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journal homepage: www.fia.usv.ro/fiajournal 
Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering,  

Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania  
Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013, pag. 73 - 77 

 
 

 
 

ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR 
THE EMAS REGULATION 

 
 

*Adrian IOANA1, Augustin SEMENESCU1, Cezar Florin PREDA1 
 

1University Politehnica of Bucharest, Spl. Independentei 313, Bucharest, S6, 060042, 
adyioana@gmail.com 

* Corresponding author  
Received 7 January 2013, accepted 15 February 2013 

 
 
 

Abstract. This paper presents the main environmental performance indicators for the Eco-
Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which are used by the specific international regulations. 
They should therefore be cost-effective and appropriate to the size and type of organization and its 
needs and priorities. The paper also deals with the indicators’ functions, quality and basic categories 
of environmental performance indicators. The originality of the paper lies in establishing the 
correlation: Environment – Environment Performance Indicators (EPI) – Organization. 

 
Keywords: Environmental Performance Indicators; Eco-Management Audit Scheme 
 
 
 
 
1. Introduction  
Environment protection consists of: 
environmental programs, objectives and 
targets, training, incentive schemes, audit 
frequency, site inspections, administration 
and community relations. 
The environmental management and 
performance of organizations is helped by 
the selection and use of Environmental 
Performance Indicators (EPI). 
The guidance no. 2001/680/EC, included 
in the EMAS environment project, also 
contains regulations concerning the 
selection and use of Environmental 
Performance Indicators. 
Organizations should make optimum use 
of the environmental information they 
collect [1]. To this end the indicators 
should fulfill the dual purpose of assisting 
the management of the organization and 
providing information to stakeholders.  
 

Getting environmental information can be 
expensive and time consuming. 
Environmental Performance Indicators 
(EPI) should therefore be cost-effective 
and appropriate to the size and type of 
organization and its needs and priorities. 
They should address primarily those 
environmental impacts that are most 
significant and which the company can 
influence by its operations, management, 
activities, products and services. They 
should also be sensitive enough to reflect 
significant changes in environmental 
impacts [2]. 
Depending on an organization’s 
capabilities and resources, the use of 
environmental performance indicators may 
initially be limited to those aspects 
considered most relevant, with the initial 
scope being gradually widened over time.  



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013 

 

ADRIAN IOANA, AUGUSTIN SEMENESCU, CEZAR FLORIN PREDA, ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 
FOR THE EMAS REGULATION, Food and Environment Safety, Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013, pag. 73 – 77 
 
 74 

Organizations should make the optimum 
use of the environmental information they 
collect. To this end the indicators should 
fulfill the dual purpose of assisting the 
management of the organization and 
providing information to stakeholders [3, 
4]. 
 
2. Materials and methods  
 
Categories of environmental 
performance indicators 
The environmental indicator systems are: 
 Comparability: indicators should 
enable a comparison and show changes in 
the environmental performance. 
 Balance between problematic (bad) 
and prospective (good) areas. 
 Continuity: indicators should be based 
on the same criteria and should be taken 
over comparable time sections or units. 
 Timeliness: indicators should be 
updated frequently enough to allow action 
to be taken. 
 Clarity: indicators should be clear and 
understandable [5]. 
Usually, three categories of environmental 
indicators are defined for evaluating and 
reporting the environmental performance 
of an organization. 
A. Operational Performance Indicators 
(OPIs). This focus on the aspects 
associated with an organization’s 
operations including activities, products or 
services and can cover such topics as 
emissions, product and raw material 
recycling, fuel consumption of vehicle 
fleet, or energy usage.  
Operational performance indicators can be 
subdivided into: 
 Input indicators. 
 Physical facilities and equipment 
indicators. 
 Output indicators.  
They focus on planning, controlling and 
monitoring the environmental impacts of 
the organization’s operations. Operational 
performance indicators are also a tool for 

