligence exercise prior to purchase

will be deemed to have liability for pollution whenever discovered unless

indemnity for pollution was given by the previous owner. Lack of

knowledge is no excuse.

However, a person may have a private right of action to seek contribution

from a previous owner or occupier of contaminated land when that owner

caused, in whole or in part, the contamination, and the agreement

between the parties did not fully transfer such obligations.

5.5 Does the government have authority to obtain from a polluter

monetary damages for aesthetic harms to public assets, e.g., rivers?

Under the law, the government has the authority to obtain monetary

damages from a polluter for aesthetic harm to public assets. The FEPAAct

requires a polluter to pay for the costs of removal of any such pollution,

including any costs which may be incurred by any government body or

agency in the restoration or replacement of damaged or destroyed natural

resources.

The EPWMA Act requires a polluter to pay compensation to affected

persons and the State for environmental damage caused by the offender.

6 Powers of Regulators

6.1 What powers do environmental regulators have to require production

of documents, take samples, conduct site inspections, interview

employees, etc.?

Nigerian environmental regulators have statutory powers to require the

production of documents, take samples, conduct site inspection etc. in the

course of carrying out their functions of preventing or investigating

environmental damage.

The FEPA Act empowers the FME to require the production for

examination of any licence or permit granted to any person, to enter and

search any land or building to take samples, conduct site inspections,

interview employees and to arrest any offender. Under the Akwa Ibom

EPWMA Act, Environmental Protection and Waste Management

Inspectors are empowered to inspect environmental standards on

premises during reasonable hours between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm. Similar

provisions are contained in the LASEPA law.

7 Reporting / Disclosure Obligations

7.1 If pollution is found on a site, or discovered to be migrating off-site,

must it be disclosed to an environmental regulator or potentially affected

third parties?

The law generally obligates anyone who discovers pollution on any site

to report the same to the authorities.

Where pollution is found on a site or is discovered to be migrating

off-site, there is a legal obligation to disclose this to an environmental

regulator and to potentially affected third parties. Section 22(2)(a) of the

FEPAAct provides that where there has been a discharge into the

environment, the responsible party shall immediately give notice of the

discharge to the FME and to any other relevant agencies.

The rule in Rylands v. Fletcher imposes liability for any damage that may

be caused by pollution that has migrated to the site of a third party. The

rule in Rylands v. Fletcher requires that the person who for his own

purposes brings on his lands and collects and keeps there anything likely

to cause damage if it escapes, must keep it at his peril, and if he does not

do so, is prima facie answerable for all the damage which is the natural

consequence of its escape to the third party’s property.

7.2 When and under what circumstances does a person have an

affirmative obligation to investigate land for contamination?

Nigerian law does not impose a general obligation to investigate land for

contamination or any person save for the statutory obligations of the

relevant regulators. Such an obligation however arises for a project which

meets the requirements of environmental laws and requires an EIA. For

such a project to be undertaken, the EIA report must cover results of

land/soil investigations on the suitability of the site for the proposed

project and examine the determined potential impact of the project.

Upon discovery of contamination and reporting of the same, the EIA

Report would typically provide an action plan for mitigating the effects of

the potential contamination.

7.3 To what extent is it necessary to disclose environmental problems, e.g.

by a seller to a prospective purchaser in the context of merger and/or

takeover transactions?

There is no legal requirement on a seller to disclose environmental

problems to a prospective purchaser. Under Nigerian law, the common

law principle of ‘buyer beware’ is applicable, and the duty is on a

purchaser to take all reasonable steps to protect itself by carrying out

adequate due diligence prior to an asset purchase. However, a purchaser

has a right to enquire about and obtain details of assets to be purchased. If

such an enquiry is made, the seller has an obligation to provide full

disclosure to the best of its knowledge. Failure to do so may lead to an

action for fraudulent misrepresentation if his disclosures are subsequently

found to be incorrect. A potential purchaser may engage experts to carry

out environmental investigations and to request necessary

indemnifications in the event that he suspects prior environmental

pollution.

The same principle applies in mergers or takeover transactions. The

potential purchaser must undertake necessary due diligence investigations

in order to uncover any prior environmental pollution and make necessary

enquiries on possible environmental damage from past activities.

8 General

8.1 Is it possible to use an environmental indemnity to limit exposure for

actual or potential environment-related liabilities, and does making a

payment to another person under an indemnity in respect of a matter (e.g.

remediation) discharge the indemnifier’s potential liability for that

matter?

It is possible to use an environmental indemnity to limit exposure for

actual or potential environmentally-related liabilities. Parties may agree

in their contractual arrangements on appropriate indemnifications for

losses arising from prior pollution. This is very common in lending

transactions where lenders seek to avoid liability for existing conditions

on a project site which is being financed by them.

Making a payment to another person under an indemnity to cover losses

incurred as a result of environmental damage would typically discharge

the indemnifier’s liability to the person indemnified unless further or

additional pollution is uncovered. The indemnifier’s potential liability is

not discharged completely if further damage is discovered.

8.2 Is it possible to shelter environmental liabilities off balance sheet, and

can a company be dissolved in order to escape environmental liabilities?

Companies typically do not reflect environmental liabilities on their

balance sheets, as they are required to take out necessary insurance for all

potential business risks. However where the potential environmental

liability is immense, the details of the liability may be reflected on the

accountant’s notes which form part of the company’s financial statement.

In Nigeria, a company may voluntarily be dissolved or wound up under

the provisions of CAMA. CAMA however provides that the property of a

company shall on its winding up be applied in satisfaction of its liabilities.

