Implementing an Environmental Management Web-Portal

Abstract

Ecoradar (www.ecoradar.org) is the name for an innovative Internet portal that sets out to use the simplest and most persuasive means to motivate sustainable management in those enterprises which have so far taken little or no interest in this aspect. This major project with participation from over 80 German enterprises and institutions is part of the new funding focus ‘Integrated Environmental Protection Instruments for Sustainable Business Management’ set by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The primary task of the portal´s construction consists of the creation of an Environmental Management Community . The purpose of the article is to show the structure and elements of the oekoradar-community. Both the creation of a “culture of trust” among the participating enterprises and the strategy of a successful integration of the joint project partners are of specific interest. The content models are presented and the article is examining the ability of the oekoradar-community to develop, share and use the available knowledge by using the tools of knowledge-management. Finally, the authors describe the technology that is used to create the portal.