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"Sustainability" and "sustainable development" have become very popular terms. They are the subjects of conferences, books, and articles, and an underlying principle of many organizations that are active in development projects throughout the world. Sustainability has become the rallying call of environmentalists and a goal of corporations.

The most popular definition of sustainable development is from the World Commission on Environment and Development, or the "Brundtland" Commission, in 1987: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This definition has been expanded and debated, but its essential purpose of caring for future generations remains the same.

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, or Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992, was convened to address global environmental issues and recommend solutions. Two important results of this conference were Agenda 21 and ISO 14000. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive set of guidelines for achieving sustainability. It was adopted by 172 nations at the conference. ISO 14000 is a group of standards. It includes ISO 14001 which addresses environmental management and pollution prevention. Prior to the conference, representatives approached the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), asking them to participate and create international environmental standards. ISO announced at the conference that they would undertake this effort. Thus, ISO 14001 was conceived to help achieve sustainable development

An environmental management system (EMS) is a systematic approach to dealing with the environmental aspects of an organization. It is a 'tool' that enables an organization of any size or type to control the impact of its activities, products or services on the natural environment
ISO 14001 standards provide a standardized and structured Environmental Management Systems framework management tools for organizations who is concern to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance by controlling the impact of their activities, products and services. Such as:

ISO 14001: 2004

ISO 14001 is the only standard intended for registration. All other standards in the ISO 14000 series are General guidelines for guidance.

Unique features of ISO 14001

Many leading companies have discovered the business benefits that can be achieved through environmental improvements. Below are examples of some of the advantages that your company might experience:

