Department of Defense
INSTRUCTION
NUMBER 4715.17
April 15, 2009
Incorporating Change 1, November 16, 2017
USD(AT&L)
SUBJECT: Environmental Management Systems
References: See Enclosure 1
1. PURPOSE. In accordance with the authority in DoD Directive (DoDD) 5134.01 (Reference
(a)), this Instruction:
a. Establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and prescribes procedures for achieving
conformance with Environmental Management Systems (EMS) pursuant to Executive Order
13423 (Reference (b)), Council on Environmental Quality Instructions (Reference (c)), and page
33504 of Volume 72, No. 116, Federal Register (Reference (d)).
b. Incorporates and cancels Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environment,
Safety, and Occupational Health (ADUSD(ESOH)) Memorandum (Reference (e)), Assistant
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environment Memorandum (Reference (f)), and Under
Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) Memorandum
(Reference (g)).
2. APPLICABILITY. This Instruction:
a. Applies to OSD, the Military Departments, the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, the Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of Defense, the Defense Agencies, the DoD Field Activities, and all other
organizational entities in the Department of Defense (hereafter referred to collectively as the
“DoD Components”).
b. Applies to all DoD appropriate facilities and/or organizations worldwide, including
installations; Government-owned, contractor-operated facilities; and DoD Components that are a
host of or tenant on any DoD appropriate facility.
c. Does not apply to the operations of U.S. military vessels or aircraft, or to off-installation
operational and training deployments. Off-installation operational deployments include cases of
