ISO 14001 – why the new changes matter

With a new version of the international standard for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) due to be published as Petroleum Review went to press, Greg Roberts, Sustainability and UK Expert on the ISO Technical Committee developing guidance for ISO 14001 implementation, explains why the changes are important.

Many businesses that have implemented an ISO 14001-certified EMS will already be taking advantage of a formal framework to manage compliance, reduce costs and improve reputations with customers, employees and local communities. This new, revised standard – the first update in a decade – has the advantage of delivering additional business benefits such as increasing corporate resilience and gaining competitive advantage. Early transition is therefore an advantage, not only to guarantee that these benefits are realised as quickly as possible, but also to ensure that businesses maintain their ISO 14001 certificate.    

ISO 14001:2015 will look and feel quite different to its predecessor. It will follow a defined ISO high level structure meaning easier integration between ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and the new OHSAS 18001 replacement, ISO 45001, published next year. Its changes can be summarised in five main areas:

Leadership: Cross-functional senior managers will need to promote and be accountable for the EMS, ensuring it achieves its intended outcomes. Your EMS should be integrated with other organisational processes and be compatible with your strategy so that decisions are made with consideration for the environment at all levels.    

Strategic context: You will be expected to demonstrate a broader understanding of the context in which you operate and ensure your EMS responds in order to meet its intended outcome. This requires understanding your organisation’s direction, culture and resources and external influences. The new standard flips the question ‘What’s your impact on the environment’ to also consider the impact of the environment on you, for example climate change and resource scarcity.  

Interested party analysis and communication: Your EMS will need to become more outward looking by understanding the needs and expectations of your interested parties or stakeholders. Robust monitoring, measurement and internal auditing processes will be needed.  

Risks and opportunities: There are three principal sources of these – environmental aspects, compliance obligations and other issues. You will need to assess and address these sources, as well as making your institution more robust to future challenges.

Lifecycle perspective: You should determine environmental aspects at each stage of your product or service’s lifecycle. For the oil and gas sector this may require greater collaboration with contractors. A key issue is how partners collaborate on major projects.

The revisions to ISO 14001 will also help support sustainability and carbon management initiatives, ensuring the environmental pillar of sustainability has an effective mechanism to be delivered.