یک مدل پیاده سازی سیستم مدیریت زیست محیطی برای کالج ها و دانشگاه های ایالات متحده

The Osnabruck model, and another under development by the South Carolina Sustainable Universities Initiative, are the only two EMS models that have been proposed specifically for colleges and universities, although several guides are now available. The Environmental Management System Implementation Model for U.S. Colleges and Universities detailed in this paper, an adaptation of the ISO 14001 standard and USEPA recommendations, has been tailored to U.S. colleges and universities for use in streamlining the implementation process. In using this three-phased implementation model created for the U.S. research and academic setting, it is hoped that these highly specialized institutions will be provided with a clearer and more cost-effective path towards the implementation of an EMS and greater compliance with local, state and federal environmental legislation.

Research and academic institutions are struggling to comply with increasing local, state and federal environmental legislation and grappling with how best to tailor and implement environmental management systems to ensure greater compliance in their specialized setting. In addition, many colleges and universities are publicly recognizing their own goals of providing methodologies for achieving environmental sustainability in outside institutions, and are expressing their desire to act as cutting edge examples of these increasingly high priority principles and practices. The Environmental Management System Implementation Model detailed in this paper will hopefully serve as a response to a need for clearer guidance on this issue and will be of value to U.S. colleges and universities that are interested in implementing an environmental management system, providing a clearer and more cost-effective strategy.