3. Improvement planning

Of all the input data needed to build an environmental management program aimed at improving performance rather than maintaining it, environmental analysis and, more specifically, "proven" ESAs are among the most important.

The aim is to take action to reduce the number of "proven" AESs by eliminating them or transforming them into "potential" AESs.

The ultimate goal of a management system would be to transform all actual ESAs into potential ESAs, whose effectiveness would be specifically monitored (EMS monitoring program, whose purpose is to maintain the performance of the management system in accordance with chapter 451 of ISO 14001, see figure 9 ).