EPI Design: Integrating corporate strategies into the development process of an environmental performance evaluation system

The aim of EPIDesign is to provide companies from any industrial sector with a structured method to create a customised set of performance indicators able to monitor all the environmental aspects involved in the entire production cycle. M. Bartolomeo proposes a distinction between impact indicators, assessed both in physical and monetary terms, and performance indicators, which assess a company’s efficiency and effectiveness in the consumption of resources. This chapter examines the role played by an Environmental performance evaluation system based on environmental performance indicators within a company’s environmental management system (EMS). The progressive spread in companies of consistent environmental management approaches heightens the importance of measuring performance and, thus, the use of environmental indicators. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14031 standard, approved in 1999, is part of the ISO 14000 series of EMS standards. The chapter provides a critical review of the real applicability of various models.