Overview
In 2002, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) funded the start-up of an Environmental Management Accounting Research & Information Center (EMARIC) to take over and expand upon the activities of USEPA’s in-house Environmental Accounting Project. Initially hosted by Tellus Institute, EMARIC is now an independent center.

EMARIC Mission statement
To promote the integration of environmental cost information and materials & energy flow information into routine management decision-making of private and public sector organizations, as a support for improved environmental performance.

Thus, the USEPA's original mission has been expanded toincorporate not only environmental cost information, but also the materials & energy flow information that is necessary for the "environmental management" part of Environmental Management Accounting (EMA). The target audience has been expanded to include not only private business, but also the public sector, which spends significant resources on environmental protection.

The US was the first country to establish a formal program to investigate and promote EMA. However, there has been a recent, very strong upswing in EMA interest and activities in a number of other countries. Thus, the new center plans to track international EMA activities, work with international partners when appropriate, and will encourage other US stakeholders to do the same.

Broad Goals
Center activities will fall into three broad goals:

Coordination & Leveraging

• To identify and help coordinate the EMA-related activities of current and future stakeholders in order to promote mutual learning and facilitate mutual leveraging of resources

Research & Implementation

• To identify and support research and implementation projects that promote the use of EMA for specific management decisions/initiatives, as well as the integration of EMA principles and concepts into accounting/information systems

Education & Information

• To support the development of awareness-raising, educational, and technical assistance materials that illustrate the critical role of EMA in routine management decision-making and environmental protection
• To ensure that stakeholders have a central source of EMA expertise, information, and communication that is easy to access, easy to use, and up-to-date