green audit

Inspection of a company to assess the total environmental impact of its activities or of a particular product or process.

For example, a green audit of a manufactured product looks at the impact of production (including energy use and the extraction of raw materials used in manufacture), use (which may cause pollution and other hazards), and disposal (potential for recycling, and whether waste causes pollution).

Such ‘cradle-to-grave’ surveys allow a widening of the traditional scope of economics by ascribing costs to variables that are usually ignored, such as despoliation of the countryside or air pollution.