iso14000

The ISO 14000 model

1 Envi ronmenta l Management – 2002 1

Act

Check Do

Plan

The ISO 14040 series

Life cycle assessment

ISO 14062

Design for environment

The ISO 14020 series Environmental labels

and declarations

ISO 14063 Environmental communication

The ISO 14030 series Environmental performance

evaluation

ISO 19011 Environmental

management systemsauditing

Prioritizing environmental

aspects

Integration ofenvironmental

aspects indesign and

development

Communicatingenvironmentalperformance

Monitoring environmental performance

Monitoring system

performance

Description of environmentalperformance of products

Improvement of environmentalperformance of products

Information about environmentalaspects of products

Communication onenvironmentalperformance

Description of environmentalperformance of organizations

Information about the performance of the environmental managementsystem

ISO in brief

ISO is the International Organization forStandardization. It is made up of nationalstandards institutes from countries largeand small, industrialized, developing and in transition, in all regions of theworld. ISO develops voluntary technicalstandards which add value to all types of business operations.

They contribute to making the develop-ment, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient,safer and cleaner. They make tradebetween countries easier and fairer. ISO standards also safeguard consumersand users in general of products andservices, and make their lives simpler.

ISO standards raise levels of quality,safety, reliability, efficiency, effectiveness,compatibility and interchangeability – and provide such benefits at an economical cost.

ISO develops only those standards which are required by the market. This work is carried out by experts onloan from the industrial, technical andbusiness sectors which have asked forthe standards, and which subsequentlyput them to use. These experts may bejoined by others with relevant knowledge,such as representatives of governmentagencies, testing laboratories, consumerassociations and academia, or by non-governmental organizations thathave a specific interest in the issuesaddressed in the standards.

Published under the designation ofInternational Standards, ISO standardsrepresent an international consensus onthe state of the art in the technology concerned.

ISO/TC 207, EnvironmentalManagement

ISO/TC 207 is the ISO technical committee responsible for developingand maintaining the ISO 14000 family of standards.

Published documents and ongoing workaddress the following areas :

Environmental management systems.

Environmental auditing and relatedenvironmental investigations.

Environmental performance evaluation.

Environmental labelling.

Life cycle assessment.

Environmental communication.

Environmental aspects of productdesign and development.

Environmental aspects in productstandards.

Terms and definitions.

Greenhouse gas emissions.

The ISO 14000 model


Act

Check Do

Plan

The ISO 14040 series

Life cycle assessment

ISO 14062

Design for environment

The ISO 14020 series Environmental labels

and declarations

ISO 14063 Environmental communication

The ISO 14030 series Environmental performance

evaluation

ISO 19011 Environmental

management systemsauditing

Prioritizing environmental

aspects

Integration ofenvironmental

aspects indesign and

development

Communicatingenvironmentalperformance

Monitoring environmental performance

Monitoring system

performance

Description of environmentalperformance of products

Improvement of environmentalperformance of products

Information about environmentalaspects of products

Communication onenvironmentalperformance

Description of environmentalperformance of organizaitons

Information about the performance of the environmental managementsystem

ISO and the environment

“Think globally, act locally ” – the well-known credo for addressing environmen-tal issues – also expresses the objectiveof ISO’s many environmental standards.These standards reflect global consensuson good environmental practice in theinternational context that can be appliedpragmatically by organizations all overthe world in their particular situation.

ISO has a two-pronged approach to meet-ing the needs of all stakeholders frombusiness, industry, governmental authori-ties and non-governmental organizations,as well as consumers, in the field of theenvironment.

Firstly, ISO offers a wide-ranging portfolioof standards for sampling and test methods to deal with specific environ-mental challenges. It has developed morethan 350 International Standards for themonitoring of such aspects as the qualityof air, water and soil, as well as noise andradiation. They also serve in a number ofcountries as the technical basis for envi-ronmental regulations.

