As environmental issues are growing, businesses are facing an increase in the environmental compliance regulations that are required. These rules and ordinances are enforced by the governments, concerned institutions, and decisions makers to govern many different aspects of a business’s operations.
Maintaining these regulatory processes needs time, skill, expertise, and knowledge of the environmental compliance standards and rules. Even a single mistake can be costly. Such issues are handled by consulting an expert who has thorough knowledge of the legal requirements and how best the compliance can be managed.
An environmental compliance consultant will assess and understand your operations for compliance issues and assist you in framing an appropriate plan in order to reach and maintain the compliance. They are able to advise particular clients from government or private sector to keep them up to date about compliance fees, renewal, possible fines, misguided transactions and any legal actions. They also help you in monitoring changing needs of the compliance so that you remain up-to-date.
Compliance consultation clearly defines Environmental consulting. The environmental consultant thoroughly studies the client’s project and ensures that the proposed project remains complaint with the environmental regulatory framework. Environmental consultants’ function in multiple fields under the umbrella of environmental sciences.
Their tasks include; ⦁ Conducting preliminary surveys and preparing due diligence reports for clients to rid them of possible sanctions. ⦁ Construction services such as Asbestos Hazard Assessments ⦁ Indoor air quality sampling ⦁ Lead Hazard Assessments Consultancies may make a sweeping assumption across a wide range of disciplines or specialize in specific areas of environmental consultancy such as water management and waste disposal.
Environmental consultants are of two general types: ⦁ Industrial Consultants ⦁ Environmentalists These consultants work in a very wide variety of fields.
Environmental consultants are experts who are academically sound and possess educational degrees in any field related to environmental studies, natural resources, planning, civil engineering, etc.
Often times, a Master’s in subjects like Environmental chemistry, Environmental engineering, Environmental law or policy, Geology, Environmental Science, Environmental biotechnology, etc.
These consultants need to have a through understanding of environmental laws and regulations, so that they become experts and are in a good position to offer consultation to their clients. Types of environmental consultants An environmental consultant may carry out different activities on a number of environmental problems or specialize in one field, such as:
⦁ Emissions and climate change ⦁ Waste management and recycling ⦁ Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) or Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) ⦁ Renewable energy opportunities ⦁ Green Claims (substantiate green claims, such as eco-labels, which may involve tasks on embodied carbon or supply chain) ⦁ Air, land and water contamination ⦁ Geotechnical (site investigations, geotechnical engineering, slope stability, and restoration quality assurance) ⦁ Environmental Management Planning and Environmental Auditing What does an environmental consultant do?
An environmental consultant is expected to ⦁ Provide environmental guidance to clients for the proposed project ⦁ Go for field surveys and gather data about contaminations or pollution levels and the subsequent impacts on the ecological systems ⦁ carry out desk-based assessment (secondary information), interpret the gathered data using software-modelling packages ⦁ Prepare inspection reports and share collected information with clients, multi-disciplinary colleagues, regulators, sub-contractors along with useful recommendations and suggestions ⦁ Recommend best course of action to reduce environmental damages ⦁ Develop conceptual models (representation of set of concepts), which involves identifying the potential contamination ⦁ Oversee environmental framework issues, maintain an awareness of how legislation impacts projects, and build positive and long-term working relationships with clients ⦁ Obtain environmental clearance and frame environmental programs and restorative policies for the clients ⦁ Prepare technical proposals and scientific reports ⦁ Deeply analyse the suitability of new developments, like land status, housing, power stations, wind farms or other large sites that may impact the environment ⦁ Prepare inspection reports along with suitable mitigation plans to the clients and suggest new strategies to alleviate environmental damages
Environmental consulting is important in the present scenario in order to safeguard and improve environmental health considering the increase in number of sites with hazardous contamination levels. They can even help you to monitor your business operations, frame a robust plan and a perfect strategy to meet your goals without damaging the environment. If the harm by a proposed developmental project is identified, environmental consulting assists in remediating or alleviating these adverse impacts.
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References
http://farmereg.com/hiring-environmental-consultant/
http://heliovolt.net/blog/3-strong-reasons-you-should-hire-an-environmental-consultant/ https://theecologist.org/2018/apr/13/benefits-businesses-environmental-consulting-firms https://www.thebalancesmb.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-becoming-a-green-consultant-2951476 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_consulting http://www.chempackenvironmental.com/importance-of-an-environmental-consultant/