Consumers around the world are concerned about pollution resulting from manufacturing products. Regulation of industry has been the mechanism most governments select to control pollution. However, the future may bring more market-driven pollution prevention.

Consumers often request some way of rewarding those companies that protect the environment and punishing those that ignore the impacts of their production systems on the quality of the air, water, and land. An answer to their request may now be available. Consumers concerned about the environment can demand that the products they purchase be certified as being produced with fewer negative impacts on the environment. Such products will be known as meeting ISO 14000 standards or being ISO 14000 certified.

What Is ISO 14000?

ISO 14000 is an international standard intended to provide guidance on a comprehensive approach to environmental management and standardization of environmental tools. The standards cover a wide range of environmental activities, including environmental management, environmental auditing, life-cycle assessment, environmental labeling, and environmental performance.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental, worldwide organization founded in 1947 and based in Geneva, Switzerland. The purpose of this group is to “promote the development of standardization and related activities on an international level with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services and to developing cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological, and eco-nomic activity” (ISO internet document).

Each country designates an authority as its representative on the respective ISO committees in which it is participating. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) represents the United States on the ISO committees. Other countries tend to choose committee representatives typically tied closer to their governments. The ISO standards developed are not legally binding, although governmental agencies may choose to develop regulations from them.

The Specification Standard

ISO 14001, Environmental Management System (EMS) Specifications with Guidance for Use, is the only specification standard in the 14000 series; all of the others are guidance documents only. If an organization wishes to become registered (certified) under ISO 14001, it needs to demonstrate conformance with the ISO 14001 standard only, as assessed by a third-party auditor.

Typically, an organization will pursue certification on a site or business-unit-specific basis. Regulations, existing management systems, environmental quality, customer requirements, and business drivers will vary between sites and some-times between business units at the same site. Therefore, some businesses will choose to certify complete processes and not others.

It is important to note that ISO 14001 does not dictate specific environmental goals for technology, pollution prevention, or environmental performance. However, it is believed that conformance to the standard will lead to better industry environ-mental performance. ISO 14001 is a system standard that sets a consistent benchmark for the contents of an EMS. ISO 14001 will not specify to an organization exactly what to do or how to do it. However, it will help the organization understand how its management process should function to facilitate compliance with applicable legislation and continuous environmental improvement. It is left up to the organization or its regulator to decide which processes it chooses to implement and what environmental impacts are acceptable.

An environmental management system, as defined in Section 3 of ISO 14001, is “the part of the overall management system that includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing, and maintaining the environmental policy.”

Why should an organization pursue ISO 14001 certification?

The general conclusion by those who have been involved with the development of the ISO 14000 standards is that these standards will influence international development, influence commerce, and improve environ-mental performance globally. Some multinational corporations indicate that they will give more consideration to ISO 14001 certified suppliers. Some organizations are pursuing certification because it is possible that the European Union may require it for any products to enter its marketplace. In the U.S., the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has suggested that it would reduce site audits for companies with an ISO 14001 certification (International Environmental Systems, 1995). ISO certification may also pro-vide some relief from environmental litigation based on the guidelines drafted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission (International Environmental Systems, 1995). The U.S. Sentencing Commission provides guidance to regulatory enforcement groups on factors to consider during litigation. While all of these incentives for ISO 14001 certification certainly are important in today’s ever-changing global economy, each business is going to need to see the bottom-line benefit and understand the specific business-drivers to deter-mine whether the time, money, and resources required to obtain and maintain the ISO 14001 certification add value.

There are some common-sense business incentives to implementing ISO 14001. Waste minimization and pollution prevention, both required elements of the ISO 14001 EMS, often result in process optimization and yield improvements. Effective management systems arguably reduce duplication of efforts, focus efforts on priority items, and there-fore can result in increased productivity. In most cases, however, the best business-driver steering a company to ISO 14001 certification will be customer requirements. Customers are beginning to request that their suppliers be ISO 14001 certified as part of a contractual agreement to do business. The Department of Energy, for example, is one governmental agency requiring contractors to be either ISO 14001 certified or to conform to a similar EMS (International Environ-mental Systems, 1995).

Will ISO 14000 certification become the UL label of the next century? Only time and consumer demand will tell. If consumers demand that products carry such a label, manufacturers will quickly comply. If consumers indicate, through their purchasing decisions, that the environment is not an important factor, these standards will become another discarded environmental labeling scheme.

References

ISO Technical Committee 207. 1996. ISO/DIS 14001 Environmental Management Systems: Specifications with Guidance for Use, Mar.

International Environmental Systems. 1995. What Is ISO 14000? CEEM Information Systems Update. Milwaukee, WI: ASQC Quality Press.

Pasture Rent Estimates

The median cash rent per acre in 1997 for permanent non-rotation pasture was reported in a Purdue Survey conducted by J. H. Atkinson to be $35. The land value estimate at $975 per acre was about double the 1989 figure while rent was up only a few dollars. Two acres were estimated to be required per cow.

Rent fell between $35 and $40 in 4 of 6 sub-areas of the state. The south-west estimate was the highest and the southeast, at $30, was the lowest even though the requirement of 2 acres per cow was the same as most other sub-areas.

Disclaimer: This paper is intended for educational purposes only. Individuals with tax or legal interests at stake may wish to consult an attorney or CPA who is informed in tax, estate and business planning.