Secondly, ISO has developed standardsthat help organizations to take a more pro-active approach to managing environ-mental issues. These environmental man-agement standards can be implementedin any type of organizations in either public or private sectors (from companiesto administrations to public utilities).

12 Envi ronmenta l Management – 2002

ContentsISO and the environment 2

Benefits of the ISO 14000family of InternationalStandards 4

The future of the ISO 14000 family – a look at new issues 6

Business benefits of ISO 14001 7

The ISO 14000 family of standards, guides andtechnical reports –including drafts 8

Application of the ISO 14000 family 10

Products and sources of information on ISO 14000 12

To spearhead this strategic approach, ISOestablished a new technical committee,ISO/TC 207 in 1993, Environmental man-agement. This move was a concrete manifestation of ISO’s commitment torespond to the complex challenge of“ sustainable development ” articulated atthe 1992 United Nations Conference onEnvironment and Development in Rio deJaneiro. It also stemmed from an intensiveconsultation process, carried out withinthe framework of the Strategic AdvisoryGroup on Environment (SAGE). SAGE wasset up in 1991 and brought together representatives of a variety of countriesand international organizations – a total of more than 100 environmental experts –who helped to define how InternationalStandards could support better environ-mental management.

As a result, the ISO 14000 family of stan-dards on environmental management wasdeveloped to provide a practical toolboxto assist in the implementation of actionssupportive to sustainable development.

Today, national delegations of environ-mental experts from 66 countries parti-cipate within ISO/TC 207, including 27developing countries. In addition, 35international non-governmental and busi-ness organizations participate as liaisonorganizations. The national delegationsare chosen by the national standardsinstitute concerned and they are requiredto bring to ISO/TC 207 a national con-sensus on issues being addressed by the technical committee. This nationalconsensus is derived from a process ofconsultation with interested parties ineach country.


From its beginning, it was recognized thatISO/TC 207 should cooperate closely withISO/TC 176, Quality management andquality assurance – the ISO technicalcommittee responsible for the ISO 9000family of quality management standards –in the areas of management systems,auditing and related terminology. Success-ful steps have been taken to ensurecompatibility of ISO environmental man-agement and quality management stan-dards. These include a common standardgiving guidelines for environmental and/or quality auditing.

Benefits of the ISO14000 family ofInternational Standards

In today’s global economy, organizationsare increasingly called upon to demon-strate sound management of economic,social and environmental issues. Evi-dence suggests that a focus on this“ triple bottom line ” results in advantagesin financing, insurance, marketing, regu-latory treatment, and other areas.

An Environmental Management System(EMS) is a structured approach to ad-dressing the environmental bottom line.ISO 14001 is the world’s most recognizedEMS framework – accepted fromArgentina to Zimbabwe – that helpsorganizations both to manage better theimpact of their activities on the environ-ment and to demonstrate sound environ-mental management.

Since the publication of ISO 14001, manycompanies have implemented the stan-dard and, by the end of 2001, nearly 37 000 organizations in 112 countries hadtheir EMS certified as conforming to itsrequirements. ISO 14001 is designed tobe flexible enough to be applied to anysized organization in both the private andpublic sectors. The bottom line is that certification to ISO 14001 can improveenvironmental management and enablesequal access to a growing “ green ” mar-ket place.

ISO 14001 is also the starting point forcompanies that want to use other envi-ronmental management tools developedby ISO/TC 207. For example, ISO 14004provides additional guidance and usefulexplanations and complements ISO14001.

Of course, an EMS will only be of maximumbenefit if it is properly implemented.Environmental audits are important toolsthat for assessing whether an EMS is pro-perly implemented and maintained.The newauditing standard, ISO 19011, is equallyuseful for EMS and quality managementsystem audits. It provides guidance onprinciples of auditing, managing audit programmes, the conduct of audits and on the competence of auditors. ISO 19011replaces the ISO 14010, ISO 14011 andISO 14012 first generation of environmentalauditing standards in the ISO 14000 family.

