ISO Management Systems, www.iso.

org/ims

SPECIAL RE PORT

The impact of ISO 14001

ISO 14001 case studies:
beyond rhetoric to reality
In theory, the objective of ISO 14001 is to provide a tool an environmental management
system to assist organizations in limiting the negative impact that their business activities
have on the environment and continually to improve their environmental performance. In
practice, to what uses is the standard being put and what is it achieving? These were the types
of question that prompted environmental expert Ruth Hillary to collect case studies and practical experiences in order to provide answers. The results have been published in a new book
which she has drawn on to contribute this article. On the plus side, she reports, Case studies... show that organizations of all shapes and sizes can show environmental benefits.
However, she believes that ISO 14001 is not enough and that a standard is needed to encourage
an evolution towards sustainable development and corporate social responsibility: In the
future, we will need something wider and more encompassing to ensure not just the environmental performance of companies, but also to address wider social and ethical issues.

smaller firms, and uninformative for

SO 14001 is the worlds premier
stakeholders have all been subdued
environmental management sysas its global success grows exponentem (EMS). It has achieved global
tially. This phenomenal growth stimudominance amongst EMS standards
lated me to put together a book, ISO
and seriously challenged more strin14001: Case Studies and Practical
gent approaches such as the European
Experiences.
Eco-management and Audit Scheme
Numerous how
(EMAS) which is
to implementation
more transparent and
ISO 14001s success
guides existed for
accountable to stakethe standard, but I
holders. ISO 14001s
is based on its flexibility
could find little
success is based on
to work in any
qualitative informaits flexibility to work
tion that told the
in any organizational
organizational setting
real experiences
setting and its comboth good and bad
patibility with stanof organizations tackling implemendards in the widely adopted quality
tation problems and successes. I
management series, ISO 9000.
wanted to know if organizations were
Claims by critics that ISO 14001 is
adapting and shaping the standard, if
elitist, an Anglo-Saxon approach,
they were driving a path beyond the
designed to exclude trade from
bare bones of ISO 14001 and, if so,
developing countries, not relevant to

BY

D R . RUTH H ILLARY

ISO Management Systems December 2001

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 ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims

The impact of
ISO 14001

SPECIAL RE PORT

who was doing all this work and in

what types of organization?
In this article, I seek to unravel
some of the implementation mysteries of ISO 14001 and to highlight key
areas where the standard has
revealed itself in unexpected ways. I
have selected the following four of
the eight themes covered in ISO
14001: Case Studies and Practical
Experiences (see box for all eight
themes)

Youve read the article,

now read the book ...
Ruth Hillarys article is drawn from the material which she
gathered for her book, ISO 14001: Case Studies and
Practical Experiences.
Themes covered in the book are:
" Implementation, maintenance and integration
" Certification and registration experiences
" Using information technology, ISO 14031 and other
tools and methods
" Communication, training, empowerment and cultural
issues
" Involving stakeholders: contractors, suppliers, customers
and other stakeholders
" Incorporating products, design and technology
" Environmental and economic benefits
" Sustainability and ISO 14001.
Published by Greenleaf Publishing,
ISO 14001: Case Studies and Practical
Experiences
(ISBN 1 874719 27 6), 382 pages,
234 x 156 mm, price GBP 19,95,
USD 40 can be ordered online from :
www.greenleaf-publishing.com/
catalogue/isocase.htm or
Samantha Self, Greenleaf Publishing,
Aizlewood Business Centre, Aizlewood's
Mill, Nursery Street, Sheffield
S3 8GG United Kingdom.
Tel. + 44 114 282 3475.
Fax + 44 114 282 3476.
E-mail sales@greenleaf-publishing.com

32

ISO Management Systems December 2001

Certification
experiences

and

Involving stakeholders: contractors, suppliers, customers and

other stakeholders

Environmental
benefits

Sustainability and ISO 14001

and

registration

economic

These four themes capture the

sheer variety and range of experience
that extends across a totally diverse
range of sectors, and show the innovation and challenges organizations
implementing the standard have
encountered.

To certify or not to certify?

