0959-6526(95)00022-4

J. Cleaner Prod., Vol. 2, No. 54, 197-199, 1994 pp. Copyright 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd

Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 09.596526194 $10.00 + 0.00

The role of standardization in promoting cleaner production and environmental management

Christine Jasch

lnstitut fiir Zikologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IdW) Rechte Wienzeile, 1043 Wien, Austria

Environmental management has interested many politicians, companies, consultants and scientists over the past decade, and it is now achieving international standardization. The international standardization organization IS0 founded Technical Committee 207, which deals with the methodologies for environmental management, in 1993. Several documents have been negotiated on a worldwide basis and reached official Committee Draft (CD) status in September 1994. After two more comment periods these have become ISO/DISs, Draft International Standards. However, the question arises of how relevant some of the documents are to the development and application of environmental management. First, the language is very unspecific. Second, input from environmental groups and environmental scientists has been slight, and the normal processes of consultation at a national level have been bypassed. Such interested parties are urged to make their contributions.

Keywords: ISO; Technical Committee 207; environmental management

Introduction

Environmental management has been a topic of interest for many politicians, companies, consultants and scien- tists in the past decade. Now it is on the path to international standardization. It is not always clear if that will help improve the environment.

ISO/TC 207 on Environmental Management

The international standardization organization IS0 founded Technical Committee 207 in 1993. The com- mittee was split into several working groups, some of which have produced papers with official Committee Draft (CD) status. These are sent out for nationwide balloting and after a second comment period can become an ISO/DIS, a Draft International Standard.

Environmental Management has been separated into the following topics, represented by Subcommittees (SC) with further Working groups (WG).

The interrelationships of the working groups together with the preliminary definitions are shown in Figure 1. As the Austrian delegate on Subcommittees 1, 2 and 4, I would like to give an overview of the working progress and main discussion points, especially of the documents that will be relevant for the implementation of the EU-Regulation No 1836/93 allowing voluntary participation by companies in the industrial sector

in a eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS- Regulation).

The main task of all IS0 working groups in the first year was to reach CD status for the documents presented at the Australian meeting in May 1994. SC 1 Environmental Management Systems is under particular time pressure. Its WG 1 is negotiating for a specification for Environmental Management Systems, which should be auditable and can be recognized by the European Commission as complying with the corresponding requirements of the EMAS- Regulation. The specification document will be accompanied by Annex A, an informative annex to aid understanding of the specification, clarify the core elements and avoid misinterpretation. Working group 2 of SC 1 has been drafting a guide to environmental management principles, systems and supporting tech- niques. Both documents had reached Committee Draft Status by the meeting in September 1994 in Vienna. Falling short of expectations, the specification docu- ment is far less clear than the EMAS-Regulation. Its main advantage is that the worldwide application level will bring companies and countries onto the path of environmental management that were not very concerned before.

In SC 2 Environmental Auditing and Related Environmental Investigation three documents have achieved DIS status:

J. Cleaner Prod. Volume 2 Number 3-4 197

Role of standardization: C. Jasch

ISO/TC 207 ISOlTC 207/WG 1

ISO/TC 207lSC 1 ISOiTC 207iSC UWG 1 ISO/TC 207iSC l/WG 2 ISOlTC 207/SC 2

ISO/lC 207lSC 2IWG 1 ISO/TC 207/SC 2IWG 2 ISO/TC 207iSC 2IWG 3

Environmental management Environmental aspects in product stan- dards Environmental management systems Specification and guidance for use Wider guidelines Environmental auditing and related environmental investigations General principles Audit principles Qualification criteria for environmental auditors

ISO/TC 207iSC 2/WG 4 Other types of environmental investi- gation

ISOlTC 207/SC 3 ISO/TC 207/SC 3/WG 1 ISOfTC 207iSC 3/WG 2 ISOiTC 207/SC 3IWG 3

ISO/TC 207/SC 4 ISOiTC 207iSC 4iWG 1

Environmental labelling Practitioner programs Type II labelling General guidelines and procedures for third party labelling Environmental performance evaluation General environmental performance evaluation

ISO/TC 207iSC 4lWG 2 Industry-specific environmental perform- ance indicators

ISOlTC 207/SC 5 ISO/TC 207iSC 5IWG 1

Life cycle assessment Life cycle assessment - general principles and procedures

ISO/TC 207/SC 5IWG 2 Life cycle assessment inventory - general ISO/TC 207lSC 5lWG 3 Life cycle assessment inventory - specific ISO/TC 207iSC 5/WG 4 Life cycle impact assessment ISOiTC 207lSC 5/WG 5 Life cycle improvement assessment ISO/TC 207/SC 6 Terms and definitions

(TC, Technical Committee; SC, Subcommittee; WG, Working group; ISO/NO, New Project; ISOAVD, Working Draft; ISO/CD, Committee Draft; ISO/DIS, Draft International Standard; ISO, International Standard).

