Upon the successful completion of its first validated cycle of environmental management (2010–2013), the ECB was recently re-awarded its environmental certification in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard and will thus be re-registered under the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).
The ECB is today publishing a consolidated environmental statement on the results and achievements of the past three years, both in terms of its overall carbon footprint and with regard to individual environmental aspects. Accomplishments include the switch to the use of renewable energy for the ECB’s premises in Frankfurt am Main, the use of recycled and “Blue Angel”-labelled paper for internal office consumption and the establishment of a Sustainable Procurement Guideline.
A new environmental policy has been implemented to better reflect the changing conditions and developments in the ECB’s Environmental Management System since 2007, when the first environmental policy was adopted and the system was established.
The ECB has continuously increased the scope of its reporting on, and monitoring of, carbon emissions, in keeping with its values of transparency and accountability. In addition to emissions from energy consumption in its premises, business travel and paper consumption, it now takes into account the travel emissions of conference participants, the use of cooling agents and the energy used in the external data centre.
The ECB’s Environmental Management System encompasses all business areas. Its future development will continue to be built on increasing staff awareness and involvement, in particular with regard to the move to the New ECB Premises and the practical adoption of the Sustainable Procurement Guideline.
For more information about the ECB’s environmental activities and plans, please follow the link to the ECB’s 2013 Environmental Statement.
Please note that in order to discourage unnecessary printing and to monitor the impact of our publication, the 2013 Environmental Statement has been encrypted to prevent default printing. However, if you wish to print this document, please send an e-mail to statement.greenecb@ecb.europa.eu to request the password, mentioning how many printouts you intend to make.