Environmental due diligence consults should not just perform Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, they should focus on managing their client’s environmental liability. However, in order to do so, it is imperative that clients ask for the help.
Environmental consultants can perform better if they are given the opportunity to meet with the client and understand their business. It is also a necessity to understand the client’s risk tolerance.
All clients do not have the same risk tolerance – and they shouldn’t. For example, a child day care chain should obviously be more risk adverse than an owner of a warehouse. Consultants must also keep in mind that some investors and lenders are conservative when it comes to environmental issues. These nuances need to be expressed.
To be a good engineer, the client’s business must first be understand by the engineer.
Partner Engineering and Science offers clients free environmental liability management consultations where the client’s business, their objectives, and their risk tolerance are all discussed in great detail.
Writing a sound environmental risk policy is not too difficult. Partner will give their clients multiple free samples of what lender’s policies should look like, so that they can pick the policy that fits their bank. If there are missing elements within the policy that are important to the client’s bank, they are easy to insert.
The bottom line is, if clients are spending a lot of money on environmental due diligence, they should take a more holistic look at their environmental policy.