Environmental responsibility can make economic sense by reducing operating costs, reducing waste, and even by boosting corporate image
The media, public opinion, customers, watchdogs, business partners, etc increasingly put pressure on companies to strive for more environmental protection.
Many companies are already heavily involved in this area but very often this is not appreciated appropriately because the public does not know about the efforts are made by particular organisations.
A solution for this dilemma is a certification in accordance with ISO 14001, which is the most widely recognised international indicator for environmental management.
This standard sets uniform requirements for companies to develop, implement and improve an environmental management system.
ISO 14001 establishes and assesses the effectiveness of an organisation's ability to develop and implement a defined environmental policy.
ISO 14001 is not intended to determine absolute targets for environmental performance but to place responsibility for commitment to the chosen policy, compliance to legal issues and continuous improvement.
Introducing and complying with ISO 14001 enables a company to profit from a long list of advantages which are not only plain environmental ones.
ISO 14001 can save on operating costs since raw materials, energy and water is handled more carefully.
Moreover, waste can be avoided or reduced which in turn decreases liability risks and remediation costs.
Apart from environmental benefits, the corporate image and customer satisfaction are boosted due to superior marketing opportunities and improved efficiency.
ISO 14001 officially validates environmental commitment and can therefore enhance the relationship with shareholders and other stakeholders such as insurance companies, watchdogs, customers, suppliers etc A further competitive edge, which can be obtained through ISO 14001, is a gain in employee motivation since environmental management systems require more employee involvement.
To acquire ISO 14001, five main steps need to be fulfilled which are the decisions on a defined environmental policy, the planning of the implementation, the actual implementation of the aforementioned policy, corrective actions and finally the management review which states the starting points for further ongoing improvements efforts.
Meeting public environmental expectations is an ability that has become a decisive competence since the environmental awareness of the media and among consumers has increased during the last decades.
Ignoring environmental issues can therefore have a negative effect on sales.
Consequently, organisations should seriously consider an ISO 14001 certification.
TUV Rheinland says it has experienced auditors who offer training, advice and, of course, they provide support during and after the process of acquiring ISO 14001 registration.
