What the ISO 14004 Can Do for Your Company

What is ISO 14004?

ISO 14004 is a set of environmental management guidelines that businesses can follow in order to reduce their environmental impact. It’s not a requirement, but it can be very helpful in organizing and improving your company’s green efforts.

ISO 14004 was first published in 1996 and has been revised several times since then. Its most recent edition, ISO 14004:2016, was published in 2016. The standard is divided into three parts:

• Environmental management system (EMS): This section covers the requirements for setting up an EMS, and how to make sure it’s effective.

• Environmental performance assessment: This section explains how to measure and report your company’s environmental performance.

• Environmental management principles: This section covers the basic principles of sustainable environmental management.

The Purpose of ISO 14004

ISO conducts an annual survey of ISO 14001 to gather feedback on the standard. The 2013 survey revealed that many readers wanted a clearer explanation of the key ideas and principles behind the standard. Annex A of ISO 14001 was commonly mentioned, as readers looked for more examples that could provide better guidance in creating an environmental management system (EMS).

In response, ISO 14004 was created to show companies how to build an EMS, allowing organizations to manage their environmental impact more effectively. This new standard also sought to improve communication and cooperation between companies and the environmental agencies that regulated them.

ISO 14004 is not a regulatory standard, but rather a performance-based standard. This means it sets out the requirements for an organization to achieve environmental excellence, but does not dictate how they must do so. This gives companies the freedom to find their own solutions to environmental problems, making the best use of their resources and capabilities.

Why is ISO 14004 Essential to Your Business?

ISO 14004 is a standard that sets out the requirements for an effective EMS. An EMS is a system that helps companies manage their environmental impact, and the ISO 14004 standard is the most widely recognized and respected EMS standard in the world.

The benefits of ISO 14004 are mostly centered on environmental performance and compliance, namely:

• Reduced waste and emissions: Helps organizations identify where waste and emissions are generated and develop controls and procedures to mitigate and prevent them.

• Improved resource usage efficiency: Requires organizations to monitor, evaluate, and refine how they use resources such as water, materials, and energy.

• Reduced packaging materials: Encourages reusing and recycling packaging materials or substituting them with lighter, more sustainable materials to reduce waste and pollution.

• Improved compliance with environmental laws and regulations: Determines which environmental regulations the organization is subject to and considers these requirements during EMS planning.

Key Ideas Behind ISO 14004

ISO 14004 specifies the best approach to create an effective EMS plan. It sets detailed requirements that take the following principles and key ideas into account:

• Systematic environmental management: The purpose of building an EMS is to provide a structured way of developing the organization’s environmental goals. It acts as a reliable framework for companies worldwide to follow, enabling everyone to implement best practices and contribute to sustainable development.

• Business strategy integration: Acting more as a guide than a rule, the standard emphasizes the importance of identifying the unique context of the business and incorporating it into EMS development.

• Environmental protection and sustainability: The core purpose of EMS planning is to help companies around the world protect the environment better. This makes it the central principle of ISO 14004.

• Risk and opportunity-based thinking: The standard involves identifying the potential negative effects of activities and addressing or transforming them into business opportunities.

• Leadership and commitment: ISO 14004 sets an expectation on top management to show commitment to environmental sustainability by setting policies, providing resources, assigning roles, and promoting environmental performance.

• Involvement and competence of people: The standard emphasizes the competence, awareness, and engagement of everyone doing work under the organization’s control. Environmental performance is seen as a shared responsibility, supported by training, communication, and participation.

• Life cycle perspective: A key theme in the standard is considering environmental aspects across the life cycle of products and services to ensure positive results across all areas.

• Compliance and continuous improvement: ISO 14004 is a standard by itself and is required for compliance, but it also aligns with the requirements of related regulations like ISO 14001.

Significant Updates

First developed in 1996, the ISO 14004 has undergone several revisions to enhance clarity and offer more detailed examples to support the requirements outlined in ISO 14001. The most recent revision, ISO 14004:2016, presented big changes, with a strong focus on modernizing the EMS principles deeply embedded in the standard.

