A leading centre of conservation and home to over 1,000 animals, Edinburgh Zoo prides itself on green credentials. But the attraction wanted to extend the work done sustaining environments within the zoo and the world outside. Key to this was establishing an environmental management system. In doing so they’ve reduced energy consumption by 5%, minimized waste generation and successfully embedded environmental objectives in all job functions. And with our help they were able to achieve the highly sought after ISO 14001 standard.

1. A leading centre of conservation and home to over 1,000
animals, Edinburgh Zoo prides itself on green credentials.
But the attraction wanted to extend the work done sustaining
environments within the zoo and the world outside. Key to
this was establishing an environmental management system.
In doing so they’ve reduced energy consumption by 5%,
minimized waste generation and successfully embedded
environmental objectives in all job functions. And with
our help they were able to achieve the highly sought after
ISO 14001 standard.
KEEPING
EDINBURGH
ZOO’S
FOOTPRINT
SMALL

2. Contact us
NQA, Warwick House, Houghton Hall Park, Houghton Regis, Dunstable, LU5 5ZX, United Kingdom
08000 522424 info@nqa.com www.nqa.com/ems
NEVER STOP IMPROVING
Given its commitment to conservation it
is perhaps not surprising that Edinburgh
Zoo decided to seek certification to the
environmental management standard
ISO 14001 as official recognition of its
own environmental good practice.
The 82 acres of Edinburgh Zoo are home to over 1,000
animals including some of the world’s most endangered.
Owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, it is
devoted to the conservation of animals and their habitats
and is one of Europe’s leading centres of conservation,
education and research.
The Zoo combines this objective with maintaining its
position as one of Scotland’s leading tourist attractions,
with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Continual improvement
Edinburgh Zoo originally went through the certification
process with NQA in 2009. A key part of the standard is an
ongoing commitment to continual improvement, and the
Zoo monitors its progress through the annual audit visits
that are a requirement of the standard.
For Stuart Jenkinson, Safety, Health and Environmental
Manager at the Zoo, the purpose of certification is twofold.
Firstly it serves as a very public endorsement of the
organisation’s commitment to reducing the environmental
impact of its operation and secondly the rigour of the
annual review process ensures that all aspects are
thoroughly covered.
Working together
“When we started the certification process we had a
number of diverse environmental initiatives in place in
different parts of the organisation.
Edinburgh Zoo combines a visitor attraction that is home to
our animal collection, with scientific, research and education
facilities. The Zoo is very much like a small town in its own
right with many differing trades and occupations. It is very
different to a conventional business that has one or similar
production lines.”
The first challenge, therefore, was to agree some basic
objectives and to devise a structure in which these would
be implemented and managed – making sure that staff
understood why the whole process was being initiated and
why it is important they buy into the process.
A Green Team was formed comprising representatives
from the various departments, all of whom contributed to
discussion on overall objectives as well as designing a
process that would work within their own discipline.
It was vital to get all staff on board and, most importantly,
to get to the point where the environmental objectives
became absolutely embedded in people’s day to day
job function.”
Target setting
A number of strategic targets were set and this had the effect
of unifying effort and ensuring that everyone involved sees
their efforts as being directed to a single tangible result.
“Last year the Zoo set itself the target of reducing its energy
consumption by 5%. The detailed measuring processes
allow us to monitor very accurately the energy consumed
throughout all the areas within the Zoo and see the impact
of every action taken to reduce it.
Just as importantly, the accurate measurement also makes
the financial impact of energy saving very apparent”.
The 5% target was reached last year which is a great
testament to the commitment of the staff. This level of
efficiency can only be achieved if every individual becomes
conscious of their daily actions and how they contribute to
the overall goal.
It is this continual focus that is the key benefit of the
certification process and the regular annual audit is an
important discipline.
Keeping on track
“Every year the NQA auditor comes to site to check that
our processes are functioning properly. Their visit is very
significant as it sends a clear signal that we regard the
standard as very important and that we have to meet the
criteria set by an independent organisation” continues
Stuart Jenkinson.
“The visits themselves are always very helpful, as our
auditor will not only check what we are doing, but will
always offer proactive suggestions as to how things
can be further improved.
Having said that, it is also important to recognise that we
could not be in a position to maintain ISO 14001 certification
if our staff were not committed to the management of their
environment. It is not about just dusting down the procedure
once a year in time for the audit, it’s about living the
objectives every day.”
Edinburgh Zoo continues
to monitor its environmental
performance and is looking for
ongoing reductions in its use
of resources – not just power,
but also water consumption.
It is a particularly good
example of how commitment
to a single standard can
introduce a unified approach
to meeting specific goals
across a large and disparate
organisational structure.
“It is not about
just dusting down
the procedure
once a year in
time for the audit,
it’s about living
the objectives
every day.”
“The visits
themselves are
always very
helpful, as our
auditor will not
only check what
we are doing,
but will always
offer proactive
suggestions as to
how things can be
further improved.”
CS/ZOO/02/JUL13