ISO 14000 Environmental Management Standards:
Their Relation to Sustainability
P. Elefsiniotis1 and D. G. Wareham2
Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the link between sustainable development and the ISO 14000 Environmental Management Series of Standards, with particular reference to the ISO 14001 standard. In order to do this, it was decided to evaluate the ISO 14000
series in the context of a large engineering facility; namely, the Canadian provincial Crown Corporation of Manitoba Hydro. The ISO
14000 series is in principle an effective system to manage an organization’s self-prescribed environmental goals; however, its main
limitations are that it does not require the demonstration of environmental performance and it is sometimes difficult to interpret and apply
due to ambiguous language. The paper closes with speculations that despite these shortcomings, the essence of the ISO 14000 series of
standards is in sympathy with the notion of sustainability.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲1052-3928共2005兲131:3共208兲
CE Database subject headings: Standards; Environmental issues; Sustainable development.
Introduction
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development popularized the term “sustainable development” as being
“development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs” 共WECD 1987兲. While sustainable development has
been primarily interpreted as a national 共or global兲 goal, there
is increasing discussion of the “sustainable city,” the “sustainable
sector,” and the “sustainable business and/or corporation” 共Atkinson 2000兲. At the latter level, many organizations have investigated alternative corporate architectures which facilitate progress
toward ecological sustainability 共Griffiths and Petrick 2001兲.
Along with changes in organizational structures, it has become
increasingly clear that in order to remain viable in the business
world, proactive environmental management programs need to be
integrated into corporate business strategies during long-term
planning 共Berry and Rondinelli 1998兲.
Recognizing that sound environmental management can gain
numerous benefits, companies have adopted environmental policies and performed environmental audits to determine the effectiveness of their environmental program. Given the diverse topics
that come under the umbrella of environmental management 共air,
water and soil quality, waste management, legal requirements,
audits, etc.兲, it was inevitable that environmental management
systems 共EMS兲 would be developed to address all relevant issues
1
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Auckland,
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand 共corresponding author兲.
E-mail: t.elefsiniotis@auckland.ac.nz
2
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch, New Zealand.
Note. Discussion open until December 1, 2005. Separate discussions
must be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by
one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing
Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on May 19, 2003; approved on August 12, 2004. This
paper is part of the Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 131, No. 3, July 1, 2005. ©ASCE, ISSN
1052-3928/2005/3-208–212/$25.00.
in an integrated manner. The term EMS therefore refers to
the totality of all things an organization does to monitor its effects
on the environment and manage its environmental affairs
共Ibbotson 1996; Darnall et al. 2000兲. A review of some of the
major elements in the development of EMS systems is presented
below.
Background
The first stage involved environmental guidelines or charters that
were documents intended to assist businesses in managing and
improving their environmental performance. Usually not legally
binding, they included broad statements general enough to be
adopted by any organization wishing to protect the environment.
A large number of these exist 共Loves 1999兲, but two examples
include the Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies
共CERES兲 and the International Chamber of Commerce 共ICC兲
Business Charter for Sustainable Development.
The CERES charter developed in 1989 espouses 10 principles
that support a model corporate code of environmental conduct.
The charter requires the development of a comprehensive
environmental policy, as well as an annual self-evaluation of
environmental progress, made available to the public through
a CERES report 共i.e., in effect a monitoring process兲. The
10 CERES principles are comprehensive and a company
endorsing them pledges to commit the organization to sustainable
development as shown in the Introduction “…corporations
must not compromise the ability of future generations to sustain
themselves” 共Brophy 1996兲.
The ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development however is probably the most widely supported charter worldwide.
Developed in 1991 as a “code of conduct” for industry, it may be
used as a framework for developing an environmental policy
共IISD 1998兲. Sixteen principles define the charter that describes
environmental responsibilities with respect to aspects of health,
safety, and product management. Unlike CERES, the ICC
does not monitor or control compliance to the charter claiming
that commitment is a “good faith” process. No annual report is
208 / JOURNAL OF PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE © ASCE / JULY 2005
released, however, the charter requires that “regular audits and
assessments of compliance” be performed, and that appropriate
information be periodically communicated to the board of directors, shareholders, employees, the authorities, and the public.
Assessments however need not be scheduled, consistent or
comparable, and the released information is left to the organization’s discretion 共Phyper and Ibbotson 1996兲. Although the
charter’s title includes sustainable development, the principles do
not explicitly reflect this concept as in the CERES principles.
