The new ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Standard

The new ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Standard

The main changes from the ISO 14001:2015 Standard involve:

  • Increased prominence of environmental management within the organisation's Policies and its environmental planning 
  • Greater focus on leadership
  • Seeking to initiate proactive actions to protect the environment from harm and degradation, such as use of sustainable resources
  • Consideration of the effect of the organisation’s activities adding to climate change
  • Improving environmental performance by further reducing its impacts
  • Lifecycle thinking when considering environmental aspects
  • Addition of a communications strategy

The revised Standard aligns itself in a common structure, with the same terms and definitions as a number of other revised Management System Standards such as ISO 9001:2015 plus the new ISO 45001 Health & Safety Standard (this will replace OHSAS 18001 but is currently not yet published). This makes them easier to integrate for those with companies with separated Management Systems.

Organisations have a three-year transition period from September 2015 to comply with the new edition of the Standard. After this transition period, those that opt for third party certification will have to seek certification to the new version of the Standard. The ISO 14001:2004, and any certification to it, will be out of date. 

Organisations seeking certification for the first time will be required to comply with the new Standard unless already undergoing a verified programme to comply with the 14001:2004 Standard.