How do ISO 14001, ISO 20121 and ISO 37001 contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Systems sets out the criteria for environmental management and compliance. It guides on how to implement an effective environmental management system which can be applicable to any kind of organization despite their field of operations or industry, product or services offered. It proves that organizations are taking into consideration the environmental impact while measuring, addressing, and continually improving all the necessary steps (ISO, 2021).

An effective Environmental Management Systems (EMS) helps organizations to minimize their impact on the environment by identifying the environmental risks and adapting their processes to more eco-friendly ones.

Organizations’ goals and objectives can be aligned to become environmentally sustainable which also increase the customer and the external stakeholders trust, reduce the cost, and open the opportunity to new markets.

ISO case studies have highlighted that by being certified with ISO 14001, organizations have benefited economically by having an increase between 0.5% and 4% of their annual sales revenue.

Many stakeholders have shown to have more interest towards organizations that consider the environmental impacts. In whatever field they are operating, the society is favorizing organizations that have implemented an EMS and are carefully looking for new ways on how to improve themselves and the environment.

Implementing an EMS is a key element nowadays since we are seeing drastic changes in our environment, and we need to urgently decrease our impact on our planet. Therefore, being certified with ISO 14001 denotes to your customers, external stakeholders, and suppliers that you take into great consideration the matters of sustainable environments. This approach gives your organization a competitive advantage since it can create a positive impact and improve your organization’s reputation, thus leading to an increase in sales and offering potential ways to enter to new markets.

Organizations that have not implemented ISO 14001 yet, seem to risk losing their customer base by being replaced with other competitors that consider the environmental impact and are certified with ISO 14001.

Thus far, around 350.000 organizations have been certified with ISO 14001 in nearly 600.000 sites. The country having the most certificates of ISO 14001 is China, followed by Japan, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland etc. While China remains to be the first country to have the most sites and Japan the second, France comes up the third which is then followed by Italy and Spain (ISO Survey, 2021).

There are many benefits that ISO 14001 offers and organizations that implement the standard are helping to reduce climate change, eliminate the negative effects of their business to the environment on land or at sea through improvement in every part of the business life cycle, and to reduce air pollution.

Accordingly, ISO 14001 is contributing on many SDGs such as:

Goal 1: No poverty
Goal 2: Zero hunger
Goal 3: Good health and well-being
Goal 4: Quality education
Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation
Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy
Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
Goal 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Goal 13: Climate action
Goal 14: Life below water
Goal 15: Life on land

Therefore, organizations that implement ISO 14001 not only have a competitive advantage and create a positive impact on the environment but also help on reaching the SDGs which are considered as a critical point to reach a better and sustainable future.