Why Establish an Environmental Management System in Your Organization?

The Environmental management system (EMS) is an organized management system that administers or controls all the activities of the business which impact the environment, either directly or indirectly. The EMS is a pretty old concept, but it has come to the forefront of the business world in recent years due to rising environmental awareness. While it used to be just an environmental awareness approach for organizations, there is now the option of making it into a concrete ISO 14001 environmental management system.

The ISO 14001 is the international certification for the EMS which is widely accepted by organizations everywhere around the world to validate their environmental responsibility and risks management approach.

It gives regulations for implementing, developing, managing and improving the EMS to help organizations minimize their environmental impacts and contribute to the environmental welfare. Under this ISO standard the EMS includes organizational processes, work structures, and resources planning for maintaining their definite environmental policy.

There are still a lot of reasons why having an EMS is essential for organizations, and the next section explains them in greater detail. Take a look to know why your organization needs an EMS.

Reasons Why Your Organization Needs to Have an EMS

Continuous Fulfillment of Environmental Responsibility

Implementation an ISO-regulated EMS enforces responsibility of the organization to be aware of their environmental impacts, manage them or mitigate them, assess any possible environmental risks, and prevent them. With an EMS, everyone including top-tier management officials of the organization must take part in planning and implementing the actions or measures required for meeting their environmental targets or requirements. It also becomes their responsibility to comply with every requirement of ISO 14001 standard with their EMS and maintain it. To be precise, an organization’s management will be able to fulfill environmental responsibilities when there is an organized management system for it. One expected outcome for EMS establishment is thus a continuous improvement in environmental protection and management.

Compliance with Legislative Legislation

The ISO 14001 standard also requires organizations to conform to all national as well as international environmental legislations. As different countries have different environmental legislations, it becomes a challenge for an organization to attain compliance with its national legislation. However, an ISO 14001 EMS applies universally and encompasses the regulations of almost all national environmental laws.

Operational Costs are Reduced

An ISO 14001 compliant EMS operates under a specific structure. It means all the practices or measures are implemented in the context of the organization’s impacts. The management decides what to do for what risks and the EMS helps in organizing all the practices or tasks necessary. With this, operating costs are reduced as environmental risks are prevented or well-managed earlier on. It helps in minimizing the costs required for recovering from environmental damages.

Many organizations see their environmental compliance as a necessary cost that helps to control costs caused due to environmental penalties or lawsuits caused by irresponsible business activities. An EMS also promotes proper waste treatment procedures for impacts that are inevitable. Waste treatment reduces the volume of wastes as well as ensures that the last waste residuals harm the environment less. The costs for disposing off wastes or damages done to the environment for them are reduced too.

More Reliance of Stakeholders on Your Business

One crucial reason to establish an EMS is to gain greater confidence from your business’s stakeholders. Everyone, from customers to suppliers, investors to distributors, will see your EMS and certification as a testimony to your continual environmental responsibility. It also shows that your organization is not only implementing measures for environmental protection but also for resource sustainability which means that your organization use resources wisely so that they are preserved well for future uses. When stakeholders are confident in your environmental responsibility, they may seek to maintain an association with your organization in the long run because that helps to show their environmental compliance too.

These are just a few of the most crucial reasons why an EMS is useful for organizations. Besides controlling their environmental risks and ensuring sustainability, an ISO 14001 environmental management system provides organizations with many potential advantages such as reduced operating costs, increase in brand reputation, and consistent trust of the stakeholders. If your organization still does not have an EMS established, you are missing a crucial management aspect.