Organizations are increasingly interested in understanding the environmental issues associated with their sites and activities or those of potential acquisitions. These issues and their associated business consequences can be appraised by means of an Environmental Assessment of the Site and Organization (EASO).
Such an assessment may be carried out during operations or at the time of acquisition or divestiture of assets and may be conducted as part of a broader business assessment process often referred to as "due diligence".
ISO 14015 is an International Standard that gives guidance on how to conduct an EASO. ISO 14015 provides the basis for harmonization of the terminology used and for a structured, consistent, transparent and objective approach to conducting such environmental assessments.
ISO 14015 provides guidance on how to conduct an EASO through a systematic process of identifying environmental aspects and environmental issues and determining, if appropriate, their business consequences.
ISO 14015 covers