Improving performance,
reducing risk
ISO 14001:2015 Overview
The purpose of this document is to
provide LRQA training delegates
with an insight into the newly
revised international Environmental
Management System (EMS)
Standard ISO 14001:2015, which was
published on 15 September 2015.
Organisations certificated to ISO
14001:2004 have three years following
the publication of ISO 14001:2015 to
transition to the new standard. As a
result, LRQA recognises that there will
be ongoing demand for knowledge on
ISO 14001:2015, until at least September
2018.
This document will provide you with a
basic understanding of the differences
between ISO 14001:2004 and ISO
14001:2015, and help you understand
the areas where potentially we will
need to provide focus to ensure
successful certification to the new
standard.
 ISO 14001:2015 Overview

All Management System Standards (MSSs) are subject to regular review and
the ISO 14001 standard is no exception. It has been subject to a
comprehensive rewrite to ensure that its aims and purpose appropriately
support the changing needs of today’s world and reflect the increasingly
complex environment in which organisations operate.

Many organisations use, and are
certificated to, multiple management
system standards. This had led to
organisations seeking to combine or
integrate their management systems in
an effective and efficient manner. The
reality is that the continued proliferation
of ISO MSSs has resulted in many
apparently common requirements that
are subtly or substantially different. This
has caused confusion and inconsistent
understanding and implementation.
In order to deliver consistent and
compatible management system
standards in the future, the ISO Technical
Management Board has produced
a common framework for all MSS’s.
This common framework is referred
to as “Annex SL2”.
Essentially, Annex SL defines how all
future new and revised MSS will be
structured. The first standard to adopt
this structure was the Business Continuity
Management standard (ISO 22301).
Similarly, the new version of ISO 14001
uses the “High Level Structure”
(i.e. clause sequence, common text and
terminology provided in Annex SL).
The development and approval of
ISO MSSs follows an established process
and sequence; Committee Draft (CD),
Draft International Standard (DIS),
Final Draft (FDIS) followed by publication
of the Standard. The significance
of changes usually diminishes as
development progresses. Once the FDIS
is released the nature of any further
change is normally minor.
In July 2014, the new version of the
ISO 14001 standard had reached the
Draft International Standard stage of
the review process. This means that the
DIS was approved by the development
committee in July and was released for
public review shortly thereafter.
The “Final Draft International Standard”
version was published in July 2015.
The FDIS was then adopted as the final
published standard ISO 14001:2015 which
was published on 15 September 2015.
There will be a three year transition
period for existing ISO 14001:2004
accredited certifications, giving a deadline
of September 2018 for organisations to
migrate their EMS to ISO 14001:2015 for
their certification to remain valid.

2 Specifically: Annex SL of ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1,

Consolidated ISO Supplement, 2013

October July Aug/Sept December July 15 15

2013 2014 2014 2014 2015 September September
2015 2018
ISO 14001: ISO 14001: DIS Results of Proposed
2015 2015 DIS Published for DIS vote FDIS ISO 14001: Three year
Committee Published in comment publication 2015 transition
Draft 2 English (post published period
translation)

