Levels of Environmental Performance

Performance in any field can be better or worse. In environmental terms, “compliance” represents the minimum standard of performance and behavior that has been set by public processes. However, in many ways these minimums are not sufficient – in what other part of our lives do we accept the minimum?

Clearly, performance beyond that minimum is desirable, if not necessary. A growing number of individuals and organizations are already doing this. If we can not force the rest to go beyond the minimum, how can we otherwise achieve this?

The New Hampshire Environmental Leadership Initiative exists to find ways to move people up the steps to sustainability, and to help them carry out those steps.

Of special note is the US EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track program. Part of DES’s intent is to design and establish a state equivalent of Performance Track, joining roughly 20 other states with such performance-based programs. This will allow the participating organizations to work with the agencies at both levels in an effective way.

DES understands that there will always be organizations whose performance is on the lower steps of the environmental performance stair. For them, DES will use our traditional compliance and enforcement tools to help them move up to the required minimums. The Environmental Leadership Initiative represents an effort to find new tools to address new problems and achieve greater performance.