ISO/TC 207/SC 1 - Environmental management systems

This document gives practical guidelines for the phased implementation of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) that organizations, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), can adopt to enhance their environmental performance and material efficiency. The phased approach provides flexibility that allows organizations to develop their MFCA activities at their own pace, according to their own circumstances. The resulting information can act as a motivator for organizations to seek opportunities to simultaneously generate financial and environmental benefits by reducing material losses and energy consumption. This document is applicable to any organization, regardless of its level of development, the nature of its activities, or the location at which these activities occur. This document provides basic calculation procedures to analyse saving potentials by avoiding material losses. Detailed calculation procedures or information on techniques for improving material or energy efficiency are out of the scope of this document.

This document gives guidelines for assisting organizations in establishing, documenting, implementing, maintaining and continually improving material circulation in their design and development in a systematic manner, using an environmental management system (EMS) framework. These guidelines are intended to be used by those organizations that implement an EMS in accordance with ISO 14001. The guidelines can also help in integrating material circulation strategies in design and development when using other management systems. The guidelines can be applied to any organization regardless of its size or activity. This document provides guidelines for design strategies on material circulation to achieve the material efficiency objectives of an organization, by focusing on the following aspects: — type and quantity of materials in products; — product lifetime extension; — recovery of products, parts and materials. In design and development, many aspects are considered, such as safety, energy efficiency, performance and cost. Although important, they are not addressed in this document.

This document gives guidelines for assisting organizations in establishing, documenting, implementing, maintaining and continually improving their management of ecodesign as part of an environmental management system (EMS). This document is intended to be used by organizations that have implemented an EMS in accordance with ISO 14001, but it can also help in integrating ecodesign using other management systems. The guidelines are applicable to any organization regardless of its type, size or product(s) provided. This document is applicable to product-related environmental aspects and activities that an organization can control and those it can influence. This document does not establish specific environmental performance criteria.

This document gives general guidelines for organizations seeking to systematically manage environmental aspects or respond to the effects of changing environmental conditions within one or more environmental topic areas, based on ISO 14001. This document also constitutes a framework for common elements of subsequent parts of the ISO 14002 series.

This document gives guidelines for organizations on determining the environmental costs and benefits associated with their environmental aspects. It addresses the dependencies of an organization on the environment, for example, natural resources, and the context in which the organization operates or is located. Environmental costs and benefits can be expressed quantitatively, in both non-monetary and monetary terms, or qualitatively. This document also provides guidance for organizations when disclosing related information. This document takes an anthropocentric perspective, i.e. looking at changes that affect human wellbeing (utility) including their concern for, and dependence on, nature and ecosystem services. This includes use and non-use values as reflected in the concept of total economic value when environmental costs and benefits are determined in monetary terms. The ways in which the environmental costs and benefits are used after they have been determined are outside the scope of this document. This document is applicable to any organization regardless of size, type and nature.

This document gives guidelines for a phased approach to establish, implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system (EMS) that organizations, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), can adopt to enhance their environmental performance. The phased approach provides flexibility that allows organizations to develop their EMS at their own pace, over a number of phases, according to their own circumstances. Each phase consists of six consecutive stages. The system's maturity at the end of each phase can be characterized using the five-level maturity matrix provided in Annex A. This document is applicable to any organization regardless of their current environmental performance, the nature of the activities undertaken or the locations at which they occur. The phased approach enables an organization to develop a system that ultimately satisfies the requirements of ISO 14001. The guidance does not cover those elements of specific systems that go beyond ISO 14001 and it is not intended to provide interpretations of the requirements of ISO 14001.

This document specifies a methodological framework for the monetary valuation of environmental impacts and related environmental aspects. Environmental impacts include impacts on human health, and on the built and natural environment. Environmental aspects include releases and the use of natural resources. The monetary valuation methods in this document can also be used to better understand organizations' dependencies on the environment. During the planning of the monetary valuation, the intended use of the results is considered but the use itself is outside the scope of this document. In this document, monetary valuation is a way of expressing value in a common unit, for use in comparisons and trade-offs between different environmental issues and between environmental and other issues. The monetary value to be determined includes some or all values reflected in the concept of total economic value. An anthropocentric perspective is taken, which asserts that natural environment has value in so far as it gives utility (well-being) to humans. The monetary values referred to in this document are economic values applied in trade-offs between alternative resource allocations, and not absolute values. This document does not include costing or accounting, although some valuation methods have the term "cost" in their name. This document does not include the development of models linking environmental aspects to environmental impacts. NOTE In this document, what is valued in monetary terms is either environmental impacts or environmental aspects. When valuing environmental impacts of an organization, it is important that links between environmental aspects and environmental impacts are established.