02
The changes and what they mean
When comparing ISO 14001:2004 to ISO 14001:2015, the changes seem to
be daunting but, upon closer inspection, it turns out that they are not as
large as they appear at first. Over the following pages, LRQA looks at the
main differences and how they may require change within an EMS.
Context of the organisation
Section 4 dedicates itself to the
“organisational context”.
This section is divided into
four sub clauses:
4.1. Understanding the organisation and
its context.
4.2. Understanding the needs and
expectations of interested parties.
4.3. Determining the scope of the
environmental management system.
4.4. Environmental management system.
The latter two of these find counter-parts
in the General section 4.1 of
ISO 14001:2004 but the former two
are new requirements and they require an
organisation to think about the issues that
can affect it as well as the parties that have
an interest in it, including how to garner
these parties’ relevant requirements.
Understanding the organisation
and its context
ISO 14001:2015 uses the term
“context of the organisation”.
The organisation is required to
demonstrate that it understands what
influences there are on it with regard to
both internal and external issues which
may affect its strategic direction e.g.
where it sits in the marketplace and what
effect changes may have on its future. The
expectation is that this requirement is to
be addressed in some way, by an approach
proportional to the assessment scope, size
and complexity of the organisation and the
market in which it competes.
Basically this means a process approach
will need to be applied and an output
produced.
Leadership Risk-based thinking
Section 5 dedicates itself to “Leadership”. Actions to address risks and opportunities
(section 6) is, in a way, what ISO 14001 was
This section is divided into always about but it is much more explicit in
three sub clauses: the new standard. So, whilst there is some
5.1. Leadership and commitment. correlation with the current ISO 14001
5.2. Environmental policy. clauses, there is an important link-back
5.3. Organisational roles, responsibilities to section 4, where you determine the
and authorities. issues and the relevant requirements of
interested parties and you have to consider
The Leadership section does not have the risks that these pose to you as well as
an explicit counterpart in the current the risks that your operations pose to the
standard. This clause calls for the environment.
organisation’s top management to
demonstrate their involvement and The term “compliance obligations” is used
engagement with the environmental as a catch-all for the laws that you need to
management system, such as: comply with and the other things that you
–– Ensuring integration of EMS choose to comply with.
requirements into the organisation’s
processes.
–– Promoting awareness of the process
approach.
–– Assuring the EMS achieves its intended
results.
–– Supporting other relevant management
roles to demonstrate their leadership.
Thus, the top management assume
an active role in the EMS by taking
accountability for its success themselves
(and not leaving it to the Management
Representative – which, by the way, is
no longer explicitly called for in the new
version). The leaders must also integrate
the EMS into the organisation’s processes;
so the revised standard favours process
thinking.
Process thinking
The term “process” features more
in ISO 14001:2015, whereas in
ISO 14001:2004 the term “procedure”
was widely used.
ISO 14001:2015 Overview
Structure of the standard in line with Annex SL
The first significant change is that there
are now ten sections instead of four in
the current ISO 14001.
This is because all revisions to
Management System Standards (and
all new MSS) must follow a structure
defined in the document known as
“Annex SL ”. This is designed to enhance
compatibility and alignment with other
ISO management system standards.
Essentially, Annex SL describes how
management standards of the future
will be structured. If your EMS manual
is written around the clauses of the
current ISO 14001 then, at the very least,
the numbers will need to be updated
to match the new clause numbering,
should you wish to do so. Do bear in
mind though that there are management
systems that exist without a manual as
such and thus do not slavishly follow the
clauses of the standard!
The following describes the High Level So it is no surprise that the PDCA cycle is
Structure of Annex SL in more detail: also very much evident in the way that
ISO 14001:2015 is structured.
0. introduction
1. scope Changes to the Management
2. normative references System clauses
3. terms and definitions At the back of this handout we have
created a handy cross reference
4. context of the organisation
between the clauses of ISO 14001:2015
5. leadership
and the clauses of ISO 14001:2004. The
6. planning interesting new clauses are the ones
7. support that have no real equivalent in the
8. operation current standard.
9. performance evaluation
10. improvement
Annex SL states the following:
Some of the above headings are “ An effective
familiar (Scope, Normative references,
Terms and definitions and Planning) but management
some are new (in particular, Context
of the organisation and Leadership).
system is usually
Furthermore, when some of the above based on managing
ten headings are expanded out for
ISO 14001:2015, some of the familiar the organisation’s
terms for the current ISO 14001 re-
appear (Internal audit, Management processes using a
review, Evaluation of compliance and
Emergency preparedness and response)
Plan-Do-Check-
and so, for these topics, the existing Act approach in
processes within your current EMS will
already address the new requirements order to achieve the
since they have only been re-arranged
to fit in with the Annex SL structure.
intended outcomes.”
Other changes
From section 7 onwards it gets a lot easier
to see the correlations with the clauses of
ISO 14001:2004.
Some are expanded considerably such
as the section on communication and
the term “Documented information”
is brought in to replace the terms
Documents and Records but, broadly
speaking, it is going to be straight forward
to match what you are already doing
to address the clauses of the existing
standard to the requirements
in the new standard.
Lastly, there is clause 10.3 about Continual
improvement which appears to have no
direct correlate in the old standard but, as
we always knew, there is a commitment
to continually improve your EMS in your
policy and so this is not really new either, it
is just that it now has a clause of its own.
Other changes to note are:
–– The organisation is now required
to commit to protection of the
environment within their policy
[Clause 5.2].
–– Preventive action being replaced with
4.1 (determination of external and
internal issues), 6.1 (actions to address
risks and opportunities),
–– 5.2c (where you commit to preventing
pollution), 8.1 (having your processes
under control) and 8.2d (where the
emergency procedures are tested).
Internal and
external issues
Changes to the
Continual Improvement
ISO 14001:2015 brings with it an
updated version of the continual
improvement diagram, emphasising
PDCA and including the relevant
clause numbers.
–– In reality, the whole of the standard is
about preventing the risk of damage
that your organisation and its activity
poses to the environment in which it
operates.
–– Life Cycle Perspective [Clause 8];
this calls for an increased focus for
organisations to consider how their
products and services impact on the
environment, including areas such as
the sourcing of raw materials and what
is going to happen to products at the
end of their life.
–– The formal inclusion of “Outsourcing”
where a part of the organisations
–– function or process is being done by an
external party, this is different from sub-
contracting where a support process
(such as HR) is done by an external party
for you. You have to exercise control
(or some influence, at least) over these
outsourced activities and include them
in your scope.
–– There is a greater emphasis on setting
the objectives, monitoring performance
and measuring progress towards
meeting your objectives using indicators
(9.1).
–– There are other changes where aspects
of a management system are more
clearly described because the Annex SL
format has a clause to address it.
Context of the organisation
Scope of the Environmental Management System
Plan
Planning
Act Improvement
Leadership
Performance
evaluation
Check
Intended outcomes of the EMS
Such as:
–– Competence
–– Awareness
–– Objectives
–– Scope
–– Communication
This ensures that there is commonality
with other management system standards
and so you will be able to see the same
headings in ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 45001
(the replacement for OHSAS 18001 when it
is published) and group together what you
do for them in your management system.
Changes to Terms and Definitions
and Annex
Eight terms have modified definitions
while five remain the same and there are
twenty new ones. In addition, there are
some useful “extras” in the appendix A.3
which help in understanding the rest of
the standard.
The main annex to ISO 14001 is still there
and it continues to provide a great deal
of help to explain how you might go
about implementing the requirements
of ISO 14001 but the clause numbering
is slightly different. Instead of having
the same numbering of the clauses with
the 4 replaced by an A it now has the
full number of the clause, prefixed by an
A. For example: clause 4.3.1 of the old
standard was referred to in the annex by
section A.3.1.
Needs and
expectations of
interested
parties
Support
and Do
operation

