The Evolution of Environmental Management Systems in Mass Transit

An Environmental Management System or EMS, is a structured framework under which an entity can manage environmental impacts. Many U.S. transit agencies from New York to Los Angeles, have embraced the structured EMS to ensure environmental covenant, and include sustainability initiatives and mitigation measures that go beyond compliance.  The ISO 14001 EMS standard, is the world's most recognized best management practice in evaluating environmental management systems, which includes at minimum an environmental policy, and an internal review of activities that identify the most significant environmental aspects.

An EMS is centered around communication and awareness of environmental issues, with the intent to have participation and understanding from every corner of an agency, facility or department. Ultimately, an EMS is a management tool to measure environmental performance to validate continuous improvement. An environmental management system can help an agency to make proper expenditures, with protection of the environment as part of that equation.

Mass transit grew as an industry to become increasingly sustainable, and it is due in some part to the adherence to Environmental Management Systems. As sustainability wove its way into the everyday thinking of mass transit, several agencies from cities such as Philadelphia, Seattle and Champagne-Urbana, decided to became ISO 14001 EMS certified. A list of agencies who have attained ISO 14001 certification and a thorough discussion of the evolution of EMS in mass transit is presented in my book, Sustainable Mass Transit: Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Public Transportation (www.elsevier.com/books/sustainable-mass-transit/abdallah/978-0-12-811299-1).