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The role of an environmental management system is to enable a company to lower its yearly carbon footprint. Uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions, energy wastage, and water and soil-polluting debris are some of the regular disturbing agents. They directly disrupt environmental sustainability, which further affects the community’s lives.

With the help of a robust environmental management protocol, companies can easily manage their waste and increase efficient usage of energy and other resources. The widely known system for environmental management and sustainability is ISO 14001. However, many modifications have taken place and different EMS models with similar purposes and terms have been designed, These EMS models have been curated to serve different system purposes.

The original EMS model was designed primarily to generate awareness and increase operational efficiency to minimise the harmful impact on the environment. Gradually, the model was designed and went through many modifications to form robust practices for lowering carbon footprint.

The following blog has discussed the three international EMS systems companies require for a sustainable management protocol.

What are the 3 EMS systems?

1.ISO 14001:2015

It is the original environmental management system, which provides guidance for all types and sizes of companies. The standard asks for the following core requirements to achieve 100% compliance –

•Formulation of relevant policies and procedures

•Identifying the environmental aspects and preventing pollution with the help of the right resources, strategies, and continual improvement

To implement the standard, a company further needs to accomplish the following –

•Establishing a strong leadership team

•Identifying stakeholder interests

•Initiating the operations as per the objectives and policies

•Monitoring and reviewing the system progress

•Organise meetings to share opinions for continual improvement

2.ISO 14005:2019

This is relatively a newer version of the fundamental environmental management system. However, it is used more as a guidance manual for efficiently implementing ISO 14001. The standard helps organisations to comprehend the approach and goals of ISO 14001. The standard of ISO 14005 aims to add ease to the certification journey. It highlights those aspects, which are most relevant for the scope of the EVS program. By following the standard, a company gets the opportunity to increase employee morale through awareness. It provides a better vision, which further enables companies to understand their individual system problems. ISO 14001 is hence a preliminary phase that effectively increases preparedness. The major requirements are –

•Organisational context

•Scope of the program

•Planning

•Support

•Leadership

•Monitoring

3.The European Commission’s Eco-management and Audit Scheme

This is more like a robust mechanism for timely inspecting, evaluating, and reporting the operational performance to reduce carbon impact. For successful growth and continual improvement of environmental performance, this system has been curated in the year 1995. The process asks companies to perform audits and reviews from time to time, to check the progress, effectiveness, and preparedness of the system to fight back any upcoming threats. For successful registration of the Eco-management and Audit Scheme, a company needs preliminary reviews with the help of professional audit specialists.

What are the top benefits of using all three of the standards?

•Enhanced environmental performance – When the target is lowering carbon footprint to a satisfying level, all the types of EMS programs are applicable. Companies get a better direction for designing operations, choosing resources, and optimising them to get the ultimate benefits. Since a successful audit is necessary to accomplish the EMS system, a company needs proper support. The ISO 14001, 14005 and the European scheme individually has a precise set of guidelines for conducting reviews.

•Brand establishment – By increasing EMS activities and spreading awareness for community welfare, a company gets the opportunity to establish and strengthen its brand name. The ISO EMS programs act as the most effective tool for helping organisations in holding their public position strong.

•Better stakeholder engagement – The EMS systems ask companies to increase the inclusiveness of the stakeholders in the review meetings. For implementing and maintaining environmentally sustainable operations, companies need stakeholder engagement. By generating awareness and increasing the morale of the interested parties, the ISO programs provide comprehensive benefits.

To meet the compliance criteria of the environmental management systems, get help from the most trusted ISO consultancy house in Australia. The advisors at Compliancehelp will provide you with personalised solutions to achieve EMS certifications with ease.