NetRegs: Environmental Compliance Help for Universities and Colleges Minimising Risk, Maximising Benefit - EAUC 10th Annual Conference NetRegs: Environmental Compliance Help for Universities and Colleges Nottingham University Tuesday 11th April 2006 Tim Fanshawe - NetRegs Business Development Manager

Overview Sustainable Development (SD) & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): the Big Picture! Background to NetRegs concept & current situation Future possibilities & guidelines for the Education sector

Sustainable Development & Corporate Social Responsibility: the Big Picture An International Issue EU Thematic Strategies to Member State Regulations Insurance Industry pressures - climate change Supply chain and customer pressures

Small Businesses: pressures & constraints lack of time and resource fear of legislation and the regulator lack of consistency of information

Survey of Business Awareness SME-nvironment 2005 93% - unaware of impact they could have on environment 86% - cannot name any environmental legislation unprompted 75% - do not have an environmental policy 94% - do not have an environmental management system

Interaction of key public and private sector bodies with SMEs on environmental issues A lack of joined up thinking increases the administrative burden on small businesses NetRegs: delivering consistent information across the UK for SMEs Business Support Organisations across whole UK BSI Trade Associations Environment Agency Scottish Protection Environment and Heritage Service NI Local Authorities and LGA Cabinet Office Regulatory Impact Unit FSA Better Regulation Task Force Departmental Regulation Units Executive Small Business Service / Business Connect Wales RDAs Govt Offices DTI DEFRA NAW DoE NI HSE 4.0 million UK businesses (99.2% of which are SMEs) This slide shows pictorally why there is such an issue of inconsistency in the messages that small businesses receive on environmental issues. 1st step: highlights the small business community making up 99% of all UK business. 2nd step: highlights the large range of organisations that to a lesser or greater extent either bombard small businesses with information or request information from them on environmental issues. Just the one Business Support Organisation bubble at the bottom covers several hundred individual organisations! It is no wonder that businesses cite inconsistency of information as one of their key issues. 3rd step: re-inforces the need for something like NetRegs to deliver this consistency to small businesses.

What modern regulation looks like High risk, more intervention polluters take responsibility risk-based proportionate focussed on outcomes cost-effective trust-based What modern regulation looks like Low risk, less intervention

Alternative approaches The different regulatory approaches Direct regulation Alternative approaches Bespoke permits Environmental taxes clear outcomes Standard permits Trading schemes Education and advice Registrations Directly applying legislation Negotiated or voluntary agreements

What modern regulation means An approach that delivers for the environment and for business: focusing on outcomes risk-based (targeted protection at lower cost) changing attitudes - regulatory prescription to corporate responsibility using alternatives to direct regulation

The SME Engagement & Retention Process Achieved BS8555, EMAS, ISO14001 Interested but NOT active Want an EMS & Continuous Improvement Want to go beyond compliance Not interested Getting Started Continuous Business Improvement Process 'the road to compliance and resource efficiency' 85% of 4m businesses are here!

What is NetRegs? A website designed to help small businesses understand their environmental obligations A UK wide initiative built in partnership by the three environmental regulators in the UK Free, anonymous and available 24 hours a day

How can NetRegs help businesses? There are four ways to get information: General advice on specific issues - Management Guidelines Detailed advice for business groups - Sector Guidelines (over 100 are covered) Links to other information/organisations - More Resources Links to key future and current legislation - Legislation

Website Demonstration

Achievements so far guidance for over 100 sectors as well as general guidelines and information Survey of Business Awareness Focus Groups Excellent feedback from businesses, trade associations and business support organisations Web site use increasing

Current Activities Promoting the site Maintaining & adding content Improving user-friendliness Enhancing the service

The Future for NetRegs Hampton Review Business Development and Revenue Generation BREW Projects for 2006 New sector specific guidelines for Education

 The SME Engagement & Retention Process Incentives Established BREW work Established Core NetRegs site IPP Directive Life Cycle Assessment & Ecodesign Yr 2 BREW fund areas Incentives Additional NetRegs Sectors Other NetRegs development areas NetRegs Basic Compliance Information: Sector Guidelines Management Future Legislation Reduced Licence & Permit Charges Illegal Waste Tipping Programme Activities  More Resources e.g. links to Envirowise Business Directories for Pollution Abatement Equipment Guides to using NetRegs Illegal Waste Year 2 work Incorporating: SME Strategy What do I do with my waste? Tool (£150k) Reduced Insurance Premiums NetRegs Compliance Self assessment Tools (£400k) Basic Registration & Manual Updates Personalise NetRegs to meet business demand for automatic updates (£1,200k) [regionalisation] Sustainable Business Award Schemes Not interested Interested but NOT active Getting Started Want an EMS & Continuous Improvement Want to go beyond compliance Continuous Business Improvement Process Achieved BS8555, EMAS, ISO14001 85% of 4m businesses are here!

Conclusions Helping business deal with environmental risks Delivering consistency Helping business deal with environmental risks Driving sustainability

Workshop Questions Where do you look for information? (eg internet , trade press, websites etc ?) How do you search for information? (eg keywords, topic areas etc ?) What style of language works best? (eg e-newsletters, academic docs etc ?)