A process-based Environmental Management System can be seen as a tool used to create order and clarity in processes and activities, as well as documentation in the business, to make environmental work more effective. An Environmental Management System can be used independently or integrated with other Management Systems, such as a Quality Management System.

This blog post will discuss how you can integrate two different standards into management systems.

September 6, 2024

What is an Environmental Management System?

An Environmental Management System supports organizations in promoting systematic environmental work. The Environmental Management System is based on an environmental policy. It helps the organization consider environmental work in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and improvement of activities. Through the Environmental Management System, we can show the outside world that we are working systematically to reduce our environmental impact and taking joint responsibility for a more sustainable future in our business processes. In addition, an Environmental Management System is also cost-effective, as we reduce both the use of our resources and the costs of waste management.

Integration between different Management Systems

A significant advantage of ISO-based Management Systems is that they are based on the same requirements structure. This means that you can seamlessly integrate, for example, a Quality Management System (ISO 9001) with an Environmental Management System (ISO 14001) and thus get an integrated Management System that can be further developed.

Evelina Hessling, a consultant at 2c8, explains how clients are increasingly incorporating the requirements of ISO 14001 into their existing Quality Management Systems:

Having a Quality Management System already in place means that the business and its processes are essentially mapped. It will then be much easier to start an environmental review, where you further optimize the processes but now based on environmental requirements.

Evelina Hessling

Business Consultant at 2c8

Start from the Interested Parties

In a Quality Management System, we start with our primary interested parties and their needs to develop and deliver our products and services with the best possible quality. For Environmental Management Systems, we change or add the environmental perspective. Here, we need to consider the interested parties who make demands on our business that we need to meet to ensure reduced environmental impact from our organization. It is, therefore, essential to determine at an early stage which stakeholders are relevant to the Environmental Management System and to investigate what requirements they place on us. We can see this as the basis for further work on the Environmental Management System.

The Importance of Process Mapping in Environmental work

Process mapping is essential to environmental work, as our processes and sub-processes comprise many of our operations. Therefore, the focus should be on identifying opportunities and risks in the processes from an environmental perspective and ensuring that we meet the environmental requirements imposed on the business. In this way, we not only develop the processes in the present but also in a longer perspective.