The ISO 14001 Framework for Environmental Management
The ISO 14001 framework represents the international standard that specifies the requirements for an effective environmental management system (EMS) and provides guidelines for the organisation to follow in establishing good environmental practices.
The International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO) defines an environmental management system as “part of the management system used to manage environmental aspects, fulfil compliance obligations, and address risks and opportunities.”
The ISO 14001 family of standards include a collection of environmental guidelines with the focus on general principles (ISO 14004), environmental assessments (ISO 14015), environmental performance evaluation (ISO 14031), environmental communication (ISO 14063), and greenhouse gases (ISO 14064) to name a few.
The ISO 14001 environmental framework is completely voluntary for organisations to adopt, and often it is integrated with other management system standards that assist organisations to achieve their compliance goals. A common integration is with the quality management standard ISO 9001. The framework can be used within a plan-do-check-act (PDCA) approach to continuous improvement.
ENVIRX enables organisations to manage their risk based material environmental impacts in an integrated manner, enabling GRI G4 en standard management and reporting requirements according to the processes defined in the ISO 14001: 2015 standard. ENVIRX uses the same dynamic framework to measure, trend and report on their impact area, i.e. materials, water, energy, biodiversity, effluents and emissions amongst others.
Adhering to the ISO 14001 standard, the latest version being ISO 14001:2015, has many benefits for organisations relying on environmental management systems, including the ability to effectively measure the environmental impact of business operations and a visible improvement in resource utilisation and efficiency and waste reduction.
Compliance with global environmental guidelines assist enterprises with meeting and managing environmental obligations on a consistent basis to increase consumer and stakeholder trust. The result is improved overall environmental impact and competitive advantage in the marketplace, specifically in supply chain design and green business opportunities.
ENVIRX, part of the XGRC Software product range, enables organisations to manage their risk-based material environmental impacts in an integrated manner. ENVIRX is built on GRI G4 standard management and the ISO 14001: 2015 standard framework.
ENVIRX uses the same dynamic framework to measure, trend and report on their impact area, i.e., materials, water, energy, biodiversity, effluents and emissions among others.
ENVIRX’s Energy Monitoring module allows for the monitoring and measurement of all energy items that are material in the determination of the enterprise’s carbon footprint.