Many existing charters contain principles that can be classed
as commonsense, however, the style in which they are written can
cause repudiation of a charter. For example, the CERES charter
makes a direct commitment to action, which to some organizations appears too demanding and unrealistic to adopt. Thus, the
trend for many industries is to opt for other less demanding and
less stringent charters 共Brophy 1996兲.
Although many charter principles provide the qualitative
framework that underpins the development of an environmental
management system, the need to ensure a certain consistency
in EMS quality led to the second stage, which involved the
development of several national but voluntary environmental
management system standards in the 1990s. The first standard to
emerge was the British Standard 7750 (BS 7750) developed by
the British Standards Institution 共BSI兲 in 1992. This was followed
by the European Union’s 共EU兲 Eco-Management and Audit
Scheme 共EMAS兲 in 1993. At the same time, within the EU,
other nations chose to develop their own standards. Ireland
developed IS 310, France X30-200, and Spain developed UNE77801. Outside Europe, South Africa developed SABS-0251, Canada
developed CSA 7750, while others simply chose to adopt BS7750
as their national EMS standard. Although all provide similar
elements, variations in their levels of detail, implementation procedures, and requirements for accreditation led to confusion in
defining the relative significance of the various standards. This
raised the necessity for one international standard that could cross
national boundaries. In late 1996, the long awaited international
environmental management standard, the ISO 14000 series was
published, with the intention of crossing all trade and political
borders, as well as being applicable to any kind of organization
共GEMI 1996; Starkey 1996兲.
ISO, as the International Organization for Standardization is
more commonly known, is not an acronym, but is in fact derived
from the Greek word ISO, meaning “equal. ” The ISO’s focus
was initially on technical/scientific standards but in the 1980s,
technical committee 共TC 176兲 developed a quality management
standard in order to standardize one aspect of organizational management. The result was the ISO 9000 series of international,
generic quality management standards adopted in 1987. In 1993,
TC 207 was created to develop a number of environmental
standards in different areas including standardization in the field
of environmental management, tools, and systems. The scope of
the ISO 14000 environmental series of standards was similar to
the ISO 9000 standards in that the environmental standards were
process quality standards 共Von Zharen 1996; Baker and McKeil
1998兲, and as such would not specify final product quality objectives 共Cascio et al. 1996兲. ISO 14000 is therefore a series of
environmental standards aimed at providing organizations with a
structured framework to manage their environmental impacts and
responsibilities; however, the emphasis is on the management
process which aims to be consistent and which in turn should
generate products of consistent quality.
Some of the ISO 14000 series 共the Organization Evaluation
group兲 concentrate on the organization’s management, environ-
mental auditing, and environmental performance evaluation
systems, while others 共the Product Evaluation group兲 include
such things as environmental labeling, life cycle assessment
procedures, and product standards. In the latter case, there is an
intuitive link to sustainable development because practices such
as Design for the Environment can be included, which involve
answering questions about the life cycle of the product and its
production process 共DeMendonça and Baxter 2001兲.
Although the Product Evaluation link to sustainability is
strong, limited work has been done on assessing how the first
group of ISO 14000 series promotes the notion of sustainable
development. In other words, it has been recognized by some
companies that they have now become “clean”—but is that the
same thing as “sustainable?” One aspect of this stems from the
fact that many companies set targets long before they formalized
their EMS. The implementation of a standardized EMS may have
helped them achieve their goals more effectively, but it may not
necessarily have led to a change in the goals themselves; thus,
many companies advocate that they would have achieved their
environmental goals 共i.e., become “green”兲 regardless of the EMS
共Steger 2000兲.
The aim of this research was therefore to explore the ways and
means the first group of standards 共i.e., the Organization Group兲
promotes the notion of sustainable development. In order to do
this it was decided to evaluate the ISO 14000 series of standards
in the context of a large engineering facility; namely, the
Canadian provincial Crown Corporation of Manitoba Hydro.
The study focused on the Organization Evaluation standards
within the ISO 14000 series referring specifically to the ISO
14001 EMS specification, and the supporting guidance documents
and environmental auditing standards 共ISO 1996a,b,c兲.
Discussion
Manitoba Hydro’s Environmental Management
Systems
As a member of the Canadian Electricity Association, Manitoba
Hydro participates in a required, industry-wide environmental initiative known as the Environmental Commitment and Responsibility 共ECR兲 program. Within the program, each electric utility is
given freedom to determine the direction and scope of implementation best suited for their organization; thus, to indicate the extent of their commitment to the environment, Manitoba Hydro
adopted 13 “principles of sustainable development” which far surpass the minimal requirements of ISO 14001 共Dennis Windsor,
personal communication, May 15, 1998兲.
