ISO 14001 — Environmental Management System

ISO 14001 is the central standard of the ISO 14000 series and specifies the requirements of an environmental management system for organisations of any size. It provides a framework for systematising and improving environmental performance rather than enforcing environmental law.

The system follows a plan, do, check, review and improve cycle: planning the system, implementing and operating it, checking and correcting deviations, reviewing it at top management level and continually improving it.

Implementation typically takes months to years depending on the size of the organisation, and is usually faster where an ISO 9001 system is already in place.