EMA

Internal costs

These are costs that directly impact on the income statement of a company. There are many different types, for example:

improved systems and checks in order to avoid penalties/fines
waste disposal costs
product take back costs (i.e. in the EU, for example, companies must provide facilities for customers to return items such as batteries, printer cartridges etc. for recycling. The seller of such items must bear the cost of these “take backs)
regulatory costs such as taxes (e.g. companies with poor environmental management policies often have to bear a higher tax burden)
upfront costs such as obtaining permits (e.g. for achieving certain levels of emissions)
back-end costs such as decommissioning costs on project completion
External costs

These are costs that are imposed on society at large, but not borne by the company that generates the cost in the first instance.

For example,

carbon emissions
usage of energy and water
forest degradation
health care costs
social welfare costs