Manitoba Hydro resolved to develop and implement four
EMSs within the corporation: one for each of four respective
business units; corporate, power supply, transmission and
distribution, and customer service and marketing. To start with,
Manitoba Hydro began to develop EMSs for the corporate and
power supply business units. The power supply business unit has
6 divisions: Finance and Administration, Power Planning,
Generation North 共6 hydraulic generating stations兲, Generation
South 共8 generating stations兲, High Voltage Direct Current
共3 converter facilities兲, and Operations and Engineering Services.
It was decided that each separate facility/operation was to develop
their own Local EMS 共LEMS兲, and that the cumulative LEMS
would establish the Business Units’ EMS. Each facility/operation
would have its own environmental objectives that must include
the corporate environmental policy and conform to the overall
JOURNAL OF PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE © ASCE / JULY 2005 / 209
business plan. As there are many overlaps and linkages between
business units, the same would be true for the EMSs. Manitoba
Hydro then elected to develop an EMS for each Business Unit
comprised of cumulative LEMS.
Two approaches can be taken with regards to certification
although it is not required by the ECR, since only the implementation of an ISO-like EMS is required. The first approach involves
individual site certification which allows gradual certification of
units as soon as the LEMS are implemented. Since this approach
does not depend on the progress of other units, it shows immediate commitment to the environment; however, individual site
registrations can result in less cohesiveness between the systems.
The second approach involves certifying each of the business
units, which although more complicated would ensure an overall
better corporate wide system cohesiveness. Manitoba Hydro
selected the first approach and their first six power stations were
certified by the year 2000 共Manitoba Hydro 2000兲.
General Criticisms of ISO 14000 Series
and Their Application to Manitoba Hydro
As mentioned, the ISO 14000 series offer an organization the
tools and systems to manage their environmental responsibilities.
Much confusion however has arisen about the standards within
the series, for example, ISO 14001. It is commonly misconceived
as a “performance” standard for the environment by both the
public and experienced environmental professionals alike. Indeed,
many staff at Manitoba Hydro had this impression at the start of
this research 共Dennis Windsor, personal communication, June 5,
1998兲. The assumption that the ISO has set standards for environmental protection is reported elsewhere 共Gleckman and Krut
1997兲, but in fact, as intimated earlier, the ISO series are “process” rather than performance and/or “compliance” standards. Although the series were developed according to the mandate of
their authors, many therefore believe that they do not make
enough of a commitment to the environment and, that in order to
mitigate pollution, environmental goals are required 共Cascio et al.
1996兲.
Another point of confusion arises because compliance with
the ISO specification requires conformance to the series, not the
demonstration of environmental performance. As a management
system addressing environmental issues, the premise behind
the specification is that if the system is continually improved,
eventually so should the organization’s environmental performance. Although implied, compliance and/or certification does
not mean that the organization produces more environmentally
sound products, or that its activities or services are more environmentally sensitive. Improvements in the environmental management system are intended to result in additional improvements in
environmental performance, but, as ISO 14001 states, adopting
the standard will not in itself guarantee optimal environmental
outcomes 共ISO 1996a兲. Thus, two organizations that have different environmental performance and different goals may both be in
conformation with the specification, and may therefore be certified 共ISO 1996a兲.
A third issue involves the actual certification process. When an
organization seeks certification, it defines the scope of the certification audit. This may include single or multiple sites, facilities,
or processes, and may exclude others. The idea is to offer a corporation the flexibility to register units separately, as Manitoba
Hydro has opted 共Manitoba Hydro 2000兲 or under one certificate.
However, this flexibility also allows for a misleading situation to
arise, whereby a facility receives ISO 14001 certification, but only
for their narrowly defined scope. Such an occurrence took place
in Ontario Hydro, where a nuclear generating station was ISO
14001 certified, but the scope of the audit excluded the nuclear
generating process, which can potentially impact the environment
significantly 共C. Camplong, personal communication, 1998兲.
Should a serious situation arise at this facility, it would reflect
badly on all utilities, while discrediting the ISO certification process and potentially the ECR program.
Additionally, the organization, within its policy, is required to
commit to comply with relevant environmental legislation and
other requirements. Surprisingly, an organization can be certified
to the ISO 14001 standard while not being in compliance with
all relevant environmental legislation. The organization must only
be able to demonstrate conformance to the system 共commitment
to comply兲 rather than compliance to legislation. During an
environmental certification audit, auditors will verify that these
commitments are fulfilled, in addition to the requirements of the
standard. In the case of Manitoba Hydro, “other requirements”
refers to their sustainable development principles, ECR, and all
other programs, initiatives, and commitments made.
