The UNE-EN-ISO 14001:2015 Standard is an Environmental Management System (EMS) that “establishes the guidelines or requirements that an organization’s environmental management system must have. It must be implemented in any organization, regardless of sector or size” (International Organization for Standardization, 2015).

The UNE-EN-ISO 14001:2015 Standard is an Environmental Management System structured around a series of requirements organized into Clauses, summarized as follows:

  1. Scope and Field of Application: Defines the purpose of the standard and its scope.

  2. Normative References: Describes the references used by the organization to develop this ISO 14001.

  3. Terms and Definitions: Explains the terms and definitions used in the standard, providing a glossary of terms.

  4. Context of the Organization: Defines the scope of ISO 14001 (whether it applies to one site or all), describes interested parties and their expectations, contextualizes the organization (through a SWOT analysis), and justifies the implementation of ISO 14001. The following subclauses are included:

    4.1 Understanding the organization and its context

    4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties

    4.3 Determination of the scope of the environmental management system

    4.4 Environmental management system and its processes

  5. Leadership: Describes the company’s organizational structure through an organizational chart with roles, environmental policies, and top management commitment. Subclauses:

    5.1 Leadership and commitment

    5.2 Environmental policy

  6. Planning:

    6.1 Actions to address risks and opportunities

    6.1.1 General considerations on risks and opportunities

    6.1.2 Significant environmental aspects

    6.1.3 Compliance obligations

    6.1.4 Planning actions

    6.2 Environmental objectives and planning to achieve them

  7. Support:

    7.1 Resources

    7.2 Competence

    7.3 Awareness

    7.4 Communication (internal and external)

    7.5 Documented information: creation, update, and control

  8. Operation:

    8.1 Operational planning and control

    8.2 Preparedness and response to emergencies

  9. Performance Evaluation:

    9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation of environmental performance

    9.1.1 General

    9.1.2 Evaluation of compliance

    9.2 Internal audit

    9.3 Management review

  10. Improvement:

    10.1 General

    10.2 Nonconformity and corrective action

    10.3 Continual improvement