The IEMA Foundation Certificate

in Environmental Management
Course Objectives & Contents:
After the completion of this course, you should be able to understand the following:

ü Environmental Sustainability
Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities, Business
and Environment, Waste Reduction, Effects of
Escapes and Releases, Pollution Prevention and
Control, Biodiversity, Towards Sustainability.

Source: https://www.bottegaspa
.com/en/sustainability/our-inspiration/

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Course Objectives & Contents:

ü Environmental Legislation
International, European and National Legislation,
Instruments for change, Enforcing Authorities,
Controls on Emissions to the Atmosphere, Controls on
Discharges to the Water Environment, Controls on the
Management of Contained Waste, issues relating to
Contaminated Land, Storage of hazardous Materials,
Nuisance, Producer Responsibility.

Source: https://www.istockphoto.
com/illustrations/environmental-law

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Course Objectives & Contents:

ü Assessment, Interpretation and Management of

Environmental Performance
Environmental Management Systems Benefits,
Environmental Management Systems Initial Review,
Environmental Audit, Identification and assessment of
Environmental Impacts, Monitoring, Environmental
Communication, Life Cycle Analysis, Environmental
Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental
Assessment, Environmental Risk Assessment. Source: https://advisera.com
/14001academy/blog/2015/07/06/environ
mental-performance-evaluation/

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The IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental
Management:

Environmental sustainability is a global issue. In 2019,

the UN called upon all members to accelerate sustainable
development as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. This action plan has opened up a world of
opportunity for environmental professionals worldwide -
and an IEMA qualification is your way in.
Source: https://www.coralmountain.co
.uk/online-iema-foundation-certificate-in-
environmental-management/

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The IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental
Management:

The IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental

Management provides a solid foundation of
environment and sustainability knowledge to build on,
and covers a wide range of environment and
sustainability principles.
Source: https://www.coralmountain.co
.uk/online-iema-foundation-certificate-in-
environmental-management/

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Day 1

7
 Outline
Environmental Sustainability

1. Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities

2. Business and Environment
3. Waste Reduction
4. Effects of Escapes and Releases
5. Pollution Prevention and Control
6. Biodiversity
7. Towards Sustainability

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1. Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities:
• Earth’s natural resources are materials that are used to support life and meet
people’s needs. Any natural substance that humans use can be considered a natural
resource.

• Oil, coal, natural gas, metals, stone and sand are natural resources. Other natural
resources are air, sunlight, soil and water. Animals, birds, fish and plants are
natural resources as well.

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1. Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities:

Source: https://eschooltoday.com/learn/what-is-a-natural-resource/

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1. Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities:
• Natural resources are used to make food, fuel and raw materials for the production
of goods. All of the food that people eat comes from plants or animals. Natural
resources such as coal, natural gas and oil provide heat, light and power.

• Natural resources also are the raw materials for making products that we use
everyday from our toothbrush and lunch box to our clothes, cars, televisions,
computers and refrigerators.

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1. Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities:
§ All the things we need to survive, such as food, water, air, and shelter, come from
natural resources. Some of these resources, like small plants, can be replaced
quickly after they are used. Others, like large trees, take a long time to replace.
These are renewable resources.

§ Other resources, such as fossil fuels, cannot be replaced at all. Once they are used
up, they are gone forever. These are non-renewable resources.

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1. Earth's Natural Resources and Capabilities:

U.S. Energy Consumption by Energy Source

Source: U.S. Energy
Information Administration/

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2. Business and Environment:
§ Business is directly affected by economic conditions
of the environment.

§ The basic function of a business enterprise, input-

output conversion, is carried through active
interaction with the environment. It receives inputs
from the environment, converts them into outputs
through productive facilities which are also receive
from the environment and sends them back to the Source:
https://www.vectorstock.com/

environment.

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2. Business and Environment:
§ The environment offers threats and opportunities to business systems which they
overcome and exploit through their strengths and weaknesses.
§ For example,
§ Food industry currently faces a multitude of challenges: a growing population needs
to be fed, while impacts of climate change and nature degradation intensify
production risks.
§ Tourism business will be affected, if coral reefs are increasingly degraded and may
soon completely disappear due to climate change.

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2. Business and Environment:
§ As Business history has never paid much attention to the environment. Brushing
aside the firm's reliance and impact on the natural world, early business historians
zeroed in on the role of the entrepreneur in big business's rise. They found it easy to
truncate, marginalize or altogether ignore the physical processes by which the stuff
of nature—"raw" materials—was carved or coaxed out of mountains, forests, and
deserts, channelled into factories and squeezed and cajoled into commodities.
§ That’s why it is important to have a good give-and-take relationship between
business and the environment.