communicating environmental data 
through environmental reports or 
environmental statements, in accordance 
with the Eco-Management and Audit 
Scheme (EMAS) regulation. By integrating 
cost aspects into them, they furthermore 
represent a basis for environmental cost 
management. 
B. Management Performance Indicators 
(MPIs).  These focus on the efforts of 
management to provide the infrastructure 
for environmental management to succeed 
and can, among others, cover 
environmental programs, objectives and 
targets, training, incentive schemes, audit 
frequency, site inspections, administration 
and community relations. 
These indicators serve primarily as 
internal control and information 
measurements, but do not by themselves 
provide sufficient information to give an 
accurate picture of the organization’s 
environmental performance. 
C. Environmental Condition Indicators 
(ECIs). These give information on the 
quality of the environment surrounding the 
organization or the local, regional or 
global state of the environment. Examples 
include the water quality of a nearby lake, 
the regional air quality, concentrations of 
greenhouse gases or the concentration of 
certain pollutants in the soil.  
While they may be quite wide-ranging they 
can be used to focus the attention of the 
organization on the management of the 
environmental aspects associated with 
significant environmental impacts. 
The condition of environmental media (air, 
water, land) and the environmental 
problems that arise from it often depend on 
a variety of influences. Examples are 
emissions from different organizations, 
private households or transport.  
Data about the condition of environmental 
media are usually measured and recorded 
by governmental institutions. These data 
are used to derive specific environmental 



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013 

 

ADRIAN IOANA, AUGUSTIN SEMENESCU, CEZAR FLORIN PREDA, ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 
FOR THE EMAS REGULATION, Food and Environment Safety, Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013, pag. 73 – 77 
 
 75 

indicator systems for the main 
environmental problems [6-9]. 
Figure 1 presents the basic principles of 
environmental indicator systems, also the 
categories of environmental indicators and 
the correlation levels. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Figure 1. The basic principles of environmental 
indicator systems, the categories of 

environmental indicators and correlation levels 
OPIs – Operational Performance 
Indicators; MPIs – Management 
Performance Indicators; ECIs – 
Environmental Condition Indicators; I) – 
Correlations between the basic principles; 
II) – Correlations between the categories 
indicators;   III) – General correlation 
between the basic principles and categories 
indicators; IV) Punctual correlation 
between the basic principles and categories 
indicators. 
 
In connection with environmental policy 
goals, public environmental indicators can 
be used by organizations as an orientation 
for setting priorities in determining their 
own indicators and objectives. This is 
especially the case when the organization 
is one of the main sources of an 
environmental problem, for example the 
impact of an airport on its surroundings 
with respect to noise or the impact of a 

direct effluent discharge on local water 
quality. For these cases in particular, ECIs 
enable the measurement of environmental 
impacts of the organization. 
These three categories of environmental 
indicators have become widely accepted 
and organizations should consider a 
combination of these indicators in order to 
be able to demonstrate, that: 
 They understand the environmental 
impacts associated with their activities, 
products and services (ECIs). 
 They are taking appropriate measures 
to ensure the management of 
environmental aspects associated with the 
environmental impacts (MPIs) and 
 The result of the management of 
environmental aspects is improved 
environmental performance of their 
operations (OPIs). 
The main functions of the environmental 
performance indicators are: 
 Converting raw data into information 
that can be easily understood by the 
intended audience ; 
 Summarizing extensive environmental 
data to a limited number of significant key 
information sets; 
 Quantifying and reporting 
environmental performance; 
 Assisting organisations in the 
management of their environmental 
aspects and impacts. 
The quality of environmental performance 
indicators consists of:  
 Being cost – effective; 
 Being appropriate to the size and type of 
organization and its needs and priorities; 
 Being sensitive enough to reflect 
significant changes in environmental 
impacts. 
Environmental performance indicators 
should fulfil a dual purpose:  
 Assisting the management of the 
organization; 
 Providing information to stakeholders. 
It is recognized however that for 
organizations with less significant 

BASIC 
PRINCIPLES 

 

CATEGORIES 
INDICATORS 

 

Comparability 

Balance 

Timeliness 

Continuity 

Clarity 

OP

M

EC

I

I

I

I



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013 

 

ADRIAN IOANA, AUGUSTIN SEMENESCU, CEZAR FLORIN PREDA, ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 
FOR THE EMAS REGULATION, Food and Environment Safety, Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013, pag. 73 – 77 
 
 76 

environmental impacts and a less complex 
environmental management system the 
most important indicators will be those 
relating to operational performance. 
 
