EMAS - Peer Review for Cities

"EMAS - peer review for cities" project that started in December 2002 has been proceeding well. The main focus of the two years project is on developing and extending the use of EC Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) in local authorities. An important outcome of the project will be the start and broadening of an EMAS process in 16 European cities -eight cities from EU member states (Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Diisseldorf, Porto, Palermo, Athens and Barcelona) and eight from accession countries (Tallinn, Viljandi, Liepaja, Jelgava, Siauliai, Panevezys, Sopot and Gdansk).

The EMAS-peer review method as an innovative approach will be used to encourage cities to work together. EMAS registration needs the independent third party audit, which is costly. In this project we plan to use another city to be an independent and critical reviewer. In doing that, the project builds upon existing experiences in the framework of LIFE projects, including the EURO-EMAS project and the Municipal Environmental Audit (MEA) project developed by the UBC. Project also seeks to assist in delivering actions in the European Union 6^th Environmental Action Plan (EAP). Linkages between 6 EAP and EMAS will be researched and tested.

Cities will be supported in implementing EMAS and conducting peer review by the guidance and toolkit developed during the project. Training sessions will be organised to share international experiences and provide the forum for cities to learn from each other. The first training session on EMAS implementation for the project partner cities will be held in May 12-13 in Tallinn.

Project will issue several newsletters and open web-site to inform all interested stakeholders about the developments and experiences of participating cities.

The project is co-ordinated by the UBC Commission on Environment Secretariat in Turku. It is mainly financed by European Commission DG Environment. The project team members are EUROCITIES, University of West England and the city of Newcastle.