ISO 14001 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS
4.1 Systemic requirements	Establish an environmental management system that complies with the ISO 14001 2004 standard. *Document* your environmental management system in accordance with the ISO 14001 2004 standard. *Implement* your environmental management system in accordance with the ISO 14001 2004 standard. *Maintain* your environmental management system in accordance with the ISO 14001 2004 standard. *Continually improve* your environmental management system in accordance with the ISO 14001 2004 standard.
4.2 Policy requirements	Establish your organization’s environmental policy. *Define* your organization’s environmental policy. *Document* your organization’s environmental policy. *Implement* your organization’s environmental policy. *Maintain* your organization’s environmental policy. *Communicate* your organization’s environmental policy.
4.3 Planning requirements	4.3.1 Identify your environmental aspects. *Establish* procedures to identify the environmental aspects of your activities, products, and services. *Implement* procedures to identify the environmental aspects of your activities, products, and services. *Document* the environmental aspects of your organization’s activities, products, and services. *Maintain* procedures to identify the environmental aspects of your activities, products, and services. 4.3.2 Clarify legal and other requirements. Establish procedures to identify and clarify the legal and other requirements that apply to your organization’s environmental aspects. *Implement* procedures to identify and clarify the legal and other requirements that apply to your environmental aspects. *Maintain* procedures to identify and clarify the legal and other requirements that apply to your environmental aspects. 4.3.3 Establish objectives and programs. Establish environmental objectives and targets. *Implement* environmental objectives and targets. *Maintain* environmental objectives and targets. Establish programs to achieve your organization's environmental objectives and targets. *Implement* programs to achieve your environmental objectives and targets. *Maintain* programs to achieve your environmental objectives and targets.
4.4 Operational requirements	4.4.1 Provide resources and establish jobs. Provide the resources needed to support your organization’s environmental management system. Provide the resources needed to establish your environmental management system. Provide the resources needed to implement your environmental management system. Provide the resources needed to maintain your environmental management system. Provide the resources needed to improve your environmental management system. Establish environmental management roles, responsibilities, and authorities. *Define* your environmental management roles, responsibilities, and authorities. *Document* your environmental management roles, responsibilities, and authorities. *Communicate* your environmental management roles, responsibilities, and authorities. Appoint someone to assume the role of management representative. 4.4.2 Deliver training and awareness programs. Make sure that people, who perform tasks that could potentially have a significant environmental impact, are in fact competent. Establish your environmental training programs. Identify your organization’s environmental training needs. Deliver training programs that meet your environmental training needs. Maintain a record of your organization’s environmental training activities. Establish a procedure to make people aware of your environmental management system. *Implement* your environmental awareness procedure. *Maintain* your environmental awareness procedure. 4.4.3 Establish communication procedures. Establish a procedure to control your organization’s internal environmental communications. *Implement* your organization’s internal environmental communications procedure. *Maintain* your organization’s internal environmental communications procedure. Establish a procedure to control your organization’s external environmental communications. *Implement* your organization’s external environmental communications procedure. *Maintain* your organization’s external environmental communications procedure. 4.4.4 Document your environmental management system. Document your organization’s environmental policy. Document your organization’s environmental objectives. Document your organization’s environmental targets. Document the scope of environmental management system. Document the main parts of environmental management system. Describe how the parts of your organization's environmental management system interact. 4.4.5 Control environmental management documents. Control documents required by the ISO 14001 2004 standard. Control documents required by your environmental management system. Control your environmental management system records. 4.4.6 Control environmentally significant operations. Identify those operations that are associated with your organization’s significantenvironmental aspects. Establish procedures to manage and control operational situations that could have significant environmental impacts. *Document* your environmental operational control procedures. *Implement* your environmental operational control procedures. *Maintain* your environmental operational control procedures. Establish procedures to control the significant environmental aspects of the goods and services provided by your suppliers and contractors. Implement your environmental supplier and contractor control procedures. Maintain your environmental supplier and contractor control procedures. 4.4.7 Establish an emergency management process. Prepare for emergency situations and accidents that could have a significant impact on the environment. Establish procedures to identify potential emergency situations and accidents that could have an impact on the environment. Implement procedures to identify potential emergency situations and accidents that could have an impact. Maintain procedures to identify potential emergency situations and accidents that could have an impact on the environment. Establish procedures to respond to actual emergency situations and accidents that have an impact on the environment. Implement procedures to respond to actual emergency situations and accidents that have an impact. Maintain procedures to respond to actual emergency situations and accidents that have an impact on the environment. Test your environmental emergency response procedures. Respond to actual environmental emergencies and accidents. Prevent or mitigate the adverse environmental impacts that emergencies and accidents can and do cause. Review and revise your environmental emergency preparedness and response procedures.
4.5 Checking requirements	4.5.1 Establish monitoring and measurement capabilities. Establish procedures to monitor and measure the operational characteristics that could have a significant impact on the environment. Implement your organization's environmental monitoring and measuring procedures. Maintain your organization's environmental monitoring and measuring procedures. Use calibrated or verified environmental monitoring and measuring equipment. Maintain your organization’s environmental monitoring and measuring equipment. Keep a record of your environmental monitoring and measuring activities. 4.5.2 Evaluate legal and other compliance. 4.5.2.1 Evaluate compliance with legal requirements. Establish a procedure to periodically evaluate how well your organization complies with all relevant legal environmental requirements. *Implement* a procedure to periodically evaluate how well your organization complies with all relevant legal environmental requirements. *Maintain* a procedure to periodically evaluate how well your organization complies with all relevant legal environmental requirements. Record the results of your organization's legal environmental compliance evaluations. 4.5.2.2 Evaluate compliance with other requirements. Establish a procedure to periodically evaluate how well your organization complies with other environmental requirements. *Implement* a procedure to periodically evaluate how well your organization complies with other environmental requirements. *Maintain* a procedure to periodically evaluate how well your organization complies with other environmental requirements. Record the results of your organization's other environmental compliance evaluations. 4.5.3 Deal with your nonconformities. Establish nonconformance management procedures. *Implement* nonconformance management procedures. *Maintain* nonconformance management procedures. Change documents when nonconformities make it necessary. 4.5.4 Control your environmental records. Establish environmental records for your organization. Establish procedures to control your environmental records. *Implement* procedures to control environmental records. *Maintain* procedures to control environmental records. 4.5.5 Perform internal environmental management audits. Plan the development of an internal environmental management audit program. Establish your environmental management audit program. Implement your internal environmental management audit program. Maintain your internal environmental management audit program. Establish an environmental management audit procedure. Implement your internal environmental management audit procedure. Maintain your internal environmental management audit procedure. Conduct internal audits of environmental management system. Report internal audit results to your organization’s management.
4.6 Review requirements	Perform environmental management reviews. Review the suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness of your environmental management system. Assess opportunities for improvement. Assess whether or not your environmental management system should be changed. Assess whether or not your organization’s environmental policy should be changed. Assess whether or not your organization’s environmental objectives should be changed. Assess whether or not your organization’s environmental targets should be changed. Keep a record of your environmental reviews.