Organizations implementing ISO 14001 canexpect to improve their environmental per-formance. ISO 14031 provides guidance onhow an organization can evaluate its envi-ronmental performance. The standard alsoaddresses the selection of suitable per-formance indicators, so that performancecan be assessed against criteria set by management. This sort of information can be used as a basis for internal and externalreporting on environmental performance.

Communication on the environmentalaspects of products and services is animportant way to use market forces to influ-ence environmental improvement. Truthfuland accurate information provides thebasis on which consumers can makeinformed purchasing decisions. The ISO14020 series of standards address a range


of different approaches to environmentallabels and declarations, including self-declared environmental claims, eco-labels(seals of approval) and quantified environ-mental information about products andservices.

ISO 14001 addresses not only the envi-ronmental aspects of an organization’sprocesses, but also those of its productsand services. Therefore ISO/TC 207developed additional tools to assist inaddressing such aspects. Life-CycleAssessment (LCA) is a tool for identifyingand evaluating the environmental aspectsof products and services from the “ cradleto the grave ” : from the extraction ofresource inputs to the eventual disposalof the product or its waste. The ISO 14040standards give guidelines on the princi-ples and conduct of LCA studies that pro-vide an organization with information onhow to reduce the overall environmentalimpact of its products and services.

ISO/TR 14064is another tool ; it allows environ-mental aspects to betaken in account in thedesign and development of products.

Although the ISO 14000 standards aredesigned to be mutually supportive, theycan also be used independently of eachother to achieve environmental goals.

The whole ISO 14000 family provides man-agement tools for organizations to controltheir environmental aspects and to improvetheir environmental performance.Together,these tools can provide significant tangibleeconomic benefits, including :

reduced raw material/resource use ;

reduced energy consumption ;

improved process efficiency ;

reduced waste generation and disposal costs, and

utilization of recoverable resources.

Of course, associated with each of theseeconomic benefits are distinct environ-mental benefits too. This is the contribu-tion that the ISO 14000 series makes to

the environmental and economic components of sustainable

development and thetriple bottom line.


The future of the ISO 14000 family a look at new issuesSustainable development policy andpractice has attracted considerable atten-tion and debate in the past 15 years. Ourunderstanding of and concerns aboutenvironmental and sustainable develop-ment issues has evolved over time too.Just as the existing ISO 14000 standardsplay an important role in helping organi-zations to address today's priorities, sotoo can future standards help to addressfuture priorities.

An integral part of an organization’s EMS isthe commitment to continual improvement.ISO/TC 207 takes this principle to heartand is constantly improving its process to identify and respond to new standardi-zation needs. ISO/TC 207’s success incontinuing to work on relevant standardsis evidenced by two new work items :

ISO 14063, on environmental communi-cation guidelines and examples, willhelp companies to make the importantlink to external stakeholders.

ISO/TC 207 has responded to the chal-lenge of climate change by agreeing tostart work on standards on measuring,reporting and verification of entity andproject level Greenhouse Gas emis-sions.

We hope that this information helps you tounderstand how your organization can

obtain the maximum benefit from the ISO14000 family. ISO/TC 207 is proud of itscontributions to sustainable developmentsince its inception in 1993. We are dedi-cated to ensuring, on an ongoing basis,that the ISO 14000 family meets the needsof the international user community andthe concerns of those interested in theenvironment and sustainable develop-ment. You can help us to continue toevolve by contacting us and submittingyour input and comments, either throughyour national standards institute (a com-plete list is posted on the ISO Web site :www.iso.org), directly to our ISO/TC 207Secretariat, or through any of our sub-committees.

Daniel Gagnier (right)

ISO/TC 207 Chair

Ahmad Husseini

ISO/TC 207 Secretary

E-mail [email protected]

Web www.tc207.org


Business benefitsof ISO 14001Business today is not just about selling aproduct or service to a customer aroundthe corner. In the rapid evolution to a global market-place, having a set ofcommon rules is critical to facilitatingtrade. At the same time, these rules haveto be flexible enough to be as applicableto a company in Hokkaido, Japan or Sal-vador, Brazil, as they are for one in SanFrancisco, USA, or Reykjavik, Iceland.

