Capacity building for profitable environmental management

The P3U Programme of the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) has since 1996 developed on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) an integrated concept for the promotion of environmental management, suitable especially to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs): “Profitable Environmental Management” (PREMA®) is implemented by change agents in selected developing countries as well as in Germany as market-oriented consultancy services to SMEs. Experience shows that a considerable number of SMEs are interested in a systemic approach to improvements that is based in their core interest, profit, and allows for the realisation of a “triple win”: cost savings and a better environmental performance through the reduction of non-product output, as well as organisational development through structured learning processes. The resulting organisational and technical improvements in the production process of SMEs are based on changes in human behaviour as well as the management system and can lead to continuous improvements and eventually from the bottom-up to ISO certification. While SMEs easily undertook good housekeeping-type measures which show quick results with little investment, measures requiring larger investments and longer payback periods were only undertaken at a later stage of the process of economic-environmental-organisational change and under conditions of political and economic stability. Barriers regarding information, technology and finance may be overcome by the SMEs themselves by tapping the problem-solving capacities in the companies throughout a systematic change process. The widespread application of triple win measures makes production processes and management more profitable and more environmentally sound.