RIVM works to promote and protect public health and to ensure a clean and safe human environment. Needless to say, we also devote close attention to sustainability in our own activities.

Environmental policy
RIVM works to promote and protect public health and to ensure a clean and safe human environment. We also devote much attention to sustainability in our own activities. For example, the organization has a formal Environment Policy Declaration. Its Environmental Annual Report sets out all activities and achievements in connection with environmental management during the preceding year. The terms of its environmental permit enables RIVM to address the environmental requirements of its tasks in a particularly flexible manner.

Environmental Policy Declaration
RIVM is an institute which conducts research in the service of people and the environment. Accordingly, it regards concern for the environment as a priority within its own activities. The RIVM Executive Board formally declares the intention of addressing its responsibilities towards human health and the environment, and of working towards a sustainable society in the broadest sense of the term.

The basic requirement is that RIVM must observe all applicable environmental legislation. RIVM undertakes to pursue an ongoing improvement in its environmental performance, thereby reducing environmental impact to the greatest degree possible. Concern for the environment is an integral part of the corporate strategy and of all business operations.
In pursuing these aims, RIVM has adopted an Environmental Management System which meets all requirements of the ISO 14001 international standard. Equipment is used in such a way as to ensure minimum environmental impact and maximum efficiency, whereby the most appropriate technologies will always be applied. The Corporate Environmental Plan sets out measures for a period of four years, and RIVM undertakes to implement these measures in full. Additional environmental objectives will be formulated on an annual basis, allowing the organization to address new developments in both environmental management practice and its own activities.
Effective implementation of the environmental policy demands input from all staff. Senior management (the RIVM Executive Board) therefore expects all line managers and staff to make an active contribution to environmental management, and will ensure that they possess an appropriate level of knowledge and awareness in this regard.

November 2008
(This declaration is signed by Dr M.J.W. Sprenger, Director -General of RIVM)
RIVM's environmental objectives are based on the Corporate Environmental Plan, as inspected and approved by the Municipality of De Bilt and the Regional Water Management Authority (De Stichtse Rijnlanden)
 
Annual Environmental Report
The Annual Environmental Report sets out the activities and achievements of RIVM, the Netherlands Vaccine Institute, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the Netherlands Commission on Genetic Modification (COGEM) in the field of environmental management. The report offers a summary of the statutory obligations in this regard, the terms and conditions of the applicable environmental permits, the details of monitoring and registration programmes, the organizations' joint environmental management system, and the costs involved in meeting the attendant obligations. The Annual Environmental Report also includes a section devoted to the prospects for the year ahead. The report is only available in Dutch.

Outline environmental permit
In October 2008, RIVM was awarded a new 'Outline Environmental Permit' by the municipality of De Bilt and the regional water management authority, De Stichtse Rijnlanden. This new type of permit supersedes all foregoing environmental permits and was requested by RIVM in December 2007 further to amendments to existing legislation. This new type of permit establishes a framework for environmental management, allowing the permit-holder greater flexibility in addressing those requirements by such means as a certified Environmental Management System and the adoption of a formal improvement plan. The issuance of an outline permit assumes full compliance with foregoing permits. This new environmental permit allows RIVM to address the environmental requirements of the tasks it is called upon to perform in a more flexible and more effective manner.