Increasingly in this single world market, anorganization needs to be able to demon-strate sound business management thatincludes concern for the environment.There is growing evidence that this resultsin advantages in financing, insurance, marketing, regulatory, and other areas ofoperations. An Environmental ManagementSystem (EMS) provides a solid frameworkfor meeting environmental challenges andrealizing the above benefits. The Interna-tional Standard ISO 14001 is used as amodel for implementing an EMS by nearly37 000 in 112 at the end of 2001..

There are many reasons for implementingan EMS. Businesses recognize that afocus on "command and control" by itselfdoes not provide the bottom line resultsdesired. ISO 14001 has proven to be auseful tool to evolve from maintaining regulatory compliance to a position ofimproved productivity and enhanced competitive advantage.

There is mounting evidence that compa-nies which manage not only the standardeconomic factors but also the environmen-tal and social factors affecting their busi-ness show financial performance superi-or to those which fail to manage all three.

Furthermore, experience has shown thatISO 14001 is a framework that inspiresand channels the creativity of all membersof an organization, making them activeagents of change promoting environmen-tal protection, resource conservation andimproved efficiencies. When all membersin an organization are challenged to thinkdifferently, it leads to the creation of inno-vative products and services. Innovation isa primary economic driver of economicgrowth. This makes ISO 14001 a powerfultool in which to invest.

How quickly and how effective the returnfor investment by an organization in ISO14001 occurs is a function of a variety ofconditions that include :

the status and level of sophistication ofits existing management system ;

the degree of environmental challengeit faces, including the past, presentand future situations ;

the amount and quality of resources ithas access to, both internally or exter-nally ;

its state of preparedness – such asexisting environmental managementpractices ;

the knowledge, skill and ability of itsstaff with responsibilities relating toenvironmental management and theirrelationship with those in other depart-ments ;


The ISO 14000 family of standards,guides and technical reports – including drafts

T h e I S O 1 4 0 0 0 f a m i l y o f s t a n d a r d s

Designation Publication Title

ISO 14001:1996 1996 Environmental management systems – Specification withguidance for use

ISO 14004:1996 1996 Environmental management systems – General guidelineson principles, systems and supporting techniques

ISO 14010:1996 1996 Guidelines for environmental auditing – General principles

ISO 14011:1996 1996 Guidelines for environmental auditing - Audit procedures– Auditing of environmental management systems

ISO 14012:1996 1996 Guidelines for environmental auditing – Qualification criteria for environmental auditors

ISO 14015:2001 2001 Environmental management – Environmental assessmentof sites and organizations (EASO)

ISO 14020:2000 1998 Environmental labels and declarations – General principles

ISO 14021:1999 1999 Environmental labels and declarations – Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labeling)

ISO 14024:1999 1999 Environmental labels and declarations – Type I environmental labelling - Principles and procedures

ISO/TR 14025:2000 2000 Environmental labels and declarations – Type III environmental declarations

ISO 14031:1999 1999 Environmental management – Environmental performance evaluation – Guidelines

the expectations that stakeholders havein relation to the EMS;

the current status of compliance withlegal requirements ;

other requirements to which the organiza-tion may have made a commitment, and

the level of verification required by theorganization to meet market requirementsor the expectations of stakeholders.

By design, ISO 14001 is flexible : it is asapplicable to the small business as it is tothe multi-national organization, enablingaccess to a global market-placewherebusiness and environmental performancego hand in hand.


