Environmental Management System

Title:	Environmental Management System
Publication date:	11/13/2025
Effective date:	11/13/2025

BRIEF

Policy Summary

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has established a broad-based environmental policy stating that it is committed to:

Complying with applicable environmental, public health, and resource conservation laws and regulations.
Preventing pollution, minimizing waste, and conserving natural resources.
Mitigating environmental hazards and managing legacy environmental impacts.
Continually improving the Laboratory's environmental performance while maintaining operational capability and sustaining the overall mission of the Laboratory.

Berkeley Lab assures the implementation of this policy through its Environmental Management System (EMS).

Who Should Read This Policy

All Berkeley Lab employees, visitors, affiliates, and subcontractors

To Read the Full Policy, Go To:

The POLICY tab on this wiki page

To Read the ES&H Program Details, Go To:

Environment, Safety & Health Manual (PUB-3000)

Contact Information

Environmental Services Group
EHS Division
[email protected]

Title:	Environmental Management System
Publication date:	11/13/2025
Effective date:	11/13/2025

POLICY

A. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to:

Ensure that the DOE carries out its missions in a manner that addresses national energy security, and advances efficient and reliable energy for the future
Ensure that the DOE complies with environmental requirements pursuant to applicable laws, regulations, Executive Orders, and related performance initiatives

B. Persons Affected

This policy applies to all individuals at Berkeley Lab: employees, visitors, affiliates, and subcontractors. The degree to which individuals are involved in carrying out the policy varies. This is described below in Section E, Roles and Responsibilities.

C. Exceptions

None.

D. Policy Statement

Berkeley Lab's Environmental Management System (EMS) is a structured process designed to assure Berkeley Lab complies with environmental laws and regulations, and minimize overall environmental impacts. The following elements of this policy apply to all staff, affiliates, subcontractors, and visitors:
1. Comply with applicable environmental, public health, and resource conservation laws and regulations.
2. Prevent pollution, minimize waste, and conserve natural resources.
3. Mitigate environmental hazards and manage legacy environmental impacts.
4. Continually improve the Laboratory's environmental performance while maintaining operational capability and supporting the overall mission of the Laboratory.
Administering this policy through the Berkeley Lab EMS requires the following measures:
1. Engaging senior leadership to perform a continual cycle of process improvement.
2. Identifying potential environmental impacts (emission to air, release to water, release to land, use of raw materials and natural resources, use of energy, etc.)
3. Assessing the health of environmental programs to manage these impacts.
4. Developing and implementing Environmental Action Plans (EAPs) where needed to improve control mechanisms that manage potential environmental impacts.
5. Performing independent assessments to ensure the effectiveness of compliance programs and management systems.
In applying these measures, the Laboratory follows a risk-based approach when implementing the EMS. This approach allows Berkeley Lab to focus resources on activities that have stronger environmental benefits and builds upon the strengths of current environmental compliance programs.

E. Roles and Responsibilities

Role	Responsibility
Senior management	The EHS Division establishes policies and provides professional and technical expertise to integrate ES&H practices into all facets of research and support programs, including the EMS, in accordance with the Requirements and Policies Manual. Conducts ongoing long-range planning to identify and implement new programs and policies to ensure compliance with changing governmental guidelines and regulations, achieve performance goals, and pursue best management practices. Reviews the EMS to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. Provides leadership and direction to promote continual improvement of the EMS, including measurement systems, benchmarking, and surveys. Proactively builds partnerships with all levels of the LBNL community. Participates in assessments of the EMS.
EMS Program Manager	Maintains the EMS Program Plan and corresponding chapter in the ES&H Manual. Attends training required to achieve competence at the EMS implementation level. Facilitates training for senior management and affected members of the Berkeley Lab community. Develops training strategy and measures to increase staff awareness of their environmental impacts. Leads the response to relevant communications on the EMS. Coordinates communication involving the surrounding community with the Government and Community Relations Office. Coordinates independent assessments of the EMS. Liaises between the senior management and the Berkeley Lab community on the EMS. Enters assessment findings into Berkeley Lab's Corrective Action Tracking System. Oversees the implementation of any corrective actions. Manages document control of required EMS documents.
Institutional Contractor Assurance Office	Provides oversight to Berkeley Lab's management and assurance systems
General Laboratory employees, affiliates, visitors, and subcontractors	Must be aware of the Laboratory's environmental policy Performs their duties at Berkeley in conformance with this policy

F. Definitions/Acronyms

Term	Definition
Assessment	A review that is normally conducted by an organization with an appropriate degree of independence
Continual improvement	A recurring process of enhancing the Environmental Management System to achieve improvements in overall environmental performance consistent with an organization's environmental policy
DOE	Department of Energy
Environment	The surroundings, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans, and their interrelations, in which an organization operates
Environmental impact	A change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization's activities, products, or services
Environmental Action Plan (EAP)	A formal mechanism that summarizes how the objectives and targets will be achieved, including timescales and personnel responsible for implementing the appropriate actions
Environmental Management System (EMS)	A systematic approach to ensuring that environmental activities are well managed. It includes organization structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources.
Management review	A review by senior management on the performance of the EMS
Risk	A potential deviation from the expected, expressed as a combination of the consequences of an event and the likelihood of occurrence
Senior management	The highest levels of organizational management having the day-to-day responsibilities for managing the organization and the authority to make decisions affecting the site or facility. Also may be referred to as senior leadership or top management.
Significant environmental aspect	An adverse change to the environment resulting from an organization's activities that has or can have an unacceptable risk and require an Environmental Action Plan to reduce the risk to acceptable levels

G. Recordkeeping Requirements

Recordkeeping requirements are identified in the Environment, Safety & Health Manual.

H. Implementing Documents

Document number	Title	Type
PUB-3000	Environment, Safety & Health Manual	Program

I. Contact Information