 
3. Results and discussion  
 
The correlation environment – 
environmental performance indicators 
(epi) – organisation 
 
The main correlations between the 
organization and environment are ensured, 
in order, by: Offers Data (OD); EPI and 
Organization Management (OM). The OM 
must be correlated with the following three 
parameters: type; measure and priorities of 
the organization. 
In figure 2 are presented the main 
correlations concerning these indicators. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Figure 2. The correlation Environment – 
Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) – 

Organization 
EPI – Environment Performance Indicators; 

 OM – Organization Management 
OD – Offers Data 

 
4. Conclusions 
 
In selecting environmental performance 
indicators for a particular environmental 

aspect an organization should ask itself the 
following questions: 
 What are the organization’s main 
environmental aspects and impacts? 
 Where can most improvements be 
achieved? 
 Where can environmental 
improvements also lead to cost reduction? 
The selected environmental indicators 
should comply with environmental policy 
priorities: 
 How does the organization affect the 
local or regional environmental situation 
in relation to important local or regional 
environmental policy issues? 
 What environmental problems 
dominate the current political discussions? 
 What external requirements, for 
example from interested parties, affect the 
organization? 
Organizations should select indicators 
which enhance their management. 
Indicators which do not contribute to the 
management of the organization will 
ultimately not be incorporated in day-to-
day management and hence will have little 
effect in improving performance. In short, 
only those indicators which enable the 
employees and management to perform 
their tasks better are the ones which are 
most appropriate to the organization. 
The three categories of environmental 
indicators have become widely accepted 
and organizations should consider a 
combination of these indicators in order to 
be able to demonstrate, that: 
 They understand the environmental 
impacts associated with their activities, 
products and services (ECI); 
 They are taking appropriate measures 
to ensure the management of 
environmental aspects associated with the 
environmental impacts (MPI); 
 The results of the management of 
environmental aspects are improved 
environmental performance of their 
operations (OPI). 

 
ORGANISATION 
 TYPE 
 MEASURE 
 PRIORITIES 

E

EE

E
O

O O

D 

O



Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava 
Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013 

 

ADRIAN IOANA, AUGUSTIN SEMENESCU, CEZAR FLORIN PREDA, ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 
FOR THE EMAS REGULATION, Food and Environment Safety, Volume XII, Issue 1 – 2013, pag. 73 – 77 
 
 77 

It is recognized however that for 
organizations with less significant 
environmental impacts and a less complex 

environmental management system the 
most important indicators will be those 
relating to operational performance. 

 
 
5. References 
 
[1]. IOANA, A., NICOLAE, A., 2001. Possibilities 

of Reducing the Electric Arc Furnace’s Impact 
over the Environment, CNM’ 2001, Bucharest. 

[2]. BARBBIT, B., 1999.  Ecosystem Management 
for Sustainability, University of Tennessee. 

[3]. IOANA, A., 2007. Production Management in 
Metallic Materials Industry. Theory and 
Applications, Ed. PRINTECH, Bucharest. 

[4]. IOANA, A., 2007. Management Elements for 
Optimization of Steel Elaboration in EAF, 
Fascicle of Management and Technological 
Engineering, Annals of the Oradea University, 
Vol. VI (XVI)/2007, 315-319. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
[5]. IOANA, A., NICOLAE, A. et al, 2002.  

Optimal Managing of Electric Arc Furnaces, 
Ed. Fairs Partners, Bucharest. 

[6]. IOANA, A., 1998. The electric arc furnaces 
(EAF) functional and technological 
performances with the preheating of the load 
and powder blowing optimisation for the high 
quality steel processing, Doctoral Degree 
Paper, University „POLITEHNICA” of 
Bucharest, Bucharest. 

[7]. ***, 2003. Official Journal of the European 
Union, Brussels. 

[8]. ***, http://www.ec.europa.eu.com