The main aim of the course is to provide knowledge of the design, implementation and evaluation of environmental management systems in industry, as well as other environmental management tools useful to reduce the impact of industrial activities and to report on their commitment to do so.

This course is taught during the last semester of the Degree. It requires previous knowledge acquired in basic and specific courses, in particular in “Environmental Science and Technology”. "Environmental Management in Industry" is an optional course, but compulsory in the “Environmental Management” specialization. However, this course is useful for students of any variation of the Degree in Environmental Engineering, as well as Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Engineering, among others.

The competences acquired in the course will allow students to:

-Describe and argue the benefits of implementing an environmental management system in organizations, in particular in the industrial sector.

-Detail the main features and applications of existing environmental tools in order to implement an environmental management system.

-Identify the main steps in order to plan, design, implement, assess, and improve an environmental management system.

-Describe the fundamentals and applications of other useful environmental management tools such as life cycle assessment, eco-design, environmental footprint, ecolabelling and others.

The main contents of the course comprises four topics:

-Topic 1. Business and Environment. Introduction to Environmental Management Systems (EMS) in an organization.

-Topic 2. Environmental Management Systems. Context. Standardised environmental management systems. Implementation of Environmental Management Systems. Integrated management systems. Environmental indicators. Communication: environmental statement.

-Topic 3. Environmental audits. Definition, scope and objectives. Types of environmental audits. Content and methodology of an environmental audit. Communication: the audit report.

-Topic 4. Other environmental management. Life Cycle Assessment. Ecodesign. Environmental footprint. Product and organisation environmental footprint. Specific footprints: carbon footprint, water / hydric footprint, ecological footprint. Ecolabelling. Sustainability reports

The course will be delivered by means of:

-Lectures (MC), which will be used to explain core contents in order to develop students' knowledge and understanding of the aforementioned concepts.

-Seminars (S), which will be used for practical activities, discussions in groups, reviews, etc..

-Computer labs (CL), which will be used to solve practical cases and to prepare an individual report that will be presented to the group at the end of the semester.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Multiple-Choice Test (%): 40
  • Realization of Practical Work (exercises, cases or problems) (%): 20
  • Individual works (%): 35
  • Exhibition of works, readings ... (%): 5

Continuous assessment is used in both ordinary and extraordinary assessment sessions. The completion of activities, computer lab reports and the exposition are included in the assessment criteria (60%). Students are also required to take a final written exam in May/June (40%). It is essential to pass this final exam (minimum grade: 5.0/10.0) to average it with the grades obtained during the semester (activities, computer lab reports and oral defence:

Any student wishing to waive continuous evaluation and wishing to be marked by final assessment instead of by continuous assessment in the ordinary session should request this in a written document from the lecturer responsible for the course before the ninth week after the course starts. In this case, the student must do the following in May/June:

-Written exam: multiple choice test (40% of final grade)

-Resolution of a practical case (50% of the final grade)

-Computer lab test (10% of the final grade)

Students who do not pass the subject in the ordinary call are required to take a written exam similar to that in the ordinary session (40% of the final mark). The remaining 60% of the mark will correspond to the activities carried out throughout the semester (practical activities, computer lab reports and oral presentation).

Any student who requested to be qualified by final assessment in the ordinary session will be marked according to the same criteria as in the ordinary session.

Materials required to follow the sessions will be shared with the students though eGela virtual platform (https://egela.ehu.eus/):
-Lecture materials and documents,
-Instructions for practical activities and computer lab guides,
-Links to useful websites and useful reports.

Basic bibliography

This section contains a basic bibliography in English (resources in Spanish are included in the corresponding guide in Spanish).

- International Organization for Standardization (Ginebra). (2015). ISO 14001: environmental management systems, requirements with guidance for use (3rd ed. Ed.: ISO.

- Jackson, S. L. (1997). The ISO 14001 implementation guide: creating an integrated management system (Ser. Wiley series in environmental quality management). Wiley.

- Kinsella, J. J., Mac Cully, A. D. (1999). Handbook for implementing an ISO 14001 environmental management system: a practical approach. EMCON.



Standards.

- ISO 14001:2015. Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use.

- ISO 14006:2011. Environmental management systems — Guidelines for incorporating ecodesign.

- ISO 14040:2006. Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework.

- ISO 14064-1:2018. Greenhouse gases — Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

- ISO 19011:2018. Guidelines for auditing management systems.

In-depth bibliography

- Eco-Management and Audit Scheme. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/pdf/factsheets/EMAS_revised_annexes.pdf Last accessed: June 2022.
- European Commission, EC (2017). Moving towards a circular economy with EMAS. Best practices to implement circular economy with EMAS. Best practices to implement circular economy strategies (with case study examples). Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/pdf/other/report_EMAS_Circular_Economy.pdf Last accessed: June 2022.
- Hauschild, M. Z., Rosenbaum, R. K., Olsen, S. I. (2018). Life cycle assessment : theory and practice. Springer International Publishing (ebook available).
- Machado, C., Davim, J. P. (2020). Circular economy and engineering: a new ecologically efficient model (Ser. Management and industrial engineering). Springer.
- Public Society for Environmental Management of the Basque Government – IHOBE (2002). Manual on Ecodesign. 7 steps for implementation. Available at: https://www.ihobe.eus/publications/manual-on-ecodesign-7-steps-for-implementation Last accessed: June 2022
- Public Society for Environmental Management of the Basque Government – IHOBE (2016). 36 Circular economy demonstration projects in the Basque Country Available at: https://www.ihobe.eus/publications/36-circular-economy-demonstration-projects-in-the-basque-country Last accessed: June 2022.

Journals

- Environmental Management. Editorial Springer. Available at: https://link.springer.com/journal/267. Last accessed: June 2022
- Journal Environmental and Sustainability Indicators. Editorial Elsevier. Available at: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/environmental-and-sustainability-indicators. Last accessed: June 2022
- Journal of Environmental Management. Editorial Elsevier. Available at: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-environmental-management Last accessed: June 2022

Web addresses

- Basque Government. Department of the Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing. http://www.euskadi.eus/gobierno-vasco/departamento-medio-ambiente-politica-territorial/inicio/
- Eur-lex. Access to the Official Journal of European Union Law http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/
- European Environment Agency (EEA) http://www.eea.eu.int
- International Standards Organization (ISO) http://www.iso.org
- Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge - MITECO, Spanish Government https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/
- Public Society for Environmental Management of the Basque Government – IHOBE http://www.ihobe.es
- Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification - AENOR http://www.aenor.es
- United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) http://www.epa.gov