What is ISO 14001?

Donna Foulis Date published: Apr 30, 24

ISO 14001 is the international standard for an environmental management system (EMS). It helps organizations to operate in a way that limits their impact on the environment, giving them a standardized framework to follow. This ensures they meet their obligations towards environmental sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and contributing to the wider net zero target.

ISO 14001 is applicable to all types and sizes of organizations. While it’s not a necessary requirement, the standard showcases your commitment to environmental management, making it easier to comply with relevant environmental legislation and demonstrate that you’re a responsible, environmentally conscious organization.

Why is ISO 14001 important?

ISO 14001 is important because it empowers organizations to minimize their impact on the environment and help to take action as the world faces the climate crisis. Having this framework in place helps businesses focus on the things they can do. Environmental management, in this context, isn’t about trying to change the world; it’s about interacting with it in a responsible way to reduce your environmental footprint and find ways to keep improving it.

With sustainability becoming increasingly important, an ISO 14001 certification is a straightforward way to show suppliers, partners and the wider marketplace that a business is committed to their environmental efforts. In some cases, this could be a factor for organizations selecting a supplier to work with in order to meet their own environmental policy efforts. It also has a positive effect on reputation, as it demonstrates that you’ve followed through on your commitment to the environment, backing up any corporate communications on the subject.

What are the requirements of ISO 14001?

Documenting your compliance and environmental activities is key for meeting ISO 14001 requirements. Regulators will want to see evidence of the necessary activities being carried out, and that these processes are being monitored and reviewed over time. If you already have one of the ‘high level structure’ ISO standards in place, like ISO 9001, you can integrate your environmental management into your existing quality management system.

The specifics of what’s required to achieve the ISO 14001 standard include:

Establish an environmental policy

This should state how your organization plans to take responsibility for managing their environmental impact. This could include considerations like reducing energy usage, recycling, travel options, workplace training and working with suitable suppliers or contractors that also uphold the same principles.

Assess risks and identify relevant environmental aspects

Environmental aspects are each different area or activity that affects the environment, and you should identify which ones are applicable to your organization. For example, the use of energy and utilities, waste management and activities or materials that could cause pollution. Each aspect should be scored based on the risk they pose to the environment.

Evidence your compliance activities

A key aspect of meeting ISO 14001 involves making sure that you are effectively meeting all relevant environmental legislation and regularly reviewing this activity. You’ll need to keep a record of these reports, and any actions that are required or have been carried out as a result.

Establish clear objectives

You should communicate environmental objectives which also state how you plan to achieve them. For example, reducing the impact of waste from the cafeteria by using biodegradable packaging or stopping the use of single-use cups. You should also include what you hope to achieve by doing this, i.e. the estimated amount of waste you would prevent by taking these actions.

Have clear procedures for operational controls

A record needs to be kept of compliance and regulatory obligations, environmental objectives and the processes that are in place to carry out these activities. This includes having procedures to follow in the event of emergencies occurring. Training and competency records also need to be documented, including any planned training activities and reviews.

Interested party requirements

Essentially, this is about how you will meet the environmental considerations of external parties and minimize your organization’s impact while working with them. For example, how you might manage deliveries in a sustainable way, or respond to the needs of local environmental groups to meet the expectations of your wider community.

Effective communication

Once you have your EMS up and running, it’s important to communicate this internally so that employees across your organization can understand what you’re trying to achieve and what’s expected of them. You should also communicate your policies to external stakeholders and provide evidence of both these types of communications.

Conduct regular audits

Carrying out internal audits is an important part of complying with ISO 14001. This ensures that the processes within your EMS are being followed correctly and that the desired results are taking place. If not, they can pick up on areas for improvement and actions you can take to move things in the right direction.

Dealing with non-conformances

Where events happen that don’t meet the correct policies or procedures, you should follow the appropriate steps to determine the cause of the non-conformance and the corrective actions taken to address it. Having a good CAPA process is key to managing this well.

Simplify your ISO 14001 compliance

Find out how Ideagen supports organizations to establish an environmental management system to meet the requirements of ISO 14001.

Find out more