• From prevention to protection: The new version encourages organizations to embrace environmentally sustainable practices to proactively do good for the environment. It’s no longer enough to minimize waste; there must be a conscious effort to use environmentally-friendly resources instead.

• Expanded content: To address the requests of previous readers, the 2016 version provides clearer explanations, providing examples, tables, and implementation tips to support the descriptions in the standard.

• Life cycle perspective: The latest version of ISO 14004 incorporates the life cycle approach detailed in ISO 14040. This means organizations are now expected to assess the environmental impact of their products and services from start to finish, treating this practice as a requirement rather than an option.

• Emphasis on leadership: ISO 14001 highlights how leadership roles and responsibilities must be considered for an EMS to function properly. To aid in this process, the updated version of ISO 14004 (Clause 5.3) offers detailed descriptions and examples of how top management can actively engage in this initiative.

• Risk-based thinking approaches and tools: Another significant update in this version is the presentation of various tools and approaches for evaluating risk and environmental performance (e.g., flowcharts, tables, etc.). Instead of simply instructing organizations on what to do, it helps them understand how to implement these strategies by providing concrete steps to get started.

• Organizational context and interested parties: The 2016 version also gives examples of interested parties based on their relationship with the organization (e.g., responsibility, influence, proximity, dependency, representation, and authority). This helps them better understand their stakeholders' needs and expectations, enabling them to take more meaningful actions.

• Environmental performance: Beyond establishing an EMS, the recent version of ISO 14004 sets the expectation that the system will get better over time. It uses the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle to help organizations regularly enhance and assess their environmental performance, rather than simply implementing a system to ensure compliance.

The Difference Between ISO 14001 and ISO 14004

Because of their shared principles, ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 are often discussed together. However, it’s important to note that they’re two separate standards that serve distinct purposes in the ISO 14000 family.

While ISO 14001 focuses on the requirements for an environmental management system, ISO 14004 complements it by providing guidance on developing and implementing such a system. As an auditing standard, ISO 14004 is less prescriptive, allowing companies greater flexibility to tailor their environmental management systems to their specific needs.

Other core distinctions between ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 are as follows:

Practical Ways to Implement ISO 14004 in Your Company

ISO 14004 provides guidance on developing and implementing an effective environmental management system. It outlines necessary steps and general guidelines that can be applied in various situations, typically focusing on different aspects of developing an environmental management system. Below are a few examples of how it can be implemented.

1. Implementing or improving an EMS

IOS 14004 can help organizations build their EMS from the ground up. It provides a comprehensive guide throughout the entire process, starting with the creation of an environmental policy and extending to the initial management reviews. Specific sections of the standard (e.g., EMS model, initial environmental review, and planning requirements) come with practical help sections to get them started.

For organizations that have an existing EMS established, ISO 14004 serves as an improvement tool. A company can use it to identify gaps between what its current system does and what a robust, well-structured EMS should look like.

2. Identifying and evaluating environmental aspects, impacts, risks, and opportunities

Annex A of ISO 14004:2016 provides a matrix of environmental aspects, impacts, risks, and opportunities linked to specific activities, products, and services. Companies can use this part of the standard to better understand how operations affect the environment. This insight enables them to identify and prioritize the most significant areas of their business, allowing a more focused approach to high-priority issues.

Beyond identifying problems, the standard also pushes companies to spot opportunities. This means a company isn't just building a list of threats to manage; it’s also actively looking for areas where better environmental management could reduce costs, improve reputation, attract investors, or open up new markets.

3. Supplier, contractor control, and procurement

Since the standard reinforces that environmental responsibility cannot be outsourced, it holds companies accountable for their impact, even when they hire external contractors. With higher expectations for how they handle contractors and suppliers, businesses can use ISO 14004 as a guide for managing procurement and external relationships.