In summary, ISO 14000 is a series of international standards on environmental management. These standards, which are also known as the Environmental Management System (EMS), contain a series of guidelines on environmental audits, environmental performance assessments and product life cycle analysis.
The concern with environmental issues has been gaining an expressive space in the market. According to data from the ISO Survey 2020, ISO 14001 recorded an increase of 11.5% in the total number of valid certificates at a global level, compared to the result of the previous year.
Of the set of standards, ISO 14001 is among the best known and specifies the requirements for an effective Environmental Management System (EMS), attesting to responsibility in the development of an organization’s activities.
The other standards in this set are not certification standards, but support standards. They provide valuable information to complement the theoretical and practical understanding of the application of ISO 14001. See what they are:
- ISO 14004- Provides a guide for the successful implementation of ISO 14001. This standard helps your team understand how to fulfill the requirements of ISO 14001 based on good management practices.
- ISO 14020– Establishes general principles for product labeling — indicating their environmental aspects and impacts — and for other environmental statements by the company.
- ISO 14031– Establishes guidelines for measuring, monitoring and analyzing an organization’s environmental performance. Following these guidelines, your company will determine and measure environmental performance indicators and will be able to outline strategies for their improvement.
- ISO 14040- This standard guides the analysis of the life cycle of an organization’s products, processes and services to understand the aspects and impacts generated in their interactions with the environment, from the extraction of natural resources to the final disposal of waste and waste.
- ISO Guide 64 – Provides guidance on environmental aspects and issues that must be considered by the developers of technical standards for products, so that they contribute to the reduction of environmental impacts in their production process.
The main benefits of ISO 14000:
Guaranteed policy implementation:
- the company is forced to comply with environmental policies and follow its objectives to achieve real goals;
- Increase in partnerships: companies linked to environmental concerns manage to improve their image in the market and tend to obtain more commercial partnerships;
- More satisfied customers: with ISO, customers tend to be more satisfied, since companies operating with such standards have standardized processes and a good quality management system;
- Cost reduction: reduces costs with raw material and waste disposal;
- Strengthening the company’s public image: the community acts positively with companies certified to the ISO 14000 standard.
- Companies that seek to increase the quality and standardization of processes based on the ISO standard of continuous improvement, may choose to implement several standards simultaneously, such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, for example.
Most large companies are moving towards corporate governance, encompassing various regulations and this is a market trend.
But long before reaching this level, they went through several stages that include the maturation and consolidation of regulations within the organization, such as ISO 9001, which is considered the mother standard for all other ISO certifications.