What is ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 is an international standard that outlines requirements for an environmental management system. It provides businesses with a framework to continually improve their environmental performance in order to cut costs, reduce waste, and show management and stakeholders that they are growing sustainably.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Managing your environmental responsibilities can be a tough task. Not only do you need to be able to show progress to your managers, you also need to prove your environmental commitment to your customers and investors.
It’s hard to balance these demands, but ISO 14001 environmental management can go a long way to helping you minimize your impacts and grow sustainably.
Whether you’re implementing ISO 14001 for the first time or transitioning to the new version of the standard, this page will give you an overview of ISO 14001 environmental management.
Benefits of ISO 14001
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Comply with legal obligations: The ISO 14001 framework provides a centralized way to track your organization’s environmental performance.
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Meet stakeholder expectations: Customers and shareholders are demanding higher environmental standards from the companies they support. ISO 14001 can your company communicate their commitment to the environment.
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Engage employees: Getting employees involved in environmental initiatives can be challenging, but ISO 14001 offers a way to show employees that they’re making a difference.
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Gain a competitive advantage: Third-party certification can distinguish your company from your competitors. It can even provide a financial benefit by helping you reduce waste and use resources efficiently.
What is Plan > Do > Check > Act?
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Plan: Develop a high level understanding of key environmental issues and stakeholder needs, then plan actions to address risks and opportunities.
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Do: Test the plan and track performance indicators.
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Check: Perform internal audits to assess the effectiveness of the system.
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Act: Address any issues found in your audits. Use what you learned to plan new improvements as the cycle starts again.
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Context of the organization: Determine who you are, what you do, who cares about you, and how you will respond.
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Leadership: Secure leadership commitment and define an environmental policy.
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Planning: Plan actions to address risks and opportunities, and to achieve environmental objectives.
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Support: Identify your resources, communication, and documentation for your EMS.
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Operation: Define operational controls and how you will respond to emergencies.
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Performance evaluation: Determine how you will monitor, measure, analyze, and evaluate your EMS, including internal audits.
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Improvement: Determine how you will deal with nonconformity, including corrective actions, as well as continual improvement actions
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Secure buy-in from senior management.
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Get a big picture overview of existing processes and systems around your environmental impact.
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Define your goals.
ISO 14001 certification

Custom EMIS software
+ How long does it take to implement ISO 14001?
+ How much does an environmental management system (EMS) cost?
+ Can’t I just use spreadsheets to track ISO 14001 information?
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You’ll be stuck entering data multiple times, which can lead to errors.
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It’s easy to miss important deadlines without a system for reminders.
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Pulling data into a report from multiple spreadsheets can take days or weeks.
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If you need to collect data from multiple sites, you’ll have to travel there and then return to your office to enter all the data.