The world's most popular framework for environmental management systems (EMS), ISO 14001, has recently been revised and the updated version has been published. Achieving ISO 14001:2015 accreditation demonstrates to your stakeholders that your organisation adopts a forward-thinking approach to environmental sustainability and will likely result in a number of long-term commercial gains.

If you and your team are responsible for the EMS, making the changes can be a daunting prospect. To help you to implement those changes, we've scanned the internet for useful ISO 14001 information.

One of our favourite documents has been the CQI's (Chartered Quality Institute) and IRCA's (International Register of Certificated Auditors) ISO 14001:2015 report, "Understanding the International Standard." We've reviewed this report below. 

The report is also suitable for managers, consultants, EMS auditors and environmental professionals. And it can be shared with a number of other internal stakeholder groups to raise awareness about the requirements and invite discussion. 

Key sections

The beginning of the report introduces how the new standard came about. The CQI has closely followed WG5, the ISO Technical Committee responsible for producing the new standard, and so can provide a unique insight into how the standard was developed and why. The report goes on to discuss the key challenges and opportunities of updating an EMS in line with the new requirements. 

A detailed executive summary provides more information about the main additions to the revised standard, such as lifecycle thinking and improving communications. This section also highlights the principal changes of moving from the 2004 standard to ISO 14001:2015 and sets out all the changes you'll need to make. 

The main part of the report is a clause-by-clause evaluation of the revised standard. Every clause is interpreted in a generic sense, for auditors and for environmental professionals. 

Here is an example of the clause-by-clause evaluation for clause 7, 'Support': 

Why you would use the report

The revisions to ISO 14001 require top-level management to take a much more hands-on approach to managing the EMS.

For most organisations who already demonstrate effective leadership, this will come naturally. However, in organisations whose leaders view environmental management as the sole responsibility of the environmental management team, some feathers may be ruffled!

This report will help you to get all levels of stakeholders engaged in understanding the requirements and what role they need to play in updating the EMS. 

Where to get the report 

You can view and download the ISO 14001 report here. 

For more information about the reports the CQI and IRCA offer, click here.

What you should do now

At a time when data on environmental management and governance is increasingly important when it comes to gaining long-term commercial advantages, now's the perfect time to invest in an intuitive and robust document management and auditing system that will help you achieve the prestigious ISO 14001:2015 accreditation.

Find out more about using EQMS for ISO 14001 by downloading our datasheets at the link below.