Another criticism that is an impediment to embracing the ISO
14000 series is the language used in the standards. Unclear wording that is open to broad and varied interpretation poses difficulties for any organization implementing the series. This was a
common complaint that surfaced among the staff at Manitoba
Hydro 共Loves 1999兲. The consequence of unclear wording is that
the organization cannot be sure that its interpretations will match
those of the external certification auditor should the organization
choose to become certified. Clarity and consistency in the series
definitions of various tools and strategies and their order of preference would make it easier for facilities to understand what they
should be striving toward to improve their EMSs 共Barkett 1998兲.
For example, the ISO 14001 standard has a requirement that a
commitment be made to continual improvement of the EMS and
to prevention of pollution, defined as “use of processes, practices,
materials or products that avoid, reduce or control pollution,
which may include recycling, treatment, process changes, control
mechanisms, efficient use of resources and material substitution.”
The phrase “prevention of pollution” therefore includes “end of
pipe” solutions which is different from pollution prevention as
commonly understood in the United States 共where it is more in
line with the concept of “source reduction”兲. Since a commitment
to prevention of pollution is stated in the policy section of the
standard, inclusion of a waste minimization hierarchy may help
to elucidate what a “commitment to prevention of pollution”
actually means.
ISO 14001 requires that an organization’s “environmental aspects” over which it has influence be identified. Environmental
aspects are any “element of an organization’s activities, products,
or services that can interact with the environment.” The EMS is
required to determine which aspects have or can have a significant environmental impact; with impact defined as “any change to
the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s activities, products or services.” The terms “aspect” and “impact” lack clarity of definition
and direction. Furthermore, “significant” is not defined in the
standard and is only developed slightly further in ISO 14004,
Similarly, when establishing environmental objectives and targets
the organization has to consider legal and other requirements,
significant environmental aspects, technological options, financial, operational, and business requirements and the views of interested parties. Without performance requirements, the word
“consider” seems to be open to interpretation.
210 / JOURNAL OF PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE © ASCE / JULY 2005
A final example of unclear wording relates to the term “best
available technology” which is not required by ISO 14001 in
order to avoid prescribing performance. The standard does make
reference to best available technology as follows: “in order to
achieve environmental objectives, an EMS should encourage organizations to consider implementation of the best available technology, where appropriate and where economically viable.” The
fact that best available technology is mentioned a number of
times but is not required points to the compromises made by TC
207 between those that wanted to include it in the specification
and those that thought it was too performance oriented 共Baker and
McKeil 1998兲. It is also apparent that the use of “soft” words such
as “appropriate,” and consider open opportunities for organizations to minimize the investments they make in the system so
long as they substantiate their decisions.
A concluding comment is that an organization is required to
“consider processes for external communication on its significant
environmental aspects and record its decision.” Previous standards such as EMAS require that an organization publish registers
of their significant environmental effects, as well as publishing an
annual environmental statement. External reporting is a proactive
communication vehicle demonstrating an organization’s commitment to its policies, the environment, and the public’s concerns.
In that sense, ISO appears to be weak in this area since it does not
make it a requirement. Manitoba Hydro however is reasonably
transparent in that it publishes a biennial sustainable development
report and is also required by ECR to publish an annual report
including environmental performance as measured by specific
indicators.
In summary, the ISO 14000 series is intended to be a flexible
tool that allows an organization to determine its own level of
commitment to environmental performance. The widespread
adoption of the series reflects the fact that they are seen by industries to be a reasonable tool for the effective management of
environmental responsibilities and commitments. However, the
absence of any specific how to instructions, the lack of clarification of anticipated final products, and the lack of clear direction
and ambiguous language, all tend to confuse matters rather than
simplify the issues. Because ISO 14001 does not specify any performance requirements, it has been criticized as being too weak.
It can be applied to all types of organizations and, in order to be
widely applicable, has been accused of applying the lowest common denominator for environmental protection. To illustrate the
ISO 14001 EMS’ intent, Joe Cascio, the Chairman of the U.S.
Technical Advisory Group in 1994, summed up the system by
stating that he did not care “how much waste an ISO-certified
firm dumps into a river. What was important is that the company’s
EMS knows it happened” 共Gleckman and Krut 1997兲. This clearly
reinforces that fact that the ISO series measures conformance not
performance.