ISO/TR 14032 1999 Environmental management – Environmental performanceevaluation – Examples of environmental performance evaluation

ISO 14040:1997 1997 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework

ISO 14041:1998 1998 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Goal and scope definition and inventory analysis

ISO 14042:2000 2000 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Life cycle impact assessment

ISO 14043:2000 2000 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Life cycle interpretation

ISO/TR 14047:2002 2002 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Examples of application of ISO 14042

ISO/TS 14048:2002 2002 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Life cycle assessment data documentation format

ISO/TR 14049:2000 2000 Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Examples of application of ISO 14041 to goal and scopedefinition and inventory analysis

ISO 14050:2002 1998 Environmental management – Vocabulary

ISO/TR 14061:1998 1998 Information to assist forestry organizations in the use of the Environmental Management System standards ISO 14001 and ISO 14004

ISO/TR 14062:2002 2002 Environmental management – Integrating environmental aspects into product design and development

ISO/WD 14063 To be Environmental management – Environmental determined communication – Guidelines and examples

ISO 19011 2002 Guidelines for quality and/or environmental managementsystems auditing (This standard replaces ISO 14010, 14011 and 14012)

ISO Guide 64:1997 1997 Guide for the inclusion of environmental aspects in product standards

ISO/IEC Guide 66* 1999 General requirements for bodies operating assessment and certification/registration of environmental management systems (EMS)

NOTES : WD = Working Draft CD = Committee Draft DIS = Draft International Standard FDIS = Final DraftInternational Standard DTR = Draft Technical Report TR = Technical Report

* ISO/IEC Guide 66 was developed by the ISO Policy development Committee on conformity assessment (ISO/CASCO)


Application of the ISO 14000 family


ISO14001:1996

ISO14004:1996

Help an organization to establish

a new orimprove an

existing EMS

ISO14015:2001

Helps anorganization to

identify andassess the

environmentalaspects andassociatedbusiness

consequencesof sites and

organizationsto support the

transfer ofproperties,

responsibilitiesand obligationsfrom one party

to another

ISO14004:1996

Provides guidance to

help an organization establish and implement anEMS, including

guidance that goes

beyond therequirements of ISO 14001

ISO/WD14063

Will provideguidance on

environmentalcommunica-tion related to an organ-

ization’s environmentalaspects andperformance

ISO/TR 14061:1998

Contains infor-mation that

assists in theimplementa-tion of ISO14001 and

ISO 14004 byforest manage-ment organiza-tions and the

forest productsindustry

ISO14011:1996

Provides guidance

on the procedures

for the conduct of

EMS audits,including the

criteria forselection

and composition

of audit teams

ISO/TR 14032:1999

Providesexamples from real

organizationsto illustrate the use of

the guidancein ISO 14031

ISO 14001:1996Specifies therequirementsfor an EMSthat may beobjectivelyaudited for

self-declara-tion, second or third-partycertification/registrationpurposes

ISO14010:1996

Provides guidance

on the general

principlescommon to the conduct

of any environmental

audit

ISO 14031:1999

Provides guidance onthe selectionand use of

indicators toevaluate an

organization’senvironmentalperformance

ISO14012:1996

Provides guidance

on the qualifications

of internal or external

environmentalauditors andlead auditors

Communi-cating results

ISO 19011Provides

guidance onthe principles

of auditing; themanagement

of audit programmes;the conduct ofmanagementsystem audits

as well as on the

competence of auditors

Under-standing

terms and

definitons

ISO 14050:2002

Helps anorganization

to understandthe terms

used in theISO 14000

series standards

IMPLEMENTING

ENVIRONMENTAL

MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS

(EMS)

CONDUCTING

ENVIRONMENTAL

AUDITS AND

OTHER RELATED

INVESTIGATIONS

EVALUATING

ENVIRONMENTAL

PERFORMANCE

A t t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n a l l e v e l

ISO14042:2000

Provides guidance forconducting

the life cycleimpact

assessmentphase of anLCA study

ISO/TR 14043:2000

Provides guidance

for the interpretation

of results from

an LCA study

ISO/TR 14062:2002

Provides concepts and

current practices relating to

integration ofenvironmentalaspects into

productdesign and

development

ISO 14041:1998

Provides guidance fordeterminingthe goal andscope of anLCA study,

and for conducting a life cycleinventory

Under-standing

terms and

definitons

T o p r o d u c t a n d s e r v i c e s

ISO14050:2002

Helps anorganization

to understandthe terms

used in theISO 14000

series standards

ISO14024:1999

Provides the guiding

principles andprocedures

for third-partyenvironmental

labelling certificationprograms

(Type IEnvironmental

Labelling)