What is ISO 14001?
ISO 14000 is a series of international, voluntary environmental management standards. Developed under ISO Technical Committee 207, the 14000 series of standards address the following aspects of environmental management:

The ISO series of standards effectively address the needs of organizations worldwide by providing a common framework for managing environmental issues; They promise to effect a broadly based improvement in environmental management, which in turn can facilitate trade and improve environmental performance worldwide.

ISO 14001 is a standard in the ISO 14000 series that provides a specification for a complete and effective Environmental Management System (EMS). As a specification standard, it can be used as an audit tool, to evaluate whether an organization has a complete EMS in place. ISO 14001 specifies the elements that must be in place for an EMS to be complete and effective.

What are the principles behind the ISO 14000 standards?
The ISO 14000 standards are being developed with the following key principles in mind:

What EMS elements are required by ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 states that a comprehensive EMS must include the following elements or activities:
          - Establishing an environmental policy
          - Establishing environmental objectives and targets and implementing plans for meeting these
          - Evaluating environmental aspects and impacts
          - Identifying regulatory requirements and evaluating compliance with    requirements
          - Defining roles and responsibilities
          - Identifying and providing necessary training
          - Communicating effectively
          - Documenting processes that affect environmental impacts
          - Controlling parameters that affect environmental impacts
          - Evaluating which suppliers' goods and services affect environmental          impacts
          - Preparing for emergency situations
          - Monitoring and measuring critical environmental parameters
          - Initiating corrective actions when problems occur
          - Maintaining environmental records
          - Auditing the EMS
          - Evaluating and reviewing the EMS to ensure it is effective, suitable, and     adequate for your  organization.

Does ISO 14001 set emissions or discharge limits?
Absolutely not. ISO 14001 helps organizations to develop and implement their own, unique environmental management system. You set your own policies, determine your own objectives and targets, and define your own procedures. Then your systems help you to meet your policy and objectives. ISO 14001 tells you what elements need to be in place; you decide exactly how to define and implement those elements.

What kind of organization can use ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 is intended for any kind of organization - business, school, hospital, non-profit, etc. - that wants to implement or improve its environmental management system. It applies equally well to both service and manufacturing organizations and to both non-profit organizations and for-profit businesses. ISO 14001 provides plenty of flexibility to do what's right for your own unique organization.

What is the difference between EMAS and the ISO 14000 standards?
The ISO 14000 standards are voluntary instruments, reflecting input from a variety of interested parties worldwide, which are intended for use in countries at all stages of economic development, under a wide range of governmental systems. The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is a regulation, developed to meet the needs and expectations of governments, citizens and consumers in the EU Member States. Because EMAS has legal status within Member States, it can take a more prescriptive approach to environmental management issues; the ISO 14000 standards, by contrast, rely on voluntary acceptance by all interested parties, and therefore must maintain a balance between the needs and expectations of each of these parties. Another important difference is that EMAS currently applies primarily to manufacturing industries. The ISO standards apply to all types of organizations - even those not considered to be "businesses", for example, government offices.

What are the main implementation issues for the ISO 14000 standards?
Although TC 207 was created to develop standards, it would be remiss if it did not look beyond the published standards to their use and influence in the marketplace.
TC 207 has taken several initiatives to help ensure that the standards do what they were designed to do, and that they meet the needs of all of their intended users, including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and businesses in developing countries. In fact, TC 207 is placing increasing emphasis meeting the needs of these organizations. These make up the vast majority of businesses in the world, and their use of the ISO 14000 standards is essential to the success of the series.
Effective implementation of the standards will depend on a number of factors, among them:

What are the trade issues associated with the ISO 14000 standards?
The intent of environmental management standards has been to develop a common language for environmental issues, so that customers, manufacturers, governments and other organizations can be assured that environmental issues have been taken into account in the activities and products of their trading partners.
However, TC 207 is also aware that standards can be used to limit trade - a fact recognized by the World Trade Organization when it set limits on the use of "non-tariff barriers" to trade. Environmental issues are highly regulated in many countries, and there are pressures in some areas to use regulations, as well as national and regional standards, to exclude goods and services on environmental grounds. On the commercial level, environmentally-related expectations and requirements of purchasers can have a significant effect on purchasing decisions, and can also affect trade.
By concentrating on management standards, and by emphasizing guidance over strict specifications in its documents, TC 207 has tried to create a positive mechanism for improving trade, while encouraging improvements in environmental performance. Its challenge now is to help ensure that the standards are used as intended, and not as a barrier to trade.

