Update to ISO 14001 Revision

On Friday 24^th April 2015, the ISO Technical Committee, ISO/TC 207/WG5 concluded their meeting in Chiswick, UK. They made significant progress and during their last meeting and now the draft standard is currently nearing the end of the Enquiry Stage.

During their last meeting the committee reviewed and completed the remaining comments which were received from the Draft International Standard (DIS) stage. Based upon this, the Final International Standard (FDIS) will be published in May 2015 for the two month voting period until August 2015. The latest draft of the new standard has received a 92% approval rate. Going forward the draft will enter the final stage and ISO 14001:2015 is due to be published by the beginning of October 2015.

Timeline:

Main changes to expect:

1. Increase prominence of environmental management within the organisation’s strategic planning processes.
2. Greater focus on leadership.
3. Addition of proactive initiatives to protect the environment from harm and degradation, such as sustainable resource use and climate change mitigation.
4. Improving environmental performance added.
5. Lifecycle thinking when considering environmental aspects.
6. Addition of a communications strategy.

Sources:

ISO: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso14001_revision

LRAQ: http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/LRQA+ISO+Standards+Update%3A+ISO+14001+FDIS+publication+expected+in+June/10491377.html