Abstract
This project, whose aim is expressed in its title of "The Development of an Environmental Policy for the University of Surrey", involved research into the process of integrating environmental management activities into an organisation. At the conceptual level it explored the environmental agenda and various approaches to environmental management. As specific examples it examined two responses to the agenda from within the UK Higher Education sector (University of Surrey) and UK business and industry (Balfour Beatty Major Projects Ltd). The comparison enabled conclusions to be drawn about the most effective method for responding to the demands of the sustainable development agenda through the development and implementation of an environmental policy. At the University of Surrey, the research stimulated the creation of an Environmental Policy Steering Group and three Working Groups explicitly to facilitate a bottom-up approach to the development and implementation of its environmental policy. The early research findings strongly influenced the content and structure of the environmental policy statement that was proposed by these groups and-subsequently approved by appropriate University committees in Spring 1998. In addition, the process undertaken provides further evidence that the success of a bottom-up approach is highly dependent on sufficient top-level support, appropriate institutional arrangements and an appropriate institutional ethos. The research has also involved the development of an environmental procurement policy for Balfour Beatty Major Projects Ltd, which provided an industrial and engineering dimension to the work. Based upon both research and empirical data, a draft environmental procurement policy was proposed for Balfour Beatty Major Projects Ltd. The generic findings from this aspect of the project resulted in the development of a conceptual tri-partite environmental management framework (called "The SMART Approach") and the development of a simple model for an environmental procurement policy. The SMART approach offers guidance for writing the environmental policy statement and assessing its efficacy; presents an approach to establishing environmental impacts; and advocates the involvement of stakeholders to assist with the process of identifying the significance of those impacts. The validity of this model has been demonstrated through its application at the University of Surrey. Exploration of the environmental agenda inevitably focused upon clarifying sustainable development and interpreting the implications for the University of Surrey. The analysis has revealed what can be considered a "lost dimension" to the concept, that of concern for the impoverished and most notably those in the "developing" world. It is argued that institutions in the Higher Education sector can best respond to this agenda by applying the industry concept of "product stewardship" to all activities.