The ISO 14001 Standard

The ISO 14001 series comprises a set of informational documents, definitions, and standards. The first of these is the environmental management system guidance document. The document guides organisations that want to build, implement, or improve environmental management systems. It sets out the elements of an environmental management system and provides practical information for implementers. Its principles cover the rules the organisation must follow, the need for continual improvement, and the periodic evaluation of environmental performance.

ISO 14001, the Environmental Management System certification standard, sets the core requirements for building and operating an environmental management system that can be certified or registered by an external third party. Environmental-performance evaluation covers the measurement, analysis, evaluation, and reporting of the organisation's environmental performance against criteria defined in line with the appropriate business purpose. That process requires the collection and grouping of data, the determination of progress against objectives and targets, and the reporting of findings to the relevant individuals and groups. Environmental-audit standards provide environmental auditors with the general principles, practices, and evaluation criteria needed to run audits. Environmental audits are one of the key elements of environmental management systems: qualified people must periodically audit how well the system fits the organisation's needs.

Another standard in the series is life-cycle assessment. Life-cycle assessment is a tool used to evaluate the environmental characteristics of a product, process, or service. It covers the investigation of the effects of a product or service from raw-material procurement through production, distribution, transport, sale, post-sale use, reuse, and disposal. Suited to both private and public organisations, life-cycle assessment is used in Europe in the development of ecological-labelling criteria and in the USA in the identification of environmentally preferred products.

Environmental labelling (ecological labelling) is spreading worldwide and explains which categories of product can use which types of label. The ISO standard sets out requirements for three types of labels. The first is the "seal of approval," available to products that meet defined requirements and capability criteria within a specific product range. The second is the single-claim label, awarded to recycled products or to products offering energy efficiency. The third type is the "environmental report card," given to products and services that use a life-cycle approach and allow environmental effects during production and use to be compared across similar products. Standards on product environmental impact also examine how the structure, shape, and design of products positively or negatively affect the environment. This standard encourages work on environmentally compatible design.

Work is also ongoing to make sure that the technical terms and definitions used in the ISO 14000 series carry the same meaning in every country and every language.

ISO 14001 clause headings

• Scope
• Normative references
• Definitions
• Environmental management system requirements and key elements
• General requirements
• Environmental policy
• Planning
• Environmental aspects
• Legal and other requirements
• Objectives, targets, and programmes
• Implementation and operation
• Resources, roles, responsibility, and authority
• Competence, training, and awareness
• Communication
• Documentation
• Control of documents
• Operational control
• Emergency preparedness and response
• Checking
• Monitoring and measurement
• Evaluation of compliance
• Nonconformity, corrective and preventive action
• Control of records
• Internal audit of the environmental management system
• Management review

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