How do I get started?
The best approach for most companies is to begin by simply using the ISO 14001 standard to evaluate and improve current systems. Later, if third-party registration seems either necessary or desirable, you'll have your systems in good shape and will simply need to have them audited. So, begin with these steps:
Get More Information. Obtain copies of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 (the EMS guidance standard) from ISO,
ANSI in the U.S. or your own national standards body. Seek out ISO 14001 information and expertise within your own company, from books and articles, and from well-regarded experts.
Conduct a Gap Assessment. Compare your current systems against the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard. Use internal or external resources who fully understand the flexibility and interpretation of the standard and are familiar with the types of systems you already have in place.
Plan to Improve. Based on your gap assessment, determine what elements of your current systems will need improvement in order to meet the requirements of ISO 14001. At the same time, consider how existing systems can be streamlined or integrated for improved productivity.

Does ISO 14001 require a lot of documentation?
The ISO 14001 standard requires very little specific documentation. It is a common misconception that an ISO-compliant management system is all about documentation. While having consistent, well-defined processes is critical for an effective management system, ISO 14001 leaves the amount and type of documentation up to the organization itself. You define your critical processes and decide what needs to be documented.

Will we have to rewrite our procedures for ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 does not require any particular format, style, or approach for procedures or any other documents. These decisions are left entirely to the organization implementing the system. In reviewing existing procedures, you may find that some are outdated, inaccurate, or less effective than they could be. In these cases, you'll want to improve your procedures to help improve your business.

What is ISO 14001 registration/certification?
You can have your EMS registered (referred to as certified outside the US) by hiring an accredited third-party, called a registrar (certifying body outside the US), to audit your systems against the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard. The auditors review your policies and procedures, observe your operations, interview employees, and check your records to verify that your system includes all the components required by ISO 14001 and that it is effectively implemented. If your system meets the requirements of ISO 14001, the registrar will issue you a certificate stating that your organization complies with the standard.

What is accreditation?
Accreditation is a system to verify that the third-party registrars are properly trained and qualified to conduct ISO 14001 audits. In the U.S., the Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB) handles accreditation of both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 registrars. The RAB certifies individual auditors, accredits training courses used to train auditors, and accredits registrar organizations to ensure they meet all qualification criteria.

Do we have to get registered to ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard; it is meant to be used as a tool for environmental and business improvement. EMS registration is a completely separate process, unconnected to ISO, which uses the ISO 14001 standard. An organization is free to use the standard in any way they like to help implement or improve their EMS. Registration is not required by ISO; however, it is a supplier requirement for certain companies whose customers demand it.

How do I choose a registrar?
There are many, many registrars available to audit an EMS against ISO 14001. Consider these criteria when making your choice:
Word of Mouth: Ask your customers, parent company, sister sites, and suppliers what registrar they use and what their experience has been.
Accreditation: Ensure that your chosen registrar is accredited by the RAB and/or other national accrediting bodies in countries where you operate.
Evaluate Registrars: Often, companies are intimidated by the process of registration. Remember that you are the customer, choosing a registrar to be a long-term service supplier to you. Conduct a thorough evaluation of the registrar's internal processes and procedures, policies, and approaches to EMS audits.
Flexible Approach: The ISO 14001 standard is meant to be flexible to allow you to implement an EMS that will benefit both the environment and your business. Make sure your chosen registrar and its auditors understand the flexibility built into the standard. Stay away from registrars who insist you implement or document your systems in a prescribed, rigid way.
Consider Cost Last: Registration is a competitive field, and there is a wide range of fees charged by various registrars. However, cost should be one of the last criteria you consider. Registrar auditors who have a poor understanding of the standard's requirements (and flexibility) or who try to dictate how your system is implemented will end up costing you much more in the long run.