COURSE OVERVIEW:
Welcome to the Plan & Conduct Internal Environmental Audits course. This program has been designed to develop your knowledge, analytical skills and professional judgement required to assess environmental responsibilities, evaluate organisational practices and contribute to stronger environmental performance across any industry.
Internal environmental audits play a crucial role in verifying compliance, improving environmental performance and supporting broader organisational sustainability goals. This course begins by introducing the purpose and value of environmental audits, exploring how they support responsible operations, reduce environmental risk and strengthen stakeholder confidence. It also highlights the importance of auditor independence, ethics and objectivity, and explains how environmental audits contribute directly to long-term organisational sustainability and governance outcomes.
Understanding the legislative and standards landscape is fundamental to effective environmental auditing. This section provides an overview of key environmental laws, regulations and guidelines that apply across industries, along with common compliance obligations that organisations must meet. Learners are introduced to environmental codes of practice, ISO 14001 requirements and the penalties, risks and impacts associated with environmental non-compliance.
Environmental audits are grounded in a strong understanding of Environmental Management Systems (EMS). This section explores the components of an EMS, including policy frameworks, planning requirements, operational controls and environmental risk management processes. It also discusses how continuous improvement and environmental governance support strong environmental performance and provide the basis for audit criteria.
Establishing clear audit objectives and scope is essential to the success of an environmental audit. This section explains how to determine the audit purpose, identify environmental priorities, select processes, sites or activities for review, define relevant criteria and indicators, and confirm boundaries or exclusions with stakeholders. Clear scoping ensures focused, efficient and transparent audit activities.
Developing a detailed environmental audit plan supports methodical and well-coordinated audit delivery. This section outlines how to schedule audit activities, identify resource and competency requirements, prepare tools and documentation, and communicate the audit plan to personnel involved. Learners gain insight into how strong planning contributes to audit clarity and organisational engagement.
A range of methodologies can be applied in environmental audits, depending on the context and objectives. This section introduces systems-based, risk-based and compliance-based approaches, along with sampling and evidence-collection techniques. Learners explore how to assess environmental performance in relation to compliance obligations and how to maintain objectivity when evaluating environmental activities and outcomes.
Reviewing environmental documentation forms a key part of understanding an organisation’s environmental responsibilities and performance. This section covers how to examine policies, procedures, monitoring plans, incident reports, waste records, emissions data, licences, permits and regulatory submissions. It also highlights the value of reviewing previous audit findings and corrective action records to assess progress over time.
Site and process inspections provide critical insights into real-world environmental practices. This section explains how to plan and conduct walkthroughs, identify hazards and environmental impacts, assess containment measures and control effectiveness, and observe operational behaviours that influence environmental outcomes. Inspections help validate documentation and reveal both strengths and weaknesses in environmental performance.
Interviewing personnel and subject-matter experts is an important component of environmental audits. This section describes how to identify relevant interviewees, use effective questioning techniques, validate understanding of environmental responsibilities and document responses objectively. These conversations provide valuable context that supports a comprehensive assessment of environmental performance.
Evaluating environmental aspects and impacts is central to assessing the significance of an organisation’s activities. This section outlines how to identify environmentally significant processes, review aspects registers, assess the effectiveness of mitigation and control measures, and determine potential direct and indirect environmental impacts.
Assessing environmental controls and monitoring systems helps determine how well environmental risks are managed. This section examines engineering, administrative and behavioural controls, evaluates the reliability of monitoring systems and testing methods, and identifies gaps, failures or inconsistencies in environmental oversight.
Testing environmental performance provides evidence of whether environmental objectives are being met. This section discusses the evaluation of performance data, inspection of waste and emissions metrics, verification through sampling and comparison of outcomes against organisational and regulatory expectations.
Identifying environmental non-conformances and risks supports corrective and preventive action planning. This section covers how to detect breaches of environmental requirements, classify non-conformances based on severity and risk, distinguish systemic from isolated issues and determine underlying causes that contribute to environmental problems.
Analysing environmental audit evidence ensures that findings are well-supported and accurate. This section explores how to validate evidence reliability, conduct trend and variance analysis, compare findings against legal and organisational requirements and identify areas for improvement or corrective action.
Preparing environmental audit findings requires clarity, objectivity and strong evidence. This section explains how to structure findings, link them to environmental criteria, prioritise based on risk or sustainability impact and ensure transparent documentation that supports organisational decision-making.
Developing recommendations helps organisations strengthen environmental performance. This section outlines how to propose corrective and preventive actions, address root causes, enhance environmental controls and align improvement strategies with organisational sustainability goals. Effective recommendations support both compliance and long-term environmental stewardship.
