ISO 14000

ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (1) minimize how their operations (processes etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (2) comply with applicable laws, regulations, and other environmentally oriented requirements, and (3) continually improve in the above.

ISO 14000 is similar to ISO 9000 quality management in that both pertain to the process of how a product is produced, rather than to the product itself. As with ISO 9000, certification is performed by third-party organizations rather than being awarded by ISO directly. The ISO 19011 audit standard applies when auditing for both 9000 and 14000 compliance at once.

The requirements of ISO 14000 are an integral part of the European Union‘s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). EMAS‘s structure and material requirements are more demanding, foremost concerning performance improvement, legal compliance and reporting duties.

The concept of an environmental management system evolved in the early nineties and its origin can be traced back to 1972, when the United Nations organized a Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was launched (Corbett & Kirsch, 2001). These early initiatives led to the establishment of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and the adoption of the Montreal Protocol and Basel Convention.

In 1992, the first Earth Summit was held in Rio-de-Janeiro (Jiang & Bansal, 2001), which served to generate a global commitment to the environment. This developed the template for the development of the ISO 14000 series in 1996, by the International Organization for Standardization, which has representation from committees all over the world (ISO). As of 2010, ISO 14001 is now used by at least 223 149 organizations in 159 countries and economies.

ISO 14001 standard

ISO 14001 sets out the criteria for an environmental management system. It does not state requirements for environmental performance, but maps out a framework that a company or organization can follow to set up an effective environmental management system. It can be used by any organization that wants to improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and drive down costs. Using ISO 14001 can provide assurance to company management and employees as well as external stakeholders that environmental impact is being measured and improved. ISO 14001 can also be integrated with other management functions and assists companies in meeting their environmental and economic goals.

ISO 14001, as with other ISO 14000 standards, is voluntary (IISD 2010), with its main aim to assist companies in continually improving their environmental performance, whilst complying with any applicable legislation. Organizations are responsible for setting their own targets and performance measures, with the standard serving to assist them in meeting objectives and goals and the subsequent monitoring and measurement of these (IISD 2010).

Rather than focusing on exact measures and goals of environmental performance, the standard highlights what an organization needs to do to meet these goals (IISD 2010). Success of the system is very dependant on commitment from all levels of the organization, especially top management, who need to be actively involved in the development, implementation and maintenance of the environmental management system.

ISO 14001 is known as a generic management system standard, meaning that it is relevant to any organization seeking to improve and manage resources more effectively. This includes: single site to large multi-national companies, high risk companies to low risk service organizations, manufacturing, process and the service industries; including local governments, all industry sectors including public and private sectors, original equipment manufacturers and their suppliers.

All standards are periodically reviewed by ISO to ensure they still meet market requirements. The current version of ISO 14001 – ISO 14001:2004 is under review as of April 2012.

Basic principles and methodology

Plan – establish objectives and processes required

Do – implement the processes

Check – measure and monitor the processes and report results

Act – take action to improve performance of EMS based on results

Continual Improvement Process

The core requirement of a continual improvement process (CIP) is different from the one known from quality management systems. CIP in ISO 14001 has three dimensions:  

Expansion: More and more business areas get covered by the implemented EMS.

Enrichment: More and more activities, products, processes, emissions, resources etc. get managed by the implemented EMS.

Upgrading: An improvement of the structural and organizational framework of the EMS, as well as an accumulation of know-how in dealing with business related environmental issues.

Overall, the CIP-concept expects the organization to gradually move away from merely operational environmental measures towards a strategic approach on how to deal with environmental challenges.