ISO 14001:2015 relating to the Environmental Management System, along with its family of standards, provides practical tools for organizations of all categories, enabling them to manage their environmental responsibilities.
The standard improves businesses by helping them identify, manage, monitor, and control their environmental concerns in a comprehensive manner. ISO 14001 requires that a company consider all environmental aspects fundamental to its operations. For example, waste management, noise pollution, air quality, waste transport, possible soil contamination, possible air pollution, issues relating to water and wastewater, climate change mitigation and adaptation, etc.
ISO 14001, like other ISO standards, is based on systems and strategies for continuous improvement; specifically, in the case of the environmental standard, this is achieved by addressing environmental issues. In fact, in its latest revision, the standard has undergone crucial improvements regarding the importance of environmental management within the organization's tactical planning processes, regarding a greater contribution from leadership for the environment and regarding a more solid responsibility towards positive initiatives that increase environmental efficiency.
Management has a fundamental role in ensuring that the objectives of the environmental management system are clear and consistent with other organizational objectives. Top management's commitment should be communicated throughout the organization. Management should also have time to engage in the process of building the Environmental Management System. The organization must ensure that the management system can achieve the expected results and achieve continuous improvement. To do all this, it is necessary to know the direct environmental impact of an organization.
How the surrounding environment can affect its business, customers, and supply chain. The organization should determine the issues that are appropriate to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the expected results of the environmental management system. Stakeholders can be diverse and divided into individuals or organizations.
They are defined in this way because they can influence, be influenced, or perceive themselves as being influenced by the decisions or activities of the organization with regard to environmental management. A list of stakeholders should include at least: those who live near the organization, the various governmental environmental agencies, the community, suppliers, investors, employees, trade unions, etc.
The organization's representatives will need to meet regularly, especially in the early stages of the organization's activities, product realization, or service delivery. A cross-functional team can help ensure that procedures are practical and useful and can create commitment to the Environmental Management System.
Among the advantages of ISO 14001 certification, we find the following:
- It constitutes an advertising advantage for customers who have a great focus on the environment;
- It helps to reduce the organization's expenses by reducing the use of resources and the production of waste and improves the efficiency of resource use;
- It promotes a positive impression among stakeholders, from customers to staff members;
- It allows you to gain a competitive advantage in the design of the supply chain;
- It allows you to manage environmental obligations consistently.
Risks and opportunities are defined in ISO 14001:2015 as potential negative effects (risks/threats) and possible beneficial effects (opportunities). The standard requires that documented information on risks and opportunities and on the processes necessary to ensure that the process meets expectations be retained.
It might be a good practice to generate an official risk register in which it is possible to record their identification, the discussion that followed their identification, the actions taken to mitigate the risks or seize the opportunities, the results and the monitoring and evaluation of the results.