• The ISO framework is the official international standard for an EMS.

The most used framework for an Environmental Management System (EMS) is the one developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for the ISO 14001 standard. It was created in 1996. The ISO framework is the official international standard for an EMS.

The ISO 14001 standard can apply to any organization, no matter the size or type. It does not outline defined environmental performance criteria, rather it targets the environmental aspects of company activities, goods, and services that an organization determines it can alter or control using a life cycle perspective.

The standard is versatile and does not require organizations to automatically “retool” their already existing activities. The standard sets a management framework by which an organization’s environmental impacts can be systematically recognized and lessened. For example, many organizations, including various counties and municipalities, have functional and constructive pollution prevention activities underway. These could be integrated into the overall EMS under ISO 14001:2015.