ISO14020:2000

Provides general

principleswhich serve as a basis

for the development

of ISO guidelines

and standards onenvironmental

claims and declarations

ISO14021:1999

Providesguidance on

the terminology,symbols andtesting andverification

methodologiesan organizationshould use forself-declaration

of the environmental

aspects of its products and services

(Type IIEnvironmental

Labelling)

ISO/TR14025:2000

Identifies anddescribes

elements andissues for

considerationwhen making

declarations ofquantifiedproduct

informationbased on Life

CycleInventory data

(Type IIIEnvironmentaldeclarations)

ISO 14040:1999

Provides the generalprinciples,framework

and method-ological

requirementsfor the LCA of products

and services

ISO 14048:2002

Provides informationregarding

the formattingof data to

support lifecycle

assessment

ISO/TR 14049/14047

Provide examples

that illustratehow to

apply theguidance inISO 14041

and ISO 14042

ISO Guide 64:1997

Helps the writers ofproduct

standardsaddress

environmentalaspects in

those standards

USING

ENVIRONMENTAL

DECLARATIONS

AND CLAIMS

CONDUCTING

LIFE CYCLE

ASSESSMENT

(LCA)

ADDRESSING

ENVIRONMENTAL

ASPECTS IN

PRODUCTS

AND PRODUCT

STANDARDS


Products and sources of information on ISO 14000

As the products may be updated regularly, ISBN numbers and details of pagination and pricing areliable to change and therefore have not been includedhere. Information, including these details, on the latesteditions can be obtained from ISO’s Web site(www.iso.org), or by contacting [email protected].

ISO Standards Compendium:ISO 14000 – Environmental management – bringstogether in one volume all published InternationalStandards developed by ISO Technical Committee 207,Environmental management. It also includes DraftInternational Standards.

ISO 14000 – Environmental management on CD-ROM– the entire ISO 14000 family – standards, drafts andtechnical reports on CD-ROM, featuring easy access,navigation and retrieval.

Manual 10, Environmental management and ISO 14000– introduces the ISO 14000 family to readers who wish to obtain an overall idea of the published standards aswell as those still in preparation and how they weredeveloped. It is of interest to any reader who wants togain insight into those aspects of environmental management dealt with by ISO/TC 207, Environmentalmanagement, and its subcommittees.

The ISO Survey of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000Certificates – a worldwide survey of certifications toISO’s two families of management system standards,including country-by-country breakdowns.


Publicizing your ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 certification –advice to help ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certificate holdersavoid the pitfalls of false, misleading or confusing claimsin advertisements or other promotional material.

ISO Management Systems (full colour magazine, sixissues a year) – provides comprehensive coverage ofinternational developments relating to the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards and to the ISO 14000 environmental management standards, including news on their implementation around the world. ISO Management Systems (available in English,French and Spanish editions) is the premier platform for exchange and dialogue among the worldwide community of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 users.

Web sites

www.iso.org

The ISO Web site, like that of many of its national standardsinstitute members around the world, includes informationon ISO 14000 and related products. A full list of ISO’smembers with contact details and hyperlinks is posted on the ISO site. Enquiries for information about ISO 14000or sales enquiries should be directed to the national members institutes or to ISO Central Secretariat. The ISOWeb site itself has a special section on ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 which includes both specifically prepared onlinematerial and free, downloadable copies of a number of the documents mentioned above. Latest ISO 14000-relateddevelopments are often the subject of press releaseswhich are also posted on the site. Lastly, all ISO 14000and related standards and publications are catalogued on the site and they can be ordered online.

www.tc207.org

The Web site of ISO/TC 207, Environmental management,responsible for the ISO 14000 family of standards presents the committee, its membership, structure andwork programme and includes a section devoted toFrequently Asked Questions.


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