IS0 DIS 14010 Guidelines for environmental audit- ing-General principles

IS0 DIS 14011 Guidelines for environmental audit- ing-Auditing of environmental management systems

IS0 DIS 14012 Guidelines for environmental audit- ing-Audit procedures - Part 1: Qualification criteria for environ- mental auditors.

Document 14012, in particular, has raised much discussion. The qualification criteria basically apply to internal auditors only and fall short of north European standards of professional qualification. National regu- lations will have to contribute to a highly qualified profession.

SC 3 is working on general guidelines for all kinds of eco-labels and has passed CDs in the autumn of 1994 on: ‘Guidance principles/practice of practitioner programmes Type 1 and Type 3 programmes’, ‘Terms and definitions for specific application in environmental labelling’ and ‘Goals and principles of all environmental labelling’ .

SC 4 Environmental Performance Evaluation will provide guidance on the structure of an organization’s relationship with the environment, on the determi- nation of key indicators of performance, and on methodology to assist in communicating the findings of an environmental performance evaluation in an appropriate way to internal or external stakeholders. The two working groups will concentrate on qualitative and quantitative indicators for environmental perform- ance evaluation and are just taking up their task.

Environment* Planet earth including air,water, soil, flora, fauna, humans and their interrelation (the envimnment

/ in this context extends from within Envlromnental management system Environmental management System comprising the organizational - Management of the interaction between - Interaction

an organization to the global system)

structure, responsibilities, practices, human activities and the environmenr 4 \ t

Human activities procedures, Processes and resources for envimnmental management

+ Audit criterion Policy, practice, procedures and/or requirement against which the auditor compares collected evidence about the subject matter

Environmental performance - Assessible results of envimnmentaf management

+ Educational performance indicator Measure representing the environmental ptvformance within a specific field

Systematic and documented assessment to verify by objective evidence whether selected audit criteria have been fulfilled and to communicate the findings

Environmental performance evaluation i

Quantitative and/or qualitative Product assessment, analysis and description of environmental performance I

Environmental effect Change in the environment as a consequence of human activities and products, whether positive or negative (synonymous term: environmental impact)

Environmental audit Audit carried out using selected environmental audit criteria

Other audits

(*Definition not finalized)

Figure 1 Concept diagram and definitions related to environmental management

198 J. Cleaner Prod. Volume 2 Number 3-4

Role of standardization: C. Jasch

One of the many subcommittees of SC 5 Life Cycle Assessment will also finish a CD in Autumn 1994, ‘Life Cycle Assessment-Code of practice’, that is very close to the SETAC document on product life cycle assessment.

SC 6 Terms and Definitions has the difficult task of coordinating and harmonizing the definitions of all working groups.

Another CD has been produced by TC 207 WG 1, ‘Environmental aspects in product development’, that is intended to give guidance to other Technical Committees and should contribute to the general consideration of environmental aspects in standardiz- ation work.

Much paper work, discussion and compromising has been done by the delegates of the different countries to the working groups. However, the question still arises, whether some of the documents really contribute to the development and application of environmental management, as the language is very unspecific. Also,

most of the delegates to the working groups are representatives of industry. The environmental groups and environmental scientists are practically unrep- resented. The danger is evident, that standardization efforts at a very premature time try to bypass the normal scientific process of development of codes of practice and methodologies. Also much work that is normally done by national regulatory bodies with the appropriate contributions of interested parties is being influenced and overruled. I would wish many more scientists and NGOs to realize that the documents of this Technical Committee will heavily influence busi- ness practice in dealing with the environment and that their contribution is urgently requested.

Further reading

International Standards Organisation (ISO). Working papers of IS0 TC 207, including IS0 CD 14000, IS0 CD 14001, IS0 CD 14010, IS0 CD 14011, IS0 CD 14012, IS0 CD 14040, 1 January 1994-1 October 1994

J. Cleaner Prod. Volume 2 Number 3-4 199