ISO 14052:2017 provides guidance for the practical implementation of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) in a supply chain. MFCA fundamentally traces the flows and stocks of materials within an organization, quantifies these material flows in physical units (e.g. mass, volume) and evaluates the costs associated with material flows and energy uses. MFCA is applicable to any organization that uses materials and energy, regardless of its products, services, size, structure, location, and existing management and accounting systems. In principle, MFCA can be applied as an environmental management accounting tool in the supply chain, both upstream and downstream, and can help to develop an integrated approach for improving material and energy efficiency in the supply chain. ISO 14052:2017 is based on the principles and general framework for MFCA described in ISO 14051. The MFCA framework presented in this document includes scenarios for improving material and energy efficiency in a supply chain, principles for successful application of MFCA in a supply chain, information sharing, and practical steps for the implementation of MFCA in a supply chain.

ISO 14004:2016 provides guidance for an organization on the establishment, implementation, maintenance and improvement of a robust, credible and reliable environmental management system. The guidance provided is intended for an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability. This International Standard helps an organization achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provides value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Consistent with the organization's environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include: - enhancement of environmental performance; - fulfilment of compliance obligations; - achievement of environmental objectives. The guidance in this International Standard can help an organization to enhance its environmental performance, and enables the elements of the environmental management system to be integrated into its core business process. NOTE While the environmental management system is not intended to manage occupational health and safety issues, these can be included when an organization seeks to implement an integrated environmental and occupational health and safety management system. ISO 14004:2016 is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that the organization determines it can either control or influence, considering a life cycle perspective. The guidance in this International Standard can be used in whole or in part to systematically improve environmental management. It serves to provide additional explanation of the concepts and requirements. While the guidance in this International Standard is consistent with the ISO 14001 environmental management system model, it is not intended to provide interpretations of the requirements of ISO 14001.

ISO 14001:2015 specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to enhance its environmental performance. ISO 14001:2015 is intended for use by an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability. ISO 14001:2015 helps an organization achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provide value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Consistent with the organization's environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include: · enhancement of environmental performance; · fulfilment of compliance obligations; · achievement of environmental objectives. ISO 14001:2015 is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that the organization determines it can either control or influence considering a life cycle perspective. ISO 14001:2015 does not state specific environmental performance criteria. ISO 14001:2015 can be used in whole or in part to systematically improve environmental management. Claims of conformity to ISO 14001:2015, however, are not acceptable unless all its requirements are incorporated into an organization's environmental management system and fulfilled without exclusion.

ISO 14006:2011 provides guidelines to assist organizations in establishing, documenting, implementing, maintaining and continually improving their management of ecodesign as part of an environmental management system (EMS). ISO 14006:2011 is intended to be used by those organizations that have implemented an EMS in accordance with ISO 14001, but can help in integrating ecodesign in other management systems. The guidelines are applicable to any organization regardless of its size or activity. ISO 14006:2011 applies to those product-related environmental aspects that the organization can control and those it can influence. ISO 14006:2011 does not establish by itself specific environmental performance criteria, and is not intended for certification purposes.

ISO 14005:2010 provides guidance for all organizations, but particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, on the phased development, implementation, maintenance and improvement of an environmental management system. It also includes advice on the integration and use of environmental performance evaluation techniques. ISO 14005:2010 is applicable to any organization, regardless of its level of development, the nature of the activities undertaken or the location at which they occur.

ISO 14004:2004 provides guidance on the establishment, implementation, maintenance and improvement of an environmental management system and its coordination with other management systems. The guidelines in ISO 14004:2004 are applicable to any organization, regardless of its size, type, location or level of maturity. While the guidelines in ISO 14004:2004 are consistent with the ISO 14001:2004 environmental management system model, they are not intended to provide interpretations of the requirements of ISO 14001:2004.

ISO 14001:2004 specifies requirements for an environmental management system to enable an organization to develop and implement a policy and objectives which take into account legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about significant environmental aspects. It applies to those environmental aspects that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria. ISO 14001:2004 is applicable to any organization that wishes to establish, implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system, to assure itself of conformity with its stated environmental policy, and to demonstrate conformity with ISO 14001:2004 by a) making a self-determination and self-declaration, or b) seeking confirmation of its conformance by parties having an interest in the organization, such as customers, or c) seeking confirmation of its self-declaration by a party external to the organization, or d) seeking certification/registration of its environmental management system by an external organization. All the requirements in ISO 14001:2004 are intended to be incorporated into any environmental management system. The extent of the application will depend on factors such as the environmental policy of the organization, the nature of its activities, products and services and the location where and the conditions in which it functions. ISO 14001:2004 also provides, in Annex A, informative guidance on its use.

Contains guidelines on the development and implementation of environmental management systems and principles, and their coordination with other management systems. The guidelines are intended for use as a voluntary, internal management tool and not to be used as EMS certification criteria.

This document specifies requirements for an environmental management system, to enable an organization to formulate a policy and objectives taking into account legislative requirements and information about significant environmental impacts.