ISO 14001 is a certifiable standard, but this is not compulsory. An
organization implementing the standard does not have to be certified to
it by a third-party assessor; but the
market customers and competitors
in particular values certificates of
conformity to standards. There is also
the nagging question: if a company
implements, but is not certified to,
ISO 14001, why has it not bothered?
Is its system sub-standard? What is it
afraid of?
Cost and bureaucracy are two
powerful disincentives to getting certified, especially for smaller firms.
That is why the claim by Jonas
Ammenberg and his Swedish colleagues in the book that they have
established a rational and costeffective solution that facilitates both
the implementation and maintenance
of EMSs in small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) is so welcome.
The majority of firms are SMEs.
Some have complained bitterly that
they were forced to adopt costly
quality management systems and are
now being forced to adopt equally
costly EMSs. Models of joint EMS
certification projects for groups of
smaller firms such as those in
Sweden in the Hackefors Industrial

 ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims

SPECIAL RE PORT

The impact of
ISO 14001

Figure 1: Hackefors
Environmental Group model,
drawn from Chapter 5 of Dr.
Hillarys book, Joint EMS
and group certification:
a cost-effective route for
SMEs to achieve ISO 14001,
Jonas Ammenberg, Berit
Brjesson and Olof Hjelm.

District (see Figure 1) may go some

way in assisting SMEs to implement
ISO 14001 and reduce the real costs
they face in achieving standards.
Similarly, at the other end of the
scale, large multinational corporations
with sites in numerous countries face
the dilemma of how to achieve a unified EMS that is certified consistently
across countries. However, some
organizations are now taking on global certification. In the book, we highlight the case of UBS, the first bank
to have its EMS certified on a worldwide basis. Global certification is one
way in which large organizations can
demonstrate in each national market
their commitment to EMSs.

Cost and bureaucracy

are two powerful disincentives
to getting certified,
especially for smaller firms

Every implementing organization

wants to know what the certification
body is looking for when its auditors
come to asses an EMS. British
Standards Institution (BSI) research
has shown that there are common
causes for unsuccessful certification

About the author

Ruth Hillary (PhD) is the founder of the
Network for Environmental Management and
Auditing (NEMA) and acts as a consultant to
industry on ISO 14001. She has worked for the
European Commission on the European Unions
Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
and has been project manager on many EU
and British projects.
She is a well-known expert on environmental
management systems, being a United Kingdom Principal Expert to the ISO technical committee ISO/TC 207
Working Group (WG) 2, Guidance (the ISO 14004 standard), and WG 4,
Environmental communication.
Dr. Hillary is a former advisor to BSIs Environment Initiative,
providing environmental expertise into the various initiatives developed by BSI, including the training material developed to train ISO
9000 quality assessors to become environmental management
assessors. She was a Member of the Advisory Group on Ecomanagement and Audit (AGEMA) advising the British Secretary of
State for the Environment in his role as the United Kingdoms
Competent Body for EMAS.
She is Editor-in-Chief of Elseviers International Journal of Corporate
Sustainability: Corporate Environmental Strategy and is the Series
Editor of the Business and the Environment Practitioner Series. Dr.
Hillary is widely published and is editor of Environmental
Management Systems and Cleaner Production (J. Wiley & Sons),
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Environment: Business
Imperatives (Greenleaf Publishing) and ISO 14001:Case Studies and
Practical Experiences (Greenleaf Publishing).
Dr. Ruth Hillary, International Journal of Corporate Sustainability, 174 Trellick Tower,
Golborne Road, London W10 5UU, United Kingdom. Tel./fax + 44 (0)20 8968 6950.
Mobile tel. + 44 (0)771 471 8981 E-mail ruth@corporatesustainability.co.uk
Web www.corporate-env-strategy.com

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The impact of
ISO 14001

Table 1: Common causes

for unsuccessful certification
to ISO 14001

to ISO 14001. A few are shown in

Table 1 taken from Robinson and
Goulds chapter in the book. Whilst
having a thorough knowledge of the
certification process is helpful, ISO
14001, like the ISO 9000 standards, is
suffering from variability in the quality of auditors.

Clause in Evidence
ISO 14001 expected

Examples

4.3.1

Procedures
defining
responsibility for
identifying
environmental
aspects
that the
organization can
control or
influence
and for
keeping
the information up
to date.

