Green Audit For Universities, Institutes And Colleges

Green audit was initiated with the beginning of 1970s with the motive of inspecting the work conducted within the organizations whose exercises can cause risk to the health of inhabitants and the environment. It exposes the authenticity of the proclamations made by multinational companies, armies and national governments with the concern of health issues as the consequences of environmental pollution. It is the duty of organizations to carry out the Green Audits of their ongoing processes for various reasons such as; to make sure whether they are performing in accordance with relevant rules and regulations, to improve the procedures and ability of materials, to analyze the potential duties and to determine a way which can lower the cost and add to the revenue. Through Green Audit, one gets a direction as how to improve the condition of environment and there are various factors that have determined the growth of carrying out Green Audit. Some of the incidents like Bhopal Gas Tragedy (Bhopal;1984), Chernobyl Catastrophe (Ukraine;1986) and Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill (Alaska;1989) have cautioned the industries that setting corporate strategies for environmental security elements have no meaning until they are implemented.

Green Audit is assigned to the Criteria 7 of NAAC, National Assessment and Accreditation Council which is a self-governing organization of India that declares the institutions as Grade A, Grade B or Grade C according to the scores assigned at the time of accreditation.

The intention of organizing Green Audit is to upgrade the environment condition in and around the institutes, colleges, companies and other organizations. It is carried out with the aid of performing tasks like waste management, energy saving and others to turn into a better environmental friendly institute.

The Goals of Green Audit

• The objective of carrying out Green Audit is securing the environment and cut down the threats posed to human health.
• To make sure that rules and regulations are taken care of
• To avoid the interruptions in environment that are more difficult to handle and their correction requires high cost.
• To suggest the best protocols for adding to sustainable development

Steps under Green Audit

Pre-Audit

• Plan the audit
• Select the audit team
• Schedule the audit facility
• Acquire the background information
• Visit the site

On-site

• Understand the scope of audit
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the internal controls
• Conduct the audit
• Evaluate the observations of audit program
• Prepare a report of the observations side by side

Post-Audit

• Produce a draft report of the data collected
• Produce a final report of the observations and the inference with accuracy
• Distribute the final report to the management
• Prepare an action plan to overcome the flaws
• Keep a watch on the action plan

Steps under Green Audit

• Water Audit:Evaluating the facilities of raw water intake and determining the facilities for water treatment. Water harvesting is one of the best techniques that can be adopted by simply storing the water and using it at the time of scarcity. The concerned auditor investigates the relevant method that can be adopted and implemented to balance the demand and supply of water.
• Waste Disposal Audit:The waste clearance measures associated to hazardous wastes and recycling are reviewed. The auditor diagnoses the prevailing waste disposal policies and suggests the best way to combat the problems.
• Energy Audit:It deals with the energy conservation and methods to reduce its consumption and the related pollution. The auditor targets at the energy consuming methods adopted and find whether these methods are using the energy in a conservative way or not.
• Environmental Quality Audit:It analyzes the air quality, noise level and the programs undertaken by the institute for plantation. The Green Belt should be maintained to reduce the pollution level by decreasing the Carbon dioxide level.
• Health Audit: It analyzes the occupational diseases and safety measures undertaken within the institutes. advocate the college initiative to encourage students to respect environment and conserve it through plantations. Excessive Plantation also helps in reducing the Carbon dioxide emission.
• Using Renewable Energy:Resources which can be replenished should be used such as rain, sunlight, wind, tides, etc. These resources are more advantageous as they cause least pollution. The importance of these resources is explained by the Audit team.
• Carbon accounting:It undertakes the measure of bulk of carbon dioxide equivalents exhaled by the organization through which the carbon accounting is done. It is necessary to know how much the organization is contributing towards the sustainable development. The auditor considers several efforts practiced by the institute to lower the Green House Gases in the atmosphere in order to make the campus more environmental friendly.

Benefits of Green Audit

If Green Audit is enforced in an effective way then there are many advantages that could be adopted from it.

• It would help to shield the environment
• Recognize the cost saving methods through waste minimizing and managing
• Point out the prevailing and forthcoming complications
• Authenticate conformity with the implemented laws
• Empower the organizations to frame a better environmental performance
• It portrays a good image of a company which helps building better relationships with the group of stakeholders
• Enhance the alertness for environmental guidelines and duties