THE BRAVE PROJECT COORDINATED BY THE INSTITUE OF MANAGEMENT WON THE EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE IN RECOGNITION OF NEW GUIDELINES ISSUED ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
“Brave” (Better Regulation Aimed at Valorising Emas) project received the European recognition award in Bruxelles. The project coordinated by Sant’Anna School Institute of Management and aimed to support the full integration of EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) into the environmental legislation of EU Member States, was one of the 25 best projects of 2015 part-funded by the EU’s LIFE programme. Professor Marco Frey, director of Sant’Anna School Institute of Management and Brave project manager, received the award for both individual and group achievements; the project, which had a budget of 2,200 million euro was co-financed by Regione Lombardia and Regione Basilicata. Brave project was carried out in collaboration with Arpa Regione Lombardia, Confindustria Genova, Confindustria Liguria, Iefe Unit of Bocconi University, Ambiente Italia and two Spanish institutions, Valencia Chamber of Commerce and the Andalusian Institute of Technology.
The aim of Brave was to facilitate EMAS implementation by all organizations and remove, reduce or simplify the administrative burdens for EMAS-registered organizations, as well as for companies adopting the EU Ecolabel and other forms of voluntary certification but deeply committed to the EMAS adoption process and improving their environmental performance.
The project also promoted the spread of voluntary instruments for environmental policy and sustainable development and awarded excellent organizations that adopt them, reducing the burden of administrative requirements for better regulation and regulatory relief. At least 100 proposals for national and sub-national regulatory simplification were presented; in Italy the proposals involve the regional authorities of Basilicata, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Lombardia, Toscana, and, in Spain, Andalusia and Generalitat Valenciana.
A number of measures have been proposed in reference to Community directives (25). Such simplification proposals were shared with more than 200 stakeholders and experts, 30 meetings were organized during the project, the working groups were set up at regional, national and European level.
A representative picture of the intensive activity of the Brave project counts a total of 23 measures adopted, in addition to calls that promoted the EMAS certification. The project’s survey conducted among European EMAS companies confirmed that around 50% declared improvement in air emissions and reduced water consumption, and around 60% confirmed a reduction in waste; companies operating in the manufacturing sector achieved the best results concerning pollution reduction.
Furthermore, to support regulatory simplification, guidelines are issued providing the necessary tools to create forms of simplification aimed at the promotion of the EMAS certification in public and local authorities, in government institutions, in designated control authorities and approved control bodies.
