Miljøaspekt

Miljøaspekt, or environmental aspect, is a term used to describe any element of an organization’s activities, products, or services that can interact with or affect the environment. An environmental impact is the actual change to the environment that results from an environmental aspect. In environmental management systems such as ISO 14001, identifying and evaluating environmental aspects helps organizations understand where they can influence their environmental performance.

Aspects can be direct, arising from activities under the organization’s control, or indirect, stemming from upstream or downstream activities in the value chain. They can also be material to the organization’s operations or related to products and services across their life cycles. Common examples include energy use, emissions to air, discharges to water, waste generation, consumption of raw materials, use of hazardous substances, noise, land use, biodiversity effects, and transport-related emissions. Office-related impacts such as energy use and paper consumption are also considered.

The management process typically involves identifying aspects, assessing their significance, and determining which require controls. Significance is influenced by the potential environmental impact’s severity, frequency, reversibility, regulatory requirements, stakeholder concerns, and the organization’s ability to control or influence the aspect. Based on this assessment, objectives and programs are set to reduce significant aspects, with monitoring and periodic review to track progress.

A life-cycle perspective is often applied, recognizing that environmental aspects can arise at different stages, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal. Distinctions are made between aspects and actual impacts: the aspect is the source that could cause an impact, while the impact is the realized environmental effect. Documentation, such as an aspects register or matrix, is typically part of the environmental management system.