This afternoon I was audited to see whether I was fully up to scratch on the Committee’s commitment to the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). The EMAS effort is a joint EESC and CoR initiative in the field of environmental management and sustainable development. After several years of hard work we are now approaching the end of our first EMAS cycle, which will hopefully result in the Committees being awarded the EMAS registration. External auditors are now interviewing a cross-section of colleagues at all levels throughout the institutions to evaluate our progress and our compliance with the EMAS regulation and with environmental legislation. The Secretaries General are audited as part of this process, in order to check how management is involved and supports the project. So I sat my exam and I think I passed. There were some challenging questions, though: if you get the EMAS certification will you continue your efforts with the same intensity?; you are proud of your achievements to date but weren’t these just the low hanging fruit? and so on.