ISO 14000 family of environmental management standards

Mankind has just over a decade to prevent irreversible damage from climate change, according to the United Nations. We are the last generation able to prevent the absolute devastation of different species, ecosystems and landscapes. The economic, social and environmental dimensions are the responsibility of every man, woman and child. Because millions of people have been severely negatively impacted by cataclysmic weather events, crop failures, eroding landscapes, rising waters, waters depleted of fish, severe droughts and floods, as well as innumerable small, but connected and interdependent changes, climate justice is being recognized as a human right. Organizations must change their habits and patterns of consumption. 

The future is in our hands. This is the critical moment to tackle pollution and responsible use of resources for our mutual survival. This is the last chance. The ISO 14000 family of environmental management standards can be used to guide an organization toward achieving the environmental goals it sets for itself. Targets set in, for example, greenhouse gas abatement, resource conservation and alternative drivetrain implementation, can be integrated into a cost-curve framework which still keeps customer requirements front and center. ISO 140001:2018 can be implemented as an overlay to ISO 9001:2015. Your organization sets goals in efficiency within the quality management system to, for example, offset forestry and land use, reduce carbon footprints, encourage safeguarding of habitats, use less as well as renewable energy sources, and provide alternative livelihoods for communities contributing to environmental destruction.

 

Environmentalism need not be at cross purposes with achieving customer satisfaction. In fact, it can be integral to it. The ISO 14001:2018 environmental management system moves an organization toward the mindfulness required to consider each of our actions and their impact on the world.