ISO 14001:2015 Overview
Conclusion
The most significant changes that
ISO 14001:2015 introduce come from
adopting Annex SL.
Organisations will need to fully review
their current EMS to ensure all
the new and enhanced requirements
of ISO 14001:2015 are met. For any
organisation the degree of change
necessary will be dependent upon the
maturity and effectiveness of the current
management system, organisational
structure and practices.
It is September 2018 before certificated
organisations must complete transition
to the new standard, however accredited
certification bodies are advising that
their clients start to make appropriate
preparations as soon as is practical and
not delay until the last moment.
ISO 14001:2015 will build upon the
current standard; it will not take
environmental management in a new
and completely different direction.
This is the time to start planning and
preparing for your transition to the new
standard. At LRQA, we understand what
really matters to organisations and their
stakeholders.
Our training and assessment services will
support a smooth transition to the new
standard and improve your business
performance at the same time.
ISO 14001:2015 What’s It All
About Then?
This course is for any level of
understanding; learn about the structure
of the new standard and the revised
management principles and the high level
management system framework.
Preparing for ISO 14001:2015
This course is for management systems
representatives responsible for managing
the transition. Learn how to plan for
and approach the new concepts and
requirements defined in the new
standard.
ISO 14001:2015 for Internal Auditors
This course is for those who wish to
build on existing management system
experience. Learn how to adapt your
auditing techniques to accommodate the
new requirements.
ISO 14001:2015 Lead Auditor Transition
This course is for EMS auditors or lead
auditors who need to upgrade their
knowledge to the new standard. Learn
the structure of Annex SL and the
significant new requirements of ISO
14001:2015.
Gap Analysis
This assessor delivered activity can
support you during your transition. It
enables you to understand whether your
environmental management system
meets the new standard requirements
and what remedial action – if any – needs
to be taken.
Pathway self-assessment tool
A free to use, online transition toolkit,
Pathway is a two-phased self-appraisal
process to provide reassurance that
you understand the new standard
and to check the readiness of your
environmental management system for
transition.
lrqa.co.uk/pathway


