Environmental Policies and Action

This page outlines how the Council manages its environmental impact and how we are working to improve both our own environmental performance and the sustainability of Leicester.  It also provides links to some of our key policies, strategies and reports.

EMAS (Eco Management and Audit Scheme) – the Council’s system for managing and improving our environmental impact.
Environmental Targets
Environmental Statement – details our environmental priorities and recent performance.
Environmental Policy 
Climate Change
Sustainable Procurement – our policy and guidance for purchasing decisions
From Environment City to Sustainable City – summary of key milestones in Leicester’s work to become a more sustainable city.
Fairtrade pledge
Local Development Framework – land use policies designed to protect the environment and enable sustainable development to take place.
Local Transport Policies
Biodiversity Action Plan

EMAS (Eco Management and Audit Scheme)

 

EMAS is the system the Council uses to manage and reduce its impact on the environment. It is based around our Environmental Policy.

 

 

 

Working procedures have been developed to keep our environmental impact to a minimum and to make sure we comply with environmental law.  Staff must follow these where they apply.

 

 

 

The Council has also set targets for environmental improvement and we report on these each year in the Environmental Statement.  The Statement includes a more detailed explanation of how EMAS works.

 

 

 

Our Environment Network of staff volunteers helps the Council improve through regular campaigns encouraging all staff to do their bit.

 

EMAS is an internationally recognised standard of good environmental practice which the Council has met since 1999.  Details of the EMAS standard are available from the website of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) .  We receive a yearly inspection – known as ‘verification’, to check that all our activities and facilities continue to do so.

 

 

 

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Environmental Targets

 

As part of EMAS, the Council sets targets for improving its environmental performance.  Details of the current targets are available to download below.

 

Progress is reported to the Cabinet and details are published in our annual Environmental Statement.

 

 

 

A recent example is our raising of recycling levels for household waste from 10.3% in 1997/98 to 39.8% in 2009/10 – with the help of Leicester households.

 

 

 

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Environmental Statement

 

We publish an Environmental Statement annually, which describes our main environmental impacts, outlines how we manage our performance and details progress towards our targets.  The Statement is independently checked before publication to make sure it presents an accurate picture.

 

 

 

The most recent Environmental Statement is available to download below.

 

 

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