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Without doubt one of the most pressing social issues today is concern over the environment. Until recently, the leaders of the USA, UK and Australia have been questioning the validity of the scientific data and have preferred to become international pariahs by not signing the Kyoto accord. With the UK's top economic advisor releasing a damning report on the damage that green house gasses are causing to the environment and its resultant cost to the global economy the Brit's have moved into top gear to do something about reducing green house emissions via accelerating carbon trading schemes and by enforcing global environmental standards.
All corporates can do something now about the environment by becoming certified to the global environmental standard ISO 14000. Having a global standard for environment sustainability ensures that we have a world-wide focus to the environment, encouraging a cleaner, safer, healthier world for us all. The existence of the ISO 14000 standard allows organizations to focus environmental efforts against an internationally accepted set of criteria.
At present many countries and regional groupings are generating their own requirements for environmental issues and these vary between the groups. A single standard ensures that there are no conflicts between regional interpretations of good environmental practice.
The fact that companies may need environmental management certification to compete in the global marketplace could easily overshadow all ethical reasons for environmental management. Within Europe, many organizations gained ISO 9000 registration primarily to meet growing demands from customers. ISO 9000 quality registration has become necessary to do business in many areas of commerce. Similarly, the ISO 14000 management system registration may become the primary requirement for doing business in many regions or industries.
ISO14000 standards are designed to cover:
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environmental management systems
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environmental auditing
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environmental performance evaluation
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environmental labeling
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life-cycle assessment
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environmental aspects in product standards
It's highly likely that in years to come ISO 14000 will be recognized as one of the most significant international initiatives for sustainable development.
ISO 14000 defines a voluntary environmental management system and used in conjunction with appropriate goals, and management commitment, the standards will help improve corporate performance. They will provide an objective basis for verifying a company's claims about its performance. This is particularly important in relation to international trade, where at present almost anyone can make assertions about environmental performance.
ISO 14000 is designed to provide customers with a reasonable assurance that the performance claims of a company are accurate. In fact, ISO 14000 will help integrate the environmental management systems of companies that trade with each other in all corners of the world. This means that suppliers as well will be judged via this standard.
These positives, however, come with a price tag. The ISO process has not fully evolved in all countries or levels of business. In Europe many companies have already been accredited to ISO 14000 but in places like Australia they have not.
Also many companies of European, Australian or US origin manufacture in countries where environmental policies do not comply to the ISO 14000 standard. A common practice is to simply re-badge the product.
So is it easy being green? What extent would you go to ensure you were buying from a "Green" company?
Let's have a look at a global leader in this area: Linn Products Limited UK. They are ISO 14000 compliant and by designing and manufacturing in Scotland they ensure that they completely control the environmental impact of their products. They provide 5 year warranty on all their products (4 years more than any of their competitors) thus ensuring product longevity which reduces waste. In addition they will also upgrade your products, thus helping you maximize your usage.
The 3R's of environmental sustainability are reduce, re use and re cycle. You will notice that Linn make it possible to do the first 2. The 3rd, re cycle is energy intensive but Linn products are all designed to be recycled.
At Serious Consulting we pride ourselves in helping companies produce world class performance by getting the best out of their people and allowing them to get the best out of their processes. One way we do this is via the removal of waste, whether it be material, process, or human effort. This of course you will recognize as the nucleus of any "lean" methodology.
We encourage all of you reading this to investigate ways you can work to ensure that what you do is environmentally sustainable. Economic performance will mean little if we do not have a healthy planet on which to enjoy it.
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