Therefore, dissolution of a company cannot be a means of escaping

environmental liabilities, as the property of such a company will be used

to pay its liabilities. However an insolvent company may in certain

circumstances be able to escape liability for environmental damage where

its assets upon liquidation are insufficient to cover the cost of remediation.

Shareholders, directors and officers may be personally liable for such

damage if they were aware of the activities which caused the damage.

8.3 Can a person who holds shares in a company be held liable for

breaches of environmental law and/or pollution caused by the company,

and can a parent company be sued in its national court for pollution

caused by a foreign subsidiary/affiliate?

The principle of limited liability protects a shareholder from being held

liable for the acts of the company. A shareholder will only be held liable

for breaches of environmental law and/or pollution caused by the

company to the extent that the shareholder is in charge of or was for the

conduct of the company’s business.

Under Nigerian Law, there is no presumption that a subsidiary (even a

wholly-owned subsidiary) acts as the agent of its parent company. A

subsidiary is a separate legal entity from its parent company. Its acts are

not acts of the parent company and the parent company is not responsible

for its acts or defaults, in the absence of specific provisions to that effect

in a contract between them. Therefore, a parent company cannot be sued

for pollution caused by a foreign subsidiary merely because it is a

shareholder in the subsidiary. Such a parent must have been involved in

management and/or been aware of the pollution activities.

8.4 Are there any laws to protect "whistle-blowers" who report

environmental violations/matters?

Nigerian law contains provisions to protect whistle-blowers who report or

testify in environmental violation matters. Section 37 of the EIA Act

provides that where specific, direct and substantial harm would be caused

to a witness by the disclosure of evidence at a Review Panel, the hearing

by the Review Panel shall not be in public; and where the Review Panel

is satisfied that the disclosure of evidence, documents or other things

would cause specific, direct and substantial harm to a witness, the

evidence, documents or other things shall be privileged and shall not,

without the authorisation of the witness, knowingly be or be permitted to

be communicated, disclosed or made available by any person who has

obtained the evidence, documents or other things.

8.5 Are group or "class" actions available for pursuing environmental

claims, and are penal or exemplary damages available?

We confirm that Nigerian law recognises class action by a group or a

community of people for pursuing environmental claims. Such actions are

fairly common in the oil and gas industry where communities claim
damages and clean up for pollution of their lands, waters and general

environment. In a recent case which involved Shell Petroleum

Development Company the inhabitants of the community close to a major

oil spillage filed a group action against Shell seeking damages of up to

N60,000,000.00. The community won in the lower courts and the appellate

court upheld the decision but reduced the damages awarded.

Nigerian courts have awarded special and general damages in actions for

damages arising from environmental pollution. Such damages have been

for the loss of fishing rights, pollution of drinking water, damage and

hazards from pollution of the environment, general inconvenience, and

miscellaneous losses. The courts typically do not award exemplary

damages in the claims brought before them. Exemplary damages may be

awarded only in the following three circumstances:

where the plaintiff has suffered oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional

action by a servant of the government;

where the defendant’s conduct has been calculated by him to make a

profit for himself which may well exceed the compensation payable to

the plaintiff; and

where statute so provides.

9 Emissions Trading and Climate Change

9.1 What emissions trading schemes are in operation in Nigeria and how

is the emissions trading market developing there?

There are no emissions trading schemes currently operational in Nigeria.

10 Asbestos

10.1 Is Nigeria likely to follow the experience of the US in terms of

asbestos litigation?

There are no specific regulations at this time on the use of and likely

effects of asbestos use locally. No such litigation proceedings have been

brought to the courts at this time, to the best of our knowledge. Owing to

prevalent use of asbestos for construction purposes in the past, such

litigation may arise in future.

10.2 What are the duties of owners/occupiers of premises in relation to

asbestos on site?

There is no specific legislation in Nigeria regulating the duties of

owners/occupiers of premises in relation to asbestos on site; however, to

the extent that such asbestos constitutes an environmental hazard, such an

owner/occupier will have to comply with the different environmental

legislation and regulations on storage, treatment and disposal of

potentially harmful material.

11 Environmental Insurance Liabilities

11.1 What types of environmental insurance are available in the market,

and how big a role does environmental risks insurance play in Nigeria?

Different types of environmental insurances are available for different

sectors of the economy. Anumber of insurance companies in Nigeria

provide cover for environmental claims under their ‘all liability policy’,

which is a comprehensive insurance cover for all manner of liability.

Environmental liability insurance plays a big role in Nigeria as lenders

will typically not lend to any major project without the necessary

insurances in place, especially environmental insurance for the project,

health and safety insurance, etc. Although most insurance for

environmental risks in the oil and gas sector is taken out offshore,

Nigerian insurers are increasingly participating in the sector.

11.2 What is the environmental insurance claims experience in Nigeria?

Due to the large size of insurance claims and the huge sums involved,

most of the environmental insurances for large projects are taken out with

insurance companies offshore. Under the Insurance Act of 2004, the

consent of the Commissioner for Insurance is required for such offshore

insurance. Nigerian insurers are increasingly participating in the sector

and the Government is encouraging this trend.

Environmental journalism: the best way to raise awareness about climate

change

An aware society is the best weapon against climate change. And this is

where environmental journalists play a crucial role; they inform and they

raise awareness among people. Sustainability, biodiversity and renewable

energies are some of the topics covered by professionals that are

increasingly more essential.

In modern democracies, public authorities need public opinion consensus

to promulgate their policies. Policies related to sustainability are no

exception. As a society, environmental policies can only progress if

people are aware about the health of the planet, sustainable

development and the fight against climate change. Th at's where

environmental journalism plays a decisive role.