Learn the benefits of an environmental management system
An environmental management system offers cost savings, sustainability efficiencies and other benefits. Learn about its advantages as well as limitations and how ISO 14001 relates.
Achieving environmental sustainability is a critical goal for today's organizations that requires a structured approach.
An environmental management system (EMS) is one such approach, particularly ISO 14001, one of the most widely known EMS systems. This article provides guidance on developing an EMS, its benefits and limitations, and achieving compliance with relevant standards and regulations.
What is an environmental management system?
An environmental management system provides a structured approach to limiting negative climate impacts. Using specific procedures, policies and practices, an EMS can help organizations address a wide array of environmental issues. ISO 14001:2015, Environmental management systems -- Requirements is the recognized international standard from ISO on developing and using an EMS. ISO 14001 also provides guidance to organizations on how to continually improve environmental performance.
In an ideal situation, someone from the company's EMS department or company environment initiative should lead EMS development, supported by an IT team including an analyst, programmer and possibly a senior systems engineer as the IT lead.
Although ISO 14001 is a certifiable standard, formal accreditation is optional, so not all EMSes have earned certification. Organizations might choose to have an approved certification firm perform the necessary audits and reviews to issue a certificate of compliance. They could also self-certify if they choose.
That said, many organizations pursue ISO 14001 certification as a way to demonstrate to their customers and other stakeholders that they are committed to protecting the environment. This is an ongoing commitment, and the responsible parties should seek recertification annually.
As with other ISO-developed standards, such as ISO 9001, the quality management system, ISO 14001 uses the Plan-Do-Check-Act model for system development and management. In the case of an EMS, the steps include the following.
Plan: Establish goals. These include identifying and establishing the organization's environmental goals and regulatory compliance requirements. For example, many organizations set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Do: Establish a policy for environmental management. Stakeholders should identify what controls are needed to achieve compliance with ISO 14001 and other environmental regulations. Stakeholders should also define programs, required documentation and controls to satisfy objectives and compliance requirements, and launch defined programs. In addition, stakeholders should ensure that employees are aware of the EMS and offer training in their respective responsibilities.
Check: Monitor EMS progress. Stakeholders should schedule and perform activities needed to certify compliance with ISO 14001 and other regulations, if desired. They should also review and audit EMS progress, and identify actions needed to achieve or maintain ISO 14001 compliance.
Act: Perform corrective actions. Scheduling follow-up activities, for example reviews of controls and audits and scheduling follow-ups is critical.
Continually improve. Creating and following a program of continuous improvement is also a key component of a successful EMS.
Benefits of an EMS
Since climate change can have some severe financial impacts on business and there's a strong link between sustainability and business continuity, improving environmental impacts is important for every business. An environmental management system offers many benefits. Here are some of those.
Cost savings. Employing an EMS, especially ISO 14001, can help organizations reduce waste and save money on energy, paper and other resources. It can provide cost savings through new efficiencies and streamlined processes. And it can reduce the odds that the organization is fined for environmental standards violations.
Gain a competitive edge. Using an EMS demonstrates the firm's commitment to environmental protection and sustainability, in turn enhancing the company's image to regulators, investors, lenders and the public through demonstrated compliance.
Improve sustainability. An EMS helps the firm improve its overall environmental performance. Performing the EMS controls can help reduce pollution, increase the firm's green footprint and conserve resources. This can also help continuously improve environmental performance and compliance.
Support employee concern and learning. Using an environmental management system provides specific guidance to employees in how they can support sustainability. It can also help to boost overall employee awareness and commitment to environmental issues.
Limitations of an EMS
While the benefits of an EMS outweigh the limitations, a few must still be considered when planning an EMS.
Implementation costs. Costs to implement an EMS may be prohibitive, especially if a third-party firm is retained to assist with the program and obtain certification for the organization.
Potential misalignment with company strategy. Plenty of resources exist to support the development and management of an EMS. Like any major initiative, careful due diligence is needed, as is knowledge of the organization's position regarding the environment. If the organization's leadership is not fully committed to environmental protection, an EMS may not be an appropriate strategy. Perhaps the most important success factors are senior management support and access to funding for the EMS.
Time commitment. The time needed to complete an EMS can be lengthy, considering the many issues to address.
Training requirements. Employees who are designated to serve on the EMS team need training to fully understand and address the issues associated with the new processes, or ISO 14001.
How to determine if an EMS is compliant
Organizational stakeholders should use the ISO 14001 as the EMS development framework. That helps facilitate EMS compliance readiness.
Assuming a third party is retained to assist with certification of compliance, organizations should be prepared for audits of various EMS elements, such as the following:
- Documented environmental policy.
- Documentation of all aspects of the EMS.
- Descriptions of controls performed by the EMS.
- Evidence that designated parties perform the controls.
- Evidence that the organization has provided training to employees performing EMS activities.
- Evidence that the organization provides EMS and environmental commitment awareness.
- Evidence of EMS performance assessments followed by corrective actions, when necessary.
- Evidence of a continuous improvement program.
- Evidence of a schedule of activities, for example, training, assessments and audits.
In short, achieving most or all of the requirements specified in ISO 14001 increases the likelihood that the EMS achieves compliance.
Going forward, the EMS will need to continue reviewing and assessing processes, training employees and scheduling recertification processes.
Preparing for, deploying, managing and improving an environmental management system helps organizations of any type or size comply with environmental regulations and establish a companywide culture of support for environmental protection and related activities.
Paul Kirvan, FBCI, CISA, is an independent consultant and technical writer with more than 35 years of experience in business continuity, disaster recovery, resilience, cybersecurity, GRC, telecom and technical writing.
