IEMA's EIA Quality Mark Launches This Week

From today (Monday 18th April ), consultancies and developers that regularly carry out Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) can demonstrate their dedication to quality practice using an IEMA stamp of approval.

The EIA Quality Mark assesses quality across registered organisations’ EIA activities including their management processes and approaches. The new scheme also allows these organisations to make a voluntary commitment to ensuring its EIA activities maintain high standards of quality.

The scheme is designed to provide a regular and rigorous analysis of compliance reviewing both Environmental Statements and conducting staff interviews on an annual basis.

IEMA, as the body dedicated to creating a sustainable future through the development of environmental skills, knowledge and thought leadership, is responsible for the operation of the scheme and monitoring each registrant’s on-going compliance to the EIA Quality Mark commitments.

IEMA is pleased to welcome all 38 of the founding organisations to the EIA Quality Mark, which include organisations that completed the transition from IEMA’s previous corporate EIA register and those who piloted the new application process.

Martin Baxter, IEMA’s Executive Director-Policy, welcomes the 38 founding EIA Quality Mark organisations and their role in the role in sustainable development. “Ensuring development makes economic sense, is good for society and works with the environment is at the heart of delivering the green economy”, said Baxter. “Those organisations that have gained the EIA Quality Mark have proven that they are capable of delivering sustainable development in practice.”

The EIA Quality Mark has been specifically designed to ensure it generates multiple benefits for each registrant, IEMA members and all those interested in improving UK EIA practice. All IEMA members will benefit from the new scheme through access to:

• A growing library of over 300 Non-Technical Summaries (NTS) (available now)
• Weekly articles on EIA on the environmentalist online – (available from mid-May).
• Access to a growing catalogue of case studies of effective EIA practice – (available from June).
• Increase EIA events, including a trail of EIA webinars – (starting from July).

Claire Lea: "The EIA Quality Mark is so much more than a simple registration scheme, it creates a partnership between IEMA and organisations that deliver EIA services, to enable us to work together to enhance practice across the UK.”

To find out much more about the EIA Quality Mark, including the seven commitments, the 38 registrants and to access the library of NTSs.