This study, commissioned by the DG Environment of the European Commission, will provide an evaluation of the EMAS scheme over the last five years (2018-2023), particularly in terms of its effectiveness and efficiency, and it will identify the lessons learned. In particular, the study focuses on the more recent changes to the regulation and their effects.

The Consortium will identify a sample of other Environmental Management Schemes (EMS), in agreement with the European Commission, and compare EMAS with these schemes both in relation to their environmental benefits as well as the associated economic and social benefits. The evaluation will be conducted in line with the European Commission’s Better Regulation Guidelines and Toolkit (BRG) and will consist of two Tasks:

1) A backward looking (ex-post) evaluation of EMAS implementation, including: an assessment of the effectiveness of EMAS; a comparison to a small number of similar environmental management schemes available on the market at the international, European and national levels; an assessment of the impacts on adopters’ environmental performance; an analysis of companies’ perception of environmental benefits of EMAS and their expectations; an analysis of “success factors” of EMAS implementation through case studies.

2) A forward-looking (ex-ante) evaluation which will provide evidence-based recommendations on how the environmental benefits of the scheme can be enhanced in the future.

The methodology used will include: desk research, interviews with EMAS organisations and non-EMAS companies, a detailed online survey, an environmental statement analysis and stakeholder interviews.

Project consortium: IBF International Consulting SA, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Environmental Policy and Economics Team at Logika Group.