An environmental management system (EMS) is part of the overall installation management system that specifically addresses the potential risks to the environment from Army activities. EMS is a tool that can help ensure that our Soldiers today — and the Soldiers of the future — have the land, water, and air resources that they need to train; a healthy environment in which to live; and the support of our local communities and the American people. Army policy requires the installation EMS to focus on mission requirements, be installation-wide in scope, and to conform to the ISO 14001 standard for Environmental Management Systems. The President also reaffirmed support for EMS through Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management, by requiring EMS at all appropriate organizational levels, expanding the scope of the EMS, and imposing new EMS auditing requirements.

Army installations already have mature environmental programs with many elements of conformant EMS in place. The next step is to leverage existing capabilities into a systematic approach aligned with mission priorities. USAEC is working with the Office of the Director of Environmental Programs; Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health; the Army Engineer School and the Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine to develop and implement EMS tools that will actively promote mission readiness and environmental stewardship. The U.S. Army is committed to reducing risk and pollution, sustaining compliance, and enhancing mission readiness across the Service, and USAEC's support in the development of EMS systems is a key factor in this effort (EMS fact sheet)

The USAEC EMS program directly assists in the development and review of Army EMS policy and guidance, and in identifying and leveraging resources, best practices, and lessons learned from other federal and non-federal EMS programs. USAEC seeks out implementation lessons learned and develops materials to support installation implementation efforts, reduce implementation costs, and assure support for mission priorities. The following documents are valuable tools to aid the implementation process:

• The U.S. Army Environmental Management Systems Commander's Guide, updated in 2007, is a guide written for Army garrison commanders, Adjutants General, and other Army commanders responsible for implementing an EMS.
• The Army Environmental Management Systems Implementer's Guide is a step-by-step guide to help installation staff responsible for implementing an EMS in accord with Army policy. The guide provides numerous web links to other materials supporting Army EMS implementation.
• The Army's Environmental Management Systems Aspects and Impacts Methodology for Army Training Ranges provides a step-by-step process to aid installations in the identification of aspects and impacts that may be present on Army training ranges.
• The Army's Incentive Programs for Implementing Environmental Management Systems provides a resource installations can use to determine if their state has a program in place which offers regulatory flexibility or other incentives for organizations implementing an EMS.

Additional EMS information and products are available in the following locations:

• Instructions for Implementing Executive Order 13243, Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, 29 March 2007
• EMS Section of Army Sustainability web site
• EMS on the Defense Environmental Network Information Exchange (DENIX) public site
• EMS on Army Knowledge Online (AKO account required)
  • Office of the Director of Environmental Programs
  • Installation Management Command