Role of ISO 14000 in Professional Practice

Author/s: Garcia, Rexcel Mae L.

Rizal Technological University
rexcelmaegarcia@gmail.com

Abstract: ISO 14000 is an international environmental standard that acts as a guideline

for companies to improve its performance in environmental aspects.
Researches related to ISO 14000 shows that the implementation has not only
improved companies’ environmental performance, but this has also enhanced
companies’ corporate performance.

Keyword: ISO 14000, Environmental Management, Standards, Guides, Technical

Reports

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, the issues due to environments such as lack of raw materials and world
pollution have become increasingly serious and raise the concerns of government, non-
governments organization, public, companies and communities. Therefore, numerous plans that
involve environmental protection and sustainability have been more regarded, such as
implementation of ISO standards.

The ISO 14000 series of standards was introduced in 1996 by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) and most recently revised in 2015 (ISO is not an acronym;
it derives from the ancient Greek word ísos, meaning equal or equivalent.) It is defined as a series
of international environmental management standards, guides, and technical reports. The standards
specify requirements for establishing an environmental management policy, determining
environmental impacts of products or services, planning environmental objectives, implementing
programs to meet objectives, and conducting corrective action and management review. The
primary objective of the ISO 14000 series of standards is to promote effective environmental
management systems in organizations. The standards seek to provide cost-effective tools that make
use of best practices for organizing and applying information about environmental management.

CONTENT

ISO standards are voluntary and there is no legal requirement for organizations to establish
or implement an Environmental Management System (EMS). A growing number of organizations
implement an EMS to help identify and comply with legal requirements and/or to help reduce
environmental impacts, reduce resource consumption and improve business performance.
ISO 14OOO IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Series of Standards, Technical Specification
and Reports

I.ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems. Requirements with Guidance for

Use

ISO 14001 is the world’s most recognized certifiable environmental management systems
(EMS) standard. The overall aim of the international standard is to provide organizations with a
framework to protect the environment and respond to changing environmental conditions, in
balance with socio-economic needs. It enables an organization to achieve the intended outcomes
for its environmental management system and specifies the requirements it can use to:

• enhance its environmental performance

• meet compliance obligations
• achieve its environmental objectives.

The revised ISO 14001 retains the earlier Plan-Do-Check-Act systems model but also
introduces a number of important changes over earlier versions, with a stronger emphasis on the
following.

• Strategic Environmental Management — understanding the “context” in which the

organization operates and what internal and external issues are prominent across its
activities, products and services.
• Leadership — assigns specific responsibilities for top managers to be accountable for
ensuring the effectiveness of the EMS.
• Environmental protection — a commitment to prevent or mitigate adverse environmental
impacts that go beyond direct business-related aspects, to include external influences that
might impact on the organization such as resource consumption, adapting to climate change
and goods provided by suppliers.
• Environmental performance — the focus on continual improvement of the EMS has been
extended to include improving operational environmental performance, such as reducing
emissions, effluents and waste as set by the organization.
• Life cycle thinking — this extends the requirement to manage environmental aspects
associated with products and service, to include control and influence of impacts across the
life cycle with product use and end-of-life treatment or disposal. This does not imply a
requirement to do a life cycle assessment.

II. ISO 14004:2016 Environmental Management Systems — General Guidelines on

Implementation

ISO 14004 provides guidance to help organizations establish, implement, maintain and
improve their environmental management system. It is applicable to any organization, regardless
of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and
services that the organization determines it can either control or influence, considering a life-cycle
perspective.

The standard complements certification standard ISO 14001 and provides guidance for a
common framework in order to establish, implement, maintain and continually improve
environmental management. The standard also follows the same HLS, including leadership roles,
risk-based thinking and competency requirements. ISO 14004 is a guidance standard that explains
how elements of the environmental management system can be integrated into an organization’s
core business processes. It also includes numerous practical “help boxes” that explain how all the
key elements work in practice to help businesses manage their environmental responsibilities in a
systematic way and enhance environmental performance.

The outcomes of a systematic approach to environmental management, as explained in this

guidance standard, can provide top management with quantitative and qualitative data that enables
informed business decisions, build long-term success and create options for contributing to
sustainable development.

III. ISO 14015:2010 Environmental Management — Environmental Assessment of Sites and

Organizations (EASO)

This standard provides guidance on how to conduct an EASO. It provides the basis for
harmonization of the terminology used and for a structured, consistent, transparent and objective
approach to conducting such environmental assessments. ISO 14015 is not a specification
standard.

The standard is flexible in its application and may be used for self-assessments as well as
external assessments. Users of the standard are likely to be industry, past, present and possible
future users of particular sites, and organizations with a financial interest in the industry or site (eg
banks, insurance companies, investors and site owners).

The information used during an EASO may be derived from sources that include
environmental management system audits, regulatory compliance audits, environmental impact
assessments, environmental performance evaluations or site investigations. Some of these
assessments or investigations may have been conducted using other relevant ISO standards
including ISO 14001, ISO 14011 and/or ISO 14031.

The standard provides an objective assessment and covers:

• roles and responsibilities of those involved in the assessment

• the assessment process for conducting an EASO include planning (objectives, scope and
assessment criteria)
• validation and evaluation of relevant information
• the content and form of the report arising from the assessment.
 Examples of information that may be considered in an EASO include location, physical
characteristics (eg hydrogeology), land use, facilities, raw materials, by-products and products
(including hazardous materials), emissions and discharges to air, water and soil, waste storage,
handling and disposal, etc.

An EASO aims to draw conclusions relating to business consequences associated with

environmental aspects and issues of sites and organizations.

IV. ISO 14020:2000 Environmental Labels and Declarations — General Principles

This standard establishes guiding principles for the development and use of environmental
labels and declarations. It is not intended for use as a specification for certification and registration
purposes but other standards in the ISO 14020 series should be used in conjunction with this
standard. Environmental labels and declarations provide information about a product or service in
terms of its overall environmental character and environmental aspects. Purchasers can use this
information in choosing the products or services they want based on environmental, as well as
other considerations. Those using the standard would expect it to influence purchasing decisions
in favor of their product or service.

V. ISO 14031:2013 Environmental Management — Environmental Performance Evaluation

— Guidelines

This standard gives guidance on the design and use of environmental performance
evaluation (EPE) within an organization. It is applicable to all organizations, regardless of type,
size, location and complexity.

The standard sets out guidelines for establishing an EPE process which enables
organizations to measure, evaluate and communicate their environmental performance using key
performance indicators (KPIs), based on reliable and verifiable information.

EPE is an internal management tool that provides managers with ongoing information
about how well an organization’s environmental system is performing and whether the aims of its
environmental policy are being achieved. The standard does not set environmental performance
levels — an organization can develop its own approach to EPE, including its commitments to
compliance with legal and other requirements, the prevention of pollution, and continual
improvement.

ISO 14031 is a valuable tool in helping to keep track of how well an organization’s EMS
is functioning and whether agreed aims, objectives and other performance measures are being
achieved. A key objective of EPE is to provide transparency about the aspects and related
environmental impacts (both internally and externally) and to demonstrate how an organization
mitigates these impacts to improve performance over time.
 Supporting standard, ISO/TS 14033 ISO/TS 14033: Environmental Management —
Quantitative Environmental Information — Guidelines and Examples is a technical specification
(TS) that provides guidelines and examples for the acquisition and provision of quantitative
environmental information to support the use of ISO EMS standards. Quantitative environmental
information is used for environmental measurements, calculations, assessments, comparisons,
reporting and communication.

VI. ISO 14040:2006 — Environmental Management — Life Cycle Assessment — Principles

and Framework

This standard describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA)
including: the goal and scope of the LCA, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life
cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical
review of the LCA, limitations of the LCA, the relationship between the LCA phases, and
conditions for use of value choices and optional elements.

There are four phases in an LCA study.

• The Goal and Scope Definition Phase — including the system boundary and level of detail.
The depth and the breadth of LCA can differ considerably depending on the goal of a
particular LCA.
• The Inventory Analysis Phase (LCI) — the second phase is an inventory of input/output
data. It involves collection of the data necessary to meet the goals of the defined study.
• The Life Cycle Impact Assessment Phase (LCIA) — the third phase of the LCA provides
additional information to help assess environmental significance of a product system's LCI
results.
• Life Cycle Interpretation — the fourth phase of the LCA procedure used to summarize the
results of an LCI or an LCIA, or both, as a basis for conclusions, recommendations and
decision-making on best options, depending on the goal and scope of the study.

ISO 14040 sets out the principles and framework for life cycle assessment and life cycle
inventory studies — not to be confused with life cycle impact assessments (LCIA).

VII. ISO 14050:2009 Environmental Management — Vocabulary

This standard explains common terms, definitions and concepts related to environmental
management, published in the ISO 14000 series of international standards.

Good communication is important in the implementation and operation of an EMS. Most

of the standards in the 14000 series include a “Terms and definitions” chapter, where all the key
terms used are defined to ensure effective communication in that particular standard. The purpose
of this standard is to convey a common understanding of all the terms used in the ISO 14000 series.
Many environmental terms and definitions are the results of new or evolving concepts of the
environment in management standards, which means that environmental terminology will
continue to develop.

To summarize, this standard includes a comprehensive list of terms including:

• general terms relating to environmental management

• terms relating to environmental management systems
• terms relating to validation, verification, and auditing
• terms relating to product system
• terms relating to life cycle assessment
• terms relating to environmental labelling and declarations and to environmental
• communication
• terms relating to greenhouse gases (GHGs).

In addition, the standard also includes two annexes that relate to the following.

• Annex A (informative) Additional terms and definitions from Technical Report ISO/TR
14061.
• Annex B (informative) Additional concepts encountered in the international environmental
community.

The application and description of these terms vary throughout the international
environmental community and other concepts in the environmental management field may not be
defined in this international standard.

BENEFITS OF ISO 14000 CERTIFICATION

Companies indicated that ISO 14000 could be used as a tool to push the company to
improve environmental performance, and increase the environmental awareness. Hence, it helped
to identify and reuse waste, materials, energy and resources to maintain sustainability. Moreover,
because of better management by ISO14000, companies are capable to manage environmental
risks and decrease OHS risks.

In addition, the implementation of ISO14000 could prove that companies desire to be good
corporate citizens, be moral and ethical in the environment. Therefore, it could ensure that the
companies’ operations are responsible and accountable for environmental impacts and aspects.
CONCLUSION

ISO 14000 is an important set of tools for a professional practice to develop sound
environmental management and to contribute to society’s broader need for sustainable
development. ISO 14000 is a set of rules and standards created to help companies reduce industrial
waste and environmental damage. Though ISO 14000 certification is optional and not required,
the certification can be used as a marketing tool for engaging environmentally conscious
consumers. Moreover, it can help lower costs because it requires efficient use of resources and
limits waste.

REFERENCE

https://asq.org/quality-resources/iso-14000

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/iso-14000.asp

https://app.croneri.co.uk/topics/iso-14000-series/indepth