Environmental policy statement

Natural Resources Wales is a Welsh Government Sponsored Body whose vision is to lead the way to a better future for Wales by managing the natural resources of Wales sustainably. This will be achieved through our wide range of roles and responsibilities which include; adviser, regulator, designator, responder, statutory consultee, evidence gatherer, manager, operator, partner, educator and enabler throughout Wales.

The scope of our Environmental Management System includes; “All activities and services associated with the sustainable management of the environment and the natural resources of Wales.”

NRW will encourage best environmental practices throughout our organisation and review our activities and operations to identify both positive and negative environmental impacts, specifically, we will:

• Operate an Environmental Management System that is certified to the ISO14001environmental standard and helps to protect the environment.
• Continually monitor and improve the Environmental Management System through our internal audit and top management review programmes to enhance the organisation’s environmental performance.
• Fulfil all relevant compliance and other obligations to minimise our environmental impact.
• Provide a framework for setting environmental objectives and to monitor and review progress against our targets to reduce energy, water and resource consumption.
• Minimise the amount of waste we generate, minimise the use of harmful materials and prevent pollution from our activities.
• Promote a high level of environmental awareness and best practice amongst our employees and stakeholders, integrating environmental management into training and communications.
• Procure goods and services from sustainable sources and encourage our suppliers and contractors to improve their environmental performance.
• Continue to meet the requirements of the United Kingdom Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) to demonstrate that our forest ecosystems are sustainably managed.
• Mitigate the impact of climate change by minimising the greenhouse gas emissions from all our operations and activities. 

We will publish this policy on the Natural Resources Wales website and make it available to all interested parties. 

Signed by: Clare Pillman, Chief Executive, Natural Resources Wales                   
Date of Issue: 1 March 2018