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3. Waste Reduction:
§ Waste reduction, also known as source reduction, is the practice of using less
material and energy to minimize waste generation and preserve natural resources.
Waste reduction is broader in scope than recycling and incorporates ways to prevent
materials from ending up as waste before they reach the recycling stage.

§ Waste reduction includes reusing products such as plastic and glass containers,
purchasing more durable products, and using reusable products, such as dishrags
instead of paper towels.

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3. Waste Reduction:
§ Donating products, from office equipment to eyeglasses and clothing, reduces the
amount of material manufactured overall.

§ Purchasing products that replace hazardous materials with biodegradable ingredients

reduces pollution as well as waste.

§ In general, waste reduction offers several environmental benefits. Greater efficiency

in the production and use of products means less energy consumption, resulting in
less pollution. More natural resources are preserved. Products using less hazardous
materials are used. Finally, less solid waste ends up in landfills.

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3. Waste Reduction:
§ Waste reduction also means economic savings. Fewer materials and less energy is
used when waste-reduction practices are applied.

§ For example, Instead of disposing of materials, or the components of a product after

a single use, products are passed on for further uses. This is considered a flow of
materials. This can be applied within individuals, organization, or between
organizations that may be considered unrelated, on a cooperative basis. For example,
passing on your computer (with a good running condition) to someone that needs it
better than directly disposing it.

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3. Waste Reduction:

Source: https://reflowproject.eu/circular-resources/waste-management-and-critical-raw-materials/

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4. Effects of Escapes and Releases:
• There are many substances that escapes/releases into the atmosphere, such as
smoke coming from burning of prohibited material like garbage, plastic and painted
or treated wood, is harmful to the environment because these materials release toxic
chemicals that pollute our air. Polluted air can be inhaled by humans and animals,
and deposited in the soil and surface water and on plants.

• Residue from burning contaminates the soil and groundwater and can enter the
human food chain through crops and livestock. In addition, certain chemicals
released by burning can accumulate in the fats of animals and then in humans as we
consume meat, fish and dairy products.

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4. Effects of Escapes and Releases:
• Smoke and soot can travel long distances. Odours
can be bothersome to people. Both odours and smoke
residue can enter houses or can impact anything
outside of houses, like cars or hanging laundry. The
gases released by open burning can also corrode
metal siding and damage paint on buildings.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

• Also, ash impacts the environment, as any fire will create ash waste. While wood
ash contains some nutrients required by plants for healthy growth, ash is harmful
for our lakes, ponds and rivers. It contains phosphorous, potassium and trace
amounts of micro-nutrients, such as iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc, all of
which can disrupt the delicate ecosystems of water bodies.
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4. Effects of Escapes and Releases:
• Ash can impact human health through the
leaching of heavy metals and other potentially
toxic compounds that can end up in streams, lakes
and rivers, or in drinking water supplies and our
food chain.
• This is especially true if the materials being
burned include anything besides dry, combustible
rubbish, yard waste and unpainted and untreated
wood. Disposal of ash waste in a licensed landfill Source: https://www.vectorstock.com/

can avoid these problems.

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5. Pollution Prevention and Control:
§ Pollution prevention is any practice that reduces, eliminates, or prevents pollution at
its source. It’s also known as "source reduction," is the ounce-of-prevention approach
to waste management. Reducing the amount of pollution produced means less waste
to control, treat, or dispose of. Less pollution means less hazards posed to public
health and the environment.

§ Pollution prevention approaches can be applied to all potential and actual pollution-
generating activities, including those found in the energy, agriculture, federal,
consumer and industrial sectors. Prevention practices are essential for preserving
wetlands, groundwater sources and other critical ecosystems - areas in which we
especially want to stop pollution before it begins.

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5. Pollution Prevention and Control:

Source: https://greenenergy.alliedacademies.com/2020/events-list/pollution-prevention-pollution-
control-go-green-sustainability

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5. Pollution Prevention and Control:
§ For example, in the energy sector, pollution prevention can reduce environmental
damages from extraction, processing, transport and combustion of fuels. Pollution
prevention/control approaches include: increasing efficiency in energy use; and use
of environmentally friendly fuel sources.

§ In the agricultural sector, pollution prevention approaches include: reducing the use
of water and chemical inputs; adoption of less environmentally harmful pesticides or
cultivation of crop strains with natural resistance to pests; and protection of sensitive
areas.

