ISO 14001 Environmental Management System

The ISO 14000 series of standards was initiated by the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) (Hortensius and Barthel, 1997). The initiative to develop international standards on environmental performance, which culminated in the ISO 14001 standard, came into being in the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit on environment and development (UNCED). Particular concerns to ensure a coherent and harmonised approach to management systems to protect the environment by companies worldwide provided the impetus for the idea (Hortensius and Barthel, 1997; Starkey, 1998). The ISO 14001, ‘Environmental Management Systems: Specifications with Guidance for Use’ is the first in the series, among others. Published in 1996, the ISO 14001 was modelled on the EMS standards BS 7750 and the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) (Starkey, 1998).