Often a misunderstanding of what are

environmental aspects and impacts

Procedures
should
provide a
methodology for
assigning
significance to
identified
environmental
impacts.

Site-wide issues often overlooked as methodologies only address specific activities

Source: Chapter 7, Registration to

ISO 14001: the view of assessors,
David Robinson and Richard Gould.

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SPECIAL RE PORT

Not all activities addressed (offices often

overlooked disposal of IT equipment, disposal
of cleaning effluent from floor scrubbers, etc.)
Failure to recognize indirect aspects (suppliers,
on-site tenants, canteens, customers, disposal
of product, etc.)
Failure to recognize services or activities that
are not completely within the scope of the
EMS (e.g. common site effluent treatment plants)
Failure to address products within the
evaluation
Often a focus on the manufacturing process
itself (following the QMS) and ignoring external
factory/site issues

Methodology described in procedures not

followed or no evidence to demonstrate that
the evaluation was actually carried out
Abnormal and emergency situations overlooked in high-risk activities

Stakeholders: not to be forgotten

One weak point of ISO 14001 is its
lack of attention to stakeholders or
other interested parties. Organizations do not have the understanding,
or the tools, either, to capture the
views of interested parties or effectively communicate the performance
of their EMSs. An exception to this

ISO Management Systems December 2001

problem appears to be in consultations with and communications to

supply chain partners.
An increasing number of companies is readily seeking to anticipate
supply chain demands and develop
systems to meet these demands to
enhance competitive edge as is the
case at packaging company Jebsen &
Jessen, Singapore. Other companies
are highly dependent on contractors
and have modified their EMSs to
integrate them. This was the case for
Amec Process & Energy, an offshore
service contractor. The interaction
with its clients management systems
and the high level of influence exerted by the company over subcontractors influenced implementation and
shaped the EMS.

Large multinational
corporations with sites
in numerous countries
face the dilemma of how to
achieve a unified EMS

So, companies appear able to

grasp the supply chain requirements
of ISO 14001, but are less sure of
their communications responsibilities
to a broader group of stakeholders.
This is unfortunate, as it has been
illustrated that EMSs can be used in
novel ways to bring together uncooperative stakeholders. One example in
my book is a project to preserve biodiversity on Australias road reserves
and prevent the destruction of
species. However, as Jean-Pierre Tack
of the electricity-producing company
Tractebel notes, the company considered EMAS as more stringent than
ISO 14001 and a better mechanism
for communicating with the public.
He states: Where public concern is
more acutethere is a need to
demonstrate good environmental
performance through the EMAS
process. It would help implementers

 ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims

The impact of
ISO 14001

SPECIAL RE PORT

if, in the current review of ISO 14001,

the requirements to establish communication mechanisms and take
into account interested parties views
were better explained.

Benefits abound
ISO 14001 explains in a rather
convoluted way that environmental
performance improvements emanate
from the improvement of the EMS.
This should not be a grey area. Case
studies in my book show that organizations of all shapes and sizes can
show environmental benefits. Evidence from US firms revealed that
although environmental goals are not
necessarily more stringent in ISO
14001-registered firms, management
commitment to attain those targets
and to make them more measurable
was enhanced, as was the desire to set
goals beyond compliance standards.
Also in the US, an Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) study concluded: An ISO 14001-based EMS
can improve environmental performance if a facility makes certain critical commitments. The EPA is interested in exploring non-regulatory
approaches (such as ISO 14001) to
improve environmental performance.
Cost savings and marketing
advantages are often cited as benefits
of ISO 14001. However, while many
case studies illustrate success stories,
establishing real financial benefits
from ISO 14001 can be difficult. Andy
Hughes and Vicky Kemp investigate
in the book whether ISO 14001 can
impact on economic value added.
They conclude that it can, but with a
lot of preconditions.
Just as important as the bottomline financial benefits are the non-tangible benefits. These are much more
difficult to quantify and include such
things as improved employee morale,
better image and the protection and
enhancement of organizational reputation. These non-tangible assets are
increasingly recognised within the
financial community and ISO 14001
appears to impact positively on them.