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5. Pollution Prevention and Control:
§ In homes and schools, pollution prevention practices include: using reusable water
bottles instead of throw-aways; automatically turning off lights when not in use;
repairing leaky faucets and hoses; and switching to "green" cleaners

§ Pollution prevention reduces both financial costs (waste management and clean-up)
and environmental costs (health problems and environmental damage). Pollution
prevention protects the environment by conserving and protecting natural resources
while strengthening economic growth through more efficient production in industry
and less need for households, businesses and communities to handle waste.

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6. Biodiversity:
• Biodiversity is the variety of living things that populate the Earth. The products and
benefits we get from nature rely on biodiversity. We need a rich mixture of living
things to provide foods, building materials, and medicines, as well as to maintain a
clean and healthy landscape.

• When a species becomes extinct, it is lost to the world forever. Scientists estimate
that the current rate of extinction is 1,000 times the natural rate. Through hunting,
pollution, habitat destruction, and contribution to global warming, people are
speeding up the loss of biodiversity at an alarming rate.

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6. Biodiversity:
• It’s hard to know how many species are going extinct because the total number of
species is unknown. Scientists discover thousands of new species every year.

• We need to protect biodiversity to ensure we have plentiful and varied food sources.
This is true even if we don’t eat a species threatened with extinction because
something we do eat may depend on that species for survival.

Source: https://old.siwi.org/latest/celebrate-biodiversity-day-by-remembering-water/

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6. Biodiversity:
• Besides climate change the loss of biodiversity is seen as the second greatest danger
for the world's human population. Almost all businesses rely in any kind of way on
resources, provided by nature. These resources are based on an intact functioning
system of biodiversity. The loss of natural species therefore directly endangers the
resources of all businesses.
• An example for those businesses are, food industry, tourism, cosmetics, automotive
sector, etc.

Source: https://www.dreamstime.com/

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7. Towards Sustainability:
§ The population of human beings has grown enormously in the past two centuries.
§ Billions of people use up resources quickly as they often waste natural resources.
Animals are overhunted. Forests are cleared, exposing land to wind and water
damage. Fertile soil is exhausted and lost to erosion because of poor farming
practices. Fuel supplies are depleted. Water and air are polluted. The continuation
of life as we know it depends on the careful use of natural resources.

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7. Towards Sustainability:
• If resources are carelessly managed, many will be used up. If used wisely and
efficiently, however, renewable resources will last much longer. Through
conservation, people can reduce waste and manage natural resources wisely.
• The need to conserve resources often conflicts with other needs, like development.
• Development and conservation can coexist in harmony. When we use
the environment in ways that ensure we have resources for the future, it is
called sustainable development. There are many different resources we need to
conserve in order to live sustainably.

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7. Towards Sustainability:

Source: https://raleighinternational.org/blog/5-awesome-steps-recently-made-towards-sustainability/

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References:
§ https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/conserving-earth/#:~:text=August%2026%2C%202011-
,The%20Earth's%20natural%20resources%20include%20air%2C%20water%2C%20soil%2C%20minerals,now%20and%20in%20the
%20future.
§ https://www.rrc.co.uk/iema-certificates/iema-foundation-certificate-in-environmental-
management.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=IEMA%20Foundation%20Certificate&gclid=Cj0KCQiA
gP6PBhDmARIsAPWMq6mEoUafHtdXeV6Ybpd1BJG0cIDJTvx3a15ORpZQh4VORDT-IEyIwrgaAv5BEALw_wcB
§ https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/conserving-earth/#:~:text=August%2026%2C%202011-
,The%20Earth's%20natural%20resources%20include%20air%2C%20water%2C%20soil%2C%20minerals,now%20and%20in%20the
%20future.
§ https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/OR-0689.pdf
§ https://www.business-biodiversity.eu/en/business
§ https://www.tutorhelpdesk.com/homeworkhelp/Management-/Relationship-Between-Environment-And-Business-Assignment-
Help.html
§ https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/business-and-the-environment
§ https://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-environment/ecologyandenvironmentalism/environmental-
studies/wastereduction#:~:text=Waste%20reduction%2C%20also%20known%20as,generation%20and%20preserve%20natural%20re
sources.&text=Greater%20efficiency%20in%20the%20production,consumption%2C%20resulting%20in%20less%20pollution.
§ https://www.epa.gov/p2/learn-about-pollution-prevention
§ https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/OpenBurning/Impacts.html

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Thank You For Your Attention!

Any Questions?