A certificação do sistema de gestão ambiental e a melhoria efetiva do desempenho ambiental das organizações.

Abstract

The certification of Environmental Management Systems has almost become a obligation for Organizations, because of the increasing society s consciousness about the problems related to the environment. This paper seeks identify whether the certification of Environmental Management Systems promotes the effective improvement of environmental performance of Brazilian companies and whether these systems provide a favorable cost-benefit ratio to these Organizations. The methodology, based on qualitative research, uses as instruments the application of a questionnaire of closed questions and analysis of documents from the Environmental Management Systems of Organizations certified since more than two years. The results of the research achieved to demonstrate that, even though there are several points of potential improvement in the systems evaluated, the Organizations are able to improve its environmental performance over time and also reap economic benefits due to the operation of these systems. It was observed that the main focus of the systems implemented in the evaluated Organizations is more concentrated in the system itself than in looking for the effective environmental performance improvement, which is the core point of the objective of the implementation of a Environmental Management System, according to the standard ABNT NBR ISO 14001 (ABNT, 2004). Some of the actions taken by the Organizations already show alignment with the current trend of seeking for sustainability, which represents a positive potential for disseminating the importance of these systems as a tool to be used to meet the guidelines set forth in Agenda 21.