Sustainability the big picture

A further failing of ISO 14001 is
that it gives little attention to sustainability (the big picture of environmental, economic and social performance). However, I found some very
interesting examples of how organizations have used ISO 14001 to meet the

Tasmania: Tasmanian devils

habit of eating road kills
makes them vulnerable to
road death too. EMSs are
being used a project to
preserve biodiversity on
Australia's road reserves and
prevent the destruction of
species. [Chapter 19:
Unco-operative stakeholders:
ISO 14001 as a means to
coordinate efforts, Quentin
Farmar-Bowers.]
Photo: Quentin Farmar-Bowers.

broader needs of sustainable development. In the Regional Municipality of

Hamilton-Wentworth, Canada, ISO
14001 is used as a tool to achieve
Agenda 21 goals, making operational
the municipalitys sustainability vision.
Proyecto Guadalajara, a project to
promote sustainable development in
Mexican SMEs through the adoption
of ISO 14001, demonstrates the
potential to capture firms currently
out of the environmental action loop,
allowing them to contribute to sustainability.
Another way of incorporating
enterprises in sustainable development is through the supply chain. The

Two employees from a

20-employee manufacturer
of machine parts in Proyecto
Guadalajara, Mexico, explain
improvements in environmental performance. The company
halved its oil use by replacing
old seals, and the local
government subsequently
changed its classification from
a hazardous to a nonhazardous waste generator.
[Chapter 28: Proyecto
Guadalajara: Promoting sustainable development through the
adoption of ISO 14001 by small
and medium-sized enterprises,
Richard P. Wells and David
Galbraith.]
Photo: David Galbraith.

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The impact of
ISO 14001

SPECIAL RE PORT

Nike Inc. case study shows how a

large company can mobilize its suppliers in effective management and
move them closer to sustainable
development values. The incentive
for both the customer and the supplier is the mutual dependency they
have in their drive toward becoming
sustainable companies. Nike probably summarizes most companies
reality on corporate sustainability:
Nikes journey towards sustainability is just getting under way.

ISO 14001 not a thoroughbred

Case studies...
show that
organizations
of all shapes
and sizes
can show
environmental
benefits

ISO 14001 is not the thoroughbred of EMSs. Rather, it is a workhorse, designed to get you started
and going down the right path. What
is apparent is that ISO 14001 motivates and allows those implementing
it to be flexible in how they use it
and what they get out of it. This is
both ISO 14001s greatest strength
and weakness. Implementers can set
ambitious objectives, define clear
visions of where they want their
organizations to go, or they can sit on
the fence and be content with compliance with legislation and an
improving system.
ISO 14001 critics have valid
points: it can be used to exclude; it is
not always appropriate to all firms especially SMEs; it is ambiguous on
how environmental performance
improvements are achieved and is
weak on stakeholder involvement
and sustainable development. However, the standard is likely to remain
the most acceptable badge of
achievement on environmental management.

ISO 14001 the way forward

I believe that there are two issues
of paramount importance to the
development of ISO 14001 if it is to
contribute to the wider societal
demand for sustainable development.
Firstly, how will the greater
involvement of stakeholders and
increasing calls for the provision of

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ISO Management Systems December 2001

environmental information be incorporated into EMSs?

Secondly, how can EMSs be
broadened to incorporate and capture social and sustainability issues?
While it is clear that the international forum of ISO has restricted the
current revision of ISO 14001, the
case studies in ISO 14001: Case
Studies and Practical Experiences
show that the key factors for the
development of EMSs are: stakeholder involvement and the more
imaginative provision of environmental information; tangible and
measurable environmental performance improvements; and, above all,
the broadening of EMSs to include
social, ethical and sustainability
goals.

The standard
is likely to remain
the most acceptable badge
of achievement on
environmental
management

In the end, ISO 14001 is about

people and what they want. In my
book and in this article, I have tried
to show they want more from the
standard. In the future, we will need
something wider and more encompassing to ensure not just the environmental performance of companies, but also to address wider social
and ethical issues. The environmental
management system will need to
evolve into a sustainability management system. ISO should consider
how such a standard could come into
being.