ISO 14000 is a series of environmental management standards developed and published by the ISO for organizations. The ISO 14000 standards provide a guideline or framework for organizations that need to systematize and improve their environmental management efforts. The ISO 14000 standards are not designed to aid the enforcement of environmental laws and do not regulate the environmental activities of organizations. Adherence to these standards is voluntary.
The ISO 14001 standard is the most important standard within the ISO 14000 series. ISO 14001 specifies the requirements of an environmental management system (EMS) for small to large organizations. An EMS is a systemic approach to handling environmental issues within an organization. The ISO 14001 standard is based on the Plan-Check-Do-Act (PDCA) cycle.
The Plan cycle deals with the beginning stages of an organization becoming ISO 14001-compliant. The Check cycle deals with checking and correcting errors. The Do cycle is the implementation and operation of the ISO 14001 standard within an organization. And the Act cycle is a cycle that never ends as an organization continually finds ways to improve their EMS.
ISO 14004:2016 provides guidelines on the elements of an environmental management system and its implementation, and discusses principal issues involved.
ISO 14001:2015 specifies the requirements for such an environmental management system. Fulfilling these requirements demands objective evidence which can be audited to demonstrate that the environmental management system is operating effectively in conformity to the standard.
What can be achieved
ISO 14001:2015 is a tool that can be used to meet internal objectives:
provide assurance to management that it is in control of the organizational processes and activities having an impact on the environment
assure employees that they are working for an environmentally responsible organization.
ISO 14001:2015 can also be used to meet external objectives:
provide assurance on environmental issues to external stakeholders – such as customers, the community and regulatory agencies comply with environmental regulations support the organization’s claims and communication about its own environmental policies, plans and actions provides a framework for demonstrating conformity via suppliers’ declarations of conformity, assessment of conformity by an external stakeholder – such as a business client – and for certification of conformity by an independent certification body.
The entire process can take several months to several years depending on the size of the organization. If an organization is already ISO 9001 certified, the implementation of ISO 14001 does not take as long.
The Technical Committee (TC) behind ISO 14000 is TC 207.