Tools for environmental statements

2. Environmental statement checklist

You can use the following checklist to analyse the completeness and quality of environmental statements or reports.

Enter a point value for each element according the the following key:

5 points: Exemplary description
3 points: Good description
1 point: Unsatisfactory description
0 points: Not given

A	Individual Elements
A.1	General site/company information		Points
A.1.1	Financial information, number of employees, products/product groups, production processes
A.1.2	History of environmental protection in the company
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
A.2	Environmental policy/guidelines
A.2.1	Statement from management
A.2.2	Environmental guidelines/principles
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
A.3	Environmental Management System
A.3.1	Overview/organigram, responsibilities for environmental management
A.3.2	Information, involvement and training of employees
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
A.4	Site-specific information on material and energy flows
A.4.1	Information on main material and energy flows
A.4.2	Systematic review and presentation of inputs and outputs
A.4.3	Description of data collection methods and scope
	Weighting factor: 10	Score
A.5	Environmental features of products and services
A.5.1	Overview of products/services
A.5.2	Treatment of significant aspects of product life cycle
A.5.3	Presentation of significant aspects of product development
	Weighting factor: 15	Score
A.6	Analysis and evaluation of environmental problem areas
A.6.1	Comparison with legal obligations, reference to and analysis of accidents and environmental fines
A.6.2	Comparison over time and analysis of trends and developments
A.6.3	Use of environmental indicators
A.6.4	Other qualitative evaluation of data
	Weighting factor:10	Score
A.7	Environmental programme and objectives
A.7.1	Realisation of objectives over time period to which report refers
A.7.2	Description of objectives
A.7.3	Description of measures
	Weighting factor: 15	Score
A.8	Economic aspects of environmental protection
A.8.1	Expenditure and savings
A.8.2	Evaluation of market situation and potential
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
A.9	Communication with target groups
A.9.1	Presentation of past and future activities with target groups
A.9.2	Company address, contact person, request for feedback
A.9.3	Offer of further information and cross reference
	Weighting factor: 5	Score

B	Overall quality of content
B.1	Credibility		Points
B.1.1	Audits
B.1.2	Statement from/recognition of external party
B.1.3	Reference to unsolved problems
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
B.2	Relevance and clarity
B.2.1	Focus on important quantitative and qualitative aspects
B.2.2	Comprehensibility of information
B.2.3	Clarity and easy-to-follow presentation and structure
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
B.3	Continuity and comparability
B.3.1	Continuity of report structure, data and evaluation methods
B.3.2	Comparability over time and within specific sector
	Weighting factor: 5	Score

C	Quality of communication
C.1	Text/language		Points
C.1.1	Information value of headings
C.1.2	Lively style
C.1.3	Quick overview of content
	Weighting factor: 5	Score
C.2	Visual design
C.2.1	General attractiveness
C.2.2	Quality of pictures
C.2.3	Quality of graphs
C.2.4	Typography
	Weighting factor: 5	Score

Overall evaluation
	Score	Max. possible	Percent
A. Individual elements		375 points
B. Overall quality of content		75 points
C. Quality of communication		50 points
		500 points

Download Environmental statement checklist