Reporting environmental audit results ensures that stakeholders clearly understand findings and required actions. This section covers how to structure audit reports, present environmental data effectively, communicate results to management and maintain confidentiality and transparency throughout the reporting process.
Finally, the course concludes with an exploration of how to monitor corrective actions and strengthen the environmental audit program over time. This section discusses how to verify action completion, conduct follow-up audits, evaluate the performance of the audit program and build auditor capability to support environmental maturity and continuous improvement.
By the end of this course, you will be equipped with the knowledge, tools and professional frameworks required to plan and conduct internal environmental audits that enhance compliance, strengthen environmental stewardship and support sustainable organisational performance.
Each section is complemented with examples to illustrate the concepts and techniques discussed.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of this course, you will be able to understand the following topics:
1. Introduction to Internal Environmental Audits
- Purpose and value of environmental audits
- Overview of environmental responsibilities across industries
- Auditor independence, ethics and objectivity
- Links between environmental audits and organisational sustainability
2. Understanding Environmental Legislation and Standards
- Key environmental laws, regulations and guidelines
- Compliance obligations relevant to any industry
- Environmental codes of practice and ISO 14001
- Penalties and impacts of non-compliance
3. Environmental Management Systems Overview
- Components of an Environmental Management System (EMS)
- Policy, planning and operational control elements
- Environmental risk management frameworks
- Continuous improvement and environmental governance
4. Determining Environmental Audit Objectives and Scope
- Establishing audit purpose and environmental priorities
- Selecting processes, sites or activities for review
- Identifying relevant environmental criteria and indicators
- Confirming boundaries and exclusions with stakeholders
5. Developing the Environmental Audit Plan
- Scheduling audit activities and milestones
- Determining required resources and competencies
- Preparing data-collection tools and documentation
- Communicating the audit plan to affected personnel
6. Environmental Audit Methodologies and Techniques
- Systems-based, risk-based and compliance-based approaches
- Sampling and evidence-collection techniques
- Assessing environmental performance vs compliance
- Maintaining objectivity in environmental assessments
7. Reviewing Environmental Documentation and Records
- Policies, environmental procedures and monitoring plans
- Incident reports, waste logs and emissions data
- Licences, permits and regulatory submissions
- Previous audit findings and corrective action records
8. Conducting Environmental Site and Process Inspections
- Planning and conducting site walkthroughs
- Identifying environmental hazards and impacts
- Assessing environmental controls and containment measures
- Observing operational behaviour and environmental practices
9. Interviewing Personnel for Environmental Insights
- Identifying relevant personnel and subject-matter experts
- Using effective questioning to gather environmental information
- Validating understanding of environmental responsibilities
- Recording responses accurately and impartially
10. Evaluating Environmental Aspects and Impacts
- Identifying activities with significant environmental impact
- Reviewing environmental aspects registers
- Assessing effectiveness of mitigation and control measures
- Determining potential direct and indirect impacts
11. Assessing Environmental Controls and Monitoring Systems
- Reviewing engineering, administrative and behavioural controls
- Evaluating monitoring equipment and testing methods
- Identifying gaps, failures or inconsistencies
- Assessing reliability of environmental oversight
12. Testing Environmental Performance
- Reviewing operational performance data
- Inspecting waste, emissions and resource-use indicators
- Validating results through sampling and verification
- Comparing outcomes against environmental objectives
13. Identifying Environmental Non-Conformances and Risks
- Detecting breaches of environmental requirements
- Classifying non-conformances by risk and severity
- Identifying systemic vs isolated issues
- Determining underlying causes of environmental problems
14. Analysing Environmental Audit Evidence
- Validating accuracy, reliability and sufficiency of evidence
- Conducting trend and variance analysis
- Comparing evidence against legal and organisational criteria
- Identifying opportunities for improvement
15. Preparing Environmental Audit Findings
- Structuring findings clearly and objectively
- Linking findings to evidence and environmental criteria
- Prioritising based on risk and sustainability impact
- Ensuring transparency and clarity in documentation
16. Developing Environmental Improvement Recommendations
- Suggesting corrective and preventive actions
- Addressing root causes of environmental issues
- Enhancing environmental controls and monitoring
- Aligning recommendations with organisational sustainability goals
17. Reporting Environmental Audit Results
- Structuring the audit report for clarity and influence
- Presenting environmental data and findings effectively
- Communicating results to stakeholders and management
- Ensuring transparency and confidentiality
18. Monitoring Corrective Actions and Improving the Audit Program
- Tracking and verifying corrective actions
- Conducting follow-up environmental audits
- Reviewing audit program effectiveness
- Enhancing auditor capability and environmental maturity
COURSE DURATION:
The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.
COURSE DELIVERY:
Purchase and download course content.
ASSESSMENT:
A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.
CERTIFICATION:
Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.