In recent years, an increasing number of private as well as public organizations have been engaged with implementation and use of environmental management systems (EMSs). This raises questions as to the reasons for implementing an EMS and, not least, about the roles and contributions of an EMS in an organization. Based in particular on research on contemporary municipal environmental management in Sweden, and also drawing on EMS research and experiences in other countries, this paper argues that an EMS may be understood not only as a technical tool for analytical management, as is traditionally done, but also as a tool for communicative action and organizational learning. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.