DOE facilities use Environmental Management Systems (EMS) as a management framework to determine and achieve environmental compliance objectives. EMSs provide a structure for site‐level cross-cutting and multi‐functional coordination necessary to plan for and achieve the Department's compliance goals.
DOE sites use EMS as the primary management tool for addressing environmental aspects of internal agency operations and activities; for establishing objectives and action plans to ensure implementation of Departmental goals and other compliance obligations; and for collecting, analyzing, and reporting performance metric information.
Annual EMS reporting can be conducted through DOE’s EMS Site Information Database, an internal application. Headquarters collects information on the scope and status of DOE EMSs. Sites leverage the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 framework for their EMSs, which requires following the "Plan, Do, Check, Act" management system model.