Environmental degradation is a hot topic for one and all these days, businesses and consumers alike, and we all have our part to play in living and working more sustainably in order to reduce pressure on the natural world, adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, and protect human health, biodiversity and ecosystems around the world.

Businesses, in particular, are especially well positioned to make significant inroads in this regard – and the first step towards driving change is to gain a deeper understanding of your company’s carbon footprint. 

Once you know how many greenhouse gas emissions are produced by your business activities, you can start implementing the most appropriate measures to help drive this down.

But, of course, this is often easier said than done and it can be difficult to know where to begin – which is why it can be useful to look into how ISO 14000 environmental management systems (EMS) could be turned to your advantage.

What is ISO 14000?

The ISO 14000 family provides organisations of all shapes and sizes the tools and approaches they need to manage their various environmental responsibilities. 

ISO 14001 is the only standard in this family that businesses can be certified to, mapping out a framework that you can follow in order to establish an effective EMS. 

This will provide you with a set of policies and procedures that enable you to reduce your environmental impact, while ensuring you remain compliant with environmental requirements, use resources as efficiently as possible, minimise pollution and reduce waste continuously over time.

There are many benefits to implementing an EMS for business, everything from protecting the planet and meeting all the necessary environmental and legal requirements to giving consumers peace of mind that you take environmental stewardship seriously. 

It’s becoming increasingly clear that people are ever more keen to spend their money with those companies that do put sustainability at the heart of their operations, so you could drive revenue your way and beat out the competition by becoming ISO certified.

And, of course, let’s not forget about the fact that being more sustainable as a business and making your practices more efficient means that you’ll be wasting fewer resources… which means that you’ll optimise your operations and reduce costs, saving you both time and money.

Note, however, that there are various different types of EMS and different approaches you can adopt, so it’s important that you take the time to find the most appropriate one for you and your organisation.

This can be something of a minefield, which is why so many companies opt to bring in an ISO certification firm to ensure that the right decisions are made. 

If you’d like to find out more about the importance of environmental management and how to best go about bringing your business up to speed, get in touch with the ISO-Cert Online team today.