ISO 14001:2015 and the EU

The recent turbulent weather patterns across the world ranging from the coldest day in north America to the hottest day in Australia, there can be no doubt that the climate warming effect is having a major impact on our planet.

While most countries have acknowledged that carbon emissions are a primary cause of climate change there are a few that are “deniers” and put short term gains against long term damage.

The UK is among the leaders in carbon reduction and it is planned that by 2030 we will be zero or close to carbon neutral.

Many organisations have incorporated ISO 14001 as part of their carbon calculator and, of course as a management tool and a marketing advantage.

What organisations do not realise is that the 2015 standard can be self-determined and self-certificated rather than following the External Certification Route with a UKAS Accredited Certification Body; this is available for low risk organisations only.  These tend to be office based and others with a low significant aspect count.

We started this blog with the title ISO 14001:2015 and the EU and as there is so much emphasis on BREXIT at the moment, we are being asked what effect will a hard or soft BREXIT have on this European Standard?  The entire title of the Environmental Standard is

BS EN ISO 14001:2015.

BS - means that it is an adopted British Standard
EN - means it is an adopted European Standard
ISO – means it is an adopted International Standard.

Fortunately, there will be no impact on ISO 14001 on the UK post BREXIT.

There will be some areas where European directives which have not been transposed into ULK Law may impact on our compliance with these directives. 

We are assured by HM Government that matters are in hand to advise us of the situation post BREXIT whether it be hard or soft. 

We will have to wait and see