Environmental certification
One of the commitments stated in the Venice Port Authority's Three-year operational plan includes promoting environmental initiatives to ensure the port's sustainable development. In 2012 Venice Port Authority obtained the ISO 14001 environmental certification.
Sustainable development
To ensure the port's sustainable development, the Venice Port Authority (VPA) decided to implement the environmental management principles codified in ISO 14001 to develop the port's Environmental Management System (EMS).
The environmental certification acknowledges an organisation's commitment to environmental management. By keeping environmental impact under check, an organisation can continuously improve its performance.
Benefits
The EMS that VPA is implementing is a sound tool to:
- ensure compliance to the environmental law in force;
- improve relations with the controlling bodies (e.g. by simplifying procedures);
- improve the efficiency of VPA and the port, by reducing waste and energy costs and by reducing environmental impact;
- reduce the chances of environmental incidents (and the resulting environmental and financial damage);
- facilitate access to financing tools;
- promote the dissemination of environmental communication strategies.
Actions
The actions implemented by VPA to comply with its environmental policy, include:
- drafting the preliminary environmental assessment document;
- careful consideration of the applicable environmental laws;
- involving the areas most involved in activities of potential environmental importance;
- drafting environmental procedures and manual;
- collecting data to monitor environment and thus reduce consumption;
- organising environmental training initiatives.