Results from a customer survey carried out on behalf of the British Assessment Bureau, a UK based Certification Body, has shown that 68% of those with ISO 14001 have either qualified for, or directly won business thanks to their green credentials.
This figure was on par with the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard, which is more traditionally seen as a pre-requisite when bidding for public sector contracts. Therefore, the results show that not only is the environment still firmly on the agenda of the public sector, the knock-on effect is that going green is also a business winner.
Additionally, a further 13% of respondents said that ISO 14001 certification had helped them retain contracts with existing customers. As a result, 81% in total cited potential or actual financial rewards.
“As a result of having the ISO 14001 we have maintained a couple of contracts that we wouldn’t have without it.”
– DMS Property Maintenance
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For many years, experts and advocates of sustainability have built a persuasive argument that considering the environment has advantages beyond simply showing corporate responsibility.
Committing to reduce environmental impact is an opportunity to unite, engage and motivate staff. This improves collaboration, efficiency and staff retention, with the reward of achieving certification to a globally recognised standard is the icing on the cake.
ISO 14001 is a standard with a set of requirements to help create an effective Environmental Management System (EMS). This allows organisations to benchmark their current performance and set out ways to improve upon it.
It stands to reason that reviewing and minimising resource use will reduce costs. Not only are fewer materials used and energy consumed, there is also less waste to be dealt with as a result.
This is backed up by the results of the British Assessment Bureau’s survey, with 66% citing improved environmental performance and internal processes.
“We have managed to identify a number of costs we weren’t monitoring, and were able to plan a way to reduce them.”
– Kentinental Engineering