Sub-Clause Cross Reference

ISO 14001:2015 ISO 14001:2004

Context of the organisation 4

Understanding the organisation and its context 4.1
Understanding the needs and expectations
of interested parties 4.2
Determining the scope of the environmental 4.3 4.1 General requirements
management system
Environmental management system 4.4 4.1 General requirements
Leadership 5
Leadership and commitment 5.1
Environmental policy 5.2 4.2 Environmental policy
Organisational roles, responsibilities and authorities 5.3 4.4.1 Resources, roles, responsibility and authority
Planning 6 4.3 Planning
Actions to address risks and opportunities (title only) 6.1
General 6.1.1
Environmental aspects 6.1.2 4.3.1 Environmental aspects
Compliance obligations 6.1.3 4.3.2 Legal and other requirements
Planning action 6.1.4
Environmental objectives and planning 4.3.3 Objectives, targets and programme(s)
to achieve them (title only) 6.2
Environmental objectives 6.2.1 4.3.3 Objectives, targets and programme(s)
Planning actions to achieve environmental objectives 6.2.2 4.3.3 Objectives, targets and programme(s)
Support 7 4.4 Implementation and operation
Resources 7.1 4.4.1 Resources, roles, responsibility and authority
Competence 7.2 4.4.2 Competence, training and awareness
Awareness 7.3 4.4.2 Competence, training and awareness
Communication (title only) 7.4 4.4.3 Communication
General 7.4.1 4.4.3 Communication
Internal communication 7.4.2 4.4.3 Communication
External communication 7.4.3 4.4.3 Communication
Documented information (title only) 7.5 4.4.4 Documentation
General 7.5.1 4.4.4 Documentation
Creating and updating 7.5.2 4.4.5 Control of documentation
Control of documented information 7.5.3 4.5.4 Control of records
Operation 8 4.4 Implementation and operation
Operational planning and control 8.1 4.4.6 Operational control
Emergency preparedness and response 8.2 4.4.7 Emergency preparedness and response
Performance evaluation 9 4.5 Checking
Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation 9.1 4.5.1 Monitoring and measurement
(title only)
General 9.1.1 4.5.1 Monitoring and measurement
Evaluation of compliance 9.1.2 4.5.2 Evaluation of compliance
Internal audit 9.2 4.5.5 Internal audit
Management review 9.3 4.6 Management review
Improvement 10
General 10.1
Nonconformity and corrective action 10.2 4.5.3 Nonconformity, corrective action and preventive action

Continual improvement 10.3

Reproduced from ISO 14001:2015 Annex B.1

 Improving performance,
reducing risk

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