From Open Sustainability
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| Where Activities Reside
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Activity: Policy Assessment
Objective
The impact of new government policy can have major impacts on organizations - some bad and some good. With the pace at which changes are being made in energy and environment policy, it is imperative that organizations keep up to date with changes to ensure that their business can adapt if required.
An in-depth policy assessment may require assistance from a policy expert. Organizations such as the Stockholm Environment Institute specialize in such assessments.
Standards such as ISO 14001 state that you must maintain a register of all applicable legislation. Items to also include in the register is to which part of the organization is the policy/legislation is applicable, the corresponding records and the responsible government agency.
Major Deliverables
- Summary of Current and Emerging Policy Instruments
- Briefing note Business Implications
Tasks
Review current policy instruments
Objective: To get an understanding of the sustainability related polices already impacting the organization.
Results from this review could compliment or be a base for reporting metrics in Sustainability/CSR Reports.
Scan for emerging polices
Objective: To gain an understanding of potential risks and opportunities for your organization due to policy changes.
A response may be to adopt voluntary measures, to ensure the organization is ready for when mandatory measures may come in place.
Yellow Flags
- Assessing the impact on some policy issues can be a very complex process
- Expending too many resources on an emerging policy that does or does not come into place
