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However caused, climate change is with us and it isn’t going away. Arguments aside, it makes business sense to stop wasting resources and pocket the money to use on more productive activities. But where do you start and how do you know you’ve selected the right approach? Thankfully, there are a number of well-trodden paths which means we don’t need to waste time and effort on reinvention or start with a clean sheet of paper!

 

Carbon emissions are one aspect of our environmental impact and while the CRC rightly focuses our attention in this area, we can readily meet these obligations and arrest our overall environmental impact by channelling our efforts in meeting the requirements of the internationally recognised environmental management standard, ISO 14001.

 

Like ISO 14001, the CRC gets us to focus on what we are doing with the energy we purchase and by simply adopting the mantra of measure, test, monitor, significant reductions (and cost savings!) in energy usage can be made.

 

ISO 14001 has already been adopted by more than 150 countries, with over 20 million people working within ISO 14001 certified organisations world-wide.

 

There are other standards within the environmental standards family that address specific issues, such as energy management (BS EN 16001) but the ISO 14001 standard sets out an easy to follow framework for organisations to reduce their total environmental impact. And with organisations like Disney, Nestle and Renault committing themselves to ISO 14001, there’s clearly something in it.

Carbon reduction action

 

The arguments about climate change will doubtless rage on but one thing is certain, at some point in the not too distant future natural energy resources like fossil fuels will simply run out.

For the sake of our children and our children’s children, we need to take action now to slow this process down. Effective energy and environmental impact management is at hand and by using the ISO 14001 standard, we can meet out CRC targets too!

 

But what do we mean by effective? For energy management to be truly effective, it needs to meet the following criterion:-

1. Measurable - how much energy do we currently use?
2. Target related - how much energy do we need to use?
3. Monitored - are we meeting your targets?

Using established standards can help us to understand how to review our energy usage, not just how much and what types of energy we use. We can also set realistic targets based on factual evidence and ensure our implementation plans includes proper milestones.

 

When the CRC comes into full force during 2011, the proposed league tables won’t lie and taking action now can put us all on the right road and avoid any unpleasant surprises.

 

In all cases, we’ll need to demonstrate we have proper plans and measures in place and once again, ISO 14001 can help to orchestrate our efforts and meet our obligations. Indeed, this is where working with an established standard, alongside experienced people, can help to simplify what could become an onerous and confusing task!

 

Our Lead Assessors are qualified in their technical expertise and will be able to provide a valuable insight into what an effective energy management system should include.

 

What are others doing?

 

Nestlé

Nestlé is the world’s leading nutrition, health, and wellness company. With more than 280,000 employees and more than 450 factories globally, their products, which include everything from bottled water to frozen food, are sold in nearly every country in the world.

 

In May 2006, Nestlé’s executive board decided to adapt their existing management systems to full comply with the international environmental management standard ISO 14001 and to certify all Nestlé factories against this standard by the end of 2010.

 

For Nestlé, certification to ISO 14001 provides external recognition that their factories comply with internationally recognized standards. The trust of external stakeholders is another important factor for Nestlé, as they seek to become the world’s largest nutrition, health, and wellness company; certification helps build this trust.

 

Renault

Renault launched its ‘eco² signature’ in May 2007 to identify its most ecological and economical vehicles. The signature reflects Renault's aim to inform customers of the environmental progress it has made across the vehicle life cycle in the last 10 years. Renault eco² vehicles fulfil three ecological criteria in production, CO2 emissions and recycling.

 

Renault eco² vehicles are produced in ISO 14001-certified manufacturing plants. This standard rewards the progress made by manufacturing sites in reducing water and energy consumption and in cutting waste production and atmospheric and noise emissions.

 

Renault eco² vehicles emit less than 140 g/km of CO2 and some Renault eco² vehicles can run on biofuels, made from plant matter. In addition, Renault eco² vehicles have to contain at least 5% recycled plastic. They are also designed so that 95% of their mass can be recovered at end-of-life, and thus begin a second existence.

 

Disney

Disney is currently undertaking a global project to measure its use of electricity, gas and water and the volumes of waste it creates, in order to set measurable targets for reductions in each country.

 

Their European Distribution Centre, based in Leicestershire, signed up with BAB in 2009 to undertake ISO 14001 and so far they have reduced their electricity usage by 19%.

 

Other major initiatives have included the measurement of their recycling, where they discovered they had saved over £20,000 by simply recycling their toner cartridges!

 

More Information

 

If you are unsure about the best way of meeting your CRC obligations and want to reduce your environmental impact, simply contact us today. If you’d like more information certification, please see our dedicated page on the ISO 14001 environmental management standard.

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