Sustainable Development and ISO 14000 Series
To explore the relationship between the ISO 14000 series and
sustainability, it might seem sensible that there should be agreement about what sustainability means. However, it is probably
unrealistic to expect a tight definition to emerge. Previous generations could not readily envision the world of today, therefore,
it will always be difficult to “secure the needs of the future”
when they can only be perceived as an extrapolation of present
needs. Despite questions about “how far” in the future and to
“what level” one should protect the environment, the lack of
definitive answers should not be considered insuperable barriers
to implementation. The reason is because it is not necessary to be
able to define a concept in order to implement it.
For example, since the time of Socrates and Plato, there have
been arguments about the notion of justice—with regards to its
meaning and definition. The inability to define justice has, however, not stopped the implementation of a system that has as its
roots the principle of identifying unjust situations and trying to
eliminate them. This is called a legal system rather than a justice
system because of the tacit recognition of society’s inability to
define justice. The consequence of moving away from unjust
practices is an inevitable shift toward justice. In the same manner,
regardless of difficulties with the definition of sustainability, it is
apparent that unsustainable practices can be clearly identified and
eliminated. Inevitably therefore society will move towards sustainability. For instance, on a personal level, every time an individual makes a choice to install energy-efficient heating systems
and/or undertakes better insulation practices, they move towards a
sustainable society—even though a particular energy source may
be unsustainable in the longer term.
Identifying unsustainable practices means that society should
also resist thinking about sustainability solely in terms of a materialistic dimension. That is, sustainability is much more than the
idea that the flow of matter and energy through a system should
not exhaust resources and pollute the environment 共Harremoes
1996兲. Sustainability encompasses a much greater range of understanding, including socioeconomic factors such as world
economy, social inclusion and exclusion, and planning and development. For years, environmentalists have seen a basic conflict
with a one-dimensional analysis, in that the real changes that are
going to make a difference are not technological but behavioral.
They advocate that sustainability cannot be achieved without a
fundamental change in mankind’s basic education, ethical values,
and religious beliefs 共Harremoes 1996; Wareham and Elefsiniotis
1996兲. Without a change in thinking, impelled by basic values and
anchored in the concepts of rights and responsibilities, the present
model of interaction with the environment will be doomed to
remain ecologically destructive, primarily because it is ethically
vacuous.
The thesis that sustainability has an ethical dimension has been
hinted at before 共Cywinski 2001; Wilkinson et al. 2001兲. The
ethical dimension however has to be more than rhetoric and must
be anchored in something tangible. In other words, it must be an
operational principle that restructures one’s relationship with the
environment in a practical manner. Only then will industries be
able to establish environmental programs and long-range conservation policies. For example, one of the 13 principles espoused by
Manitoba Hydro with respect to sustainable development is waste
minimization, which describes explicitly a hierarchy for waste
management decisions that require the organization to eliminate
or reduce as the primary choice, followed by reuse and recycling,
and finally, disposal of the waste in an environmentally sound
manner 共Manitoba Hydro 2000兲.
If indeed, sustainability can be thought of as an ethical notion,
then, just as for other ethical notions, it transforms itself into a
declared activity rather than a defined activity. It becomes therefore of the same ilk as justice 共that is seen to be done兲 and truth
共that is held to be self evident兲. If this is the case, then despite the
criticisms leveled earlier about the ISO 14000 series of standards,
it is advocated that the very act of declaration of an industry 共i.e.,
bringing its EMS into conformance with the standards兲 is fundamentally in tune with the spirit of sustainability. The ISO 14000
JOURNAL OF PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE © ASCE / JULY 2005 / 211
series in effect then becomes an ethical, but operational approach
to sustainable development.
Conclusions
As has been discussed, the ISO 14000 environmental management series of standards have a number of weaknesses. These
include the facts that they do not define any environmental performance goals and that the language is sometimes ambiguous,
which may give rise to different interpretations and complicate
implementation. Despite this, their widespread adoption makes it
clear that they are seen by industries to be a reasonable tool for
the effective management of environmental responsibilities and
commitments. One reason for this may be that they represent an
operational approach that, at the philosophical level, resonates
with the notion of sustainable development.
Acknowledgments
The research for this paper was done while the senior author was
affiliated with the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.,
Canada. Special thanks go to Ms. Orly Loves who provided
some of the fundamental background information to this study.
Also thanks go to Ms. Shannon Graves who supplied some of the
references. The financial assistance provided by Manitoba Hydro
and the support of the EMS team at Manitoba Hydro is gratefully
acknowledged and appreciated.
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