History of the ISO 14001 Standard

On the history of ISO 14001: the environmental management system covers ongoing practice on a production site, addressing air, soil, water, natural resources, plant and animal diversity, and people, along with the connections between them. Sistem Patent Kalite provides ISO 14001 consultancy from our Izmir office, alongside offices in Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Adana, Antalya, Konya, Kayseri, and Eskisehir.

As for the history of ISO 14001 itself, the first step in the development of the environmental management system certificate was taken at a high-level meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. The meeting produced a set of important positions and the principles captured in the Rio Declaration. About a year later, in 1993, ISO convened a committee of representatives from approximately 50 nations to draft an international environmental-management strategy. The work of that committee led to the publication of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Certificate in September 1996.

Today the ISO 14000 standard is applied largely by organisations that adopt it voluntarily, without direct financial or reputational pressure. In the coming years, however, it is likely that society, international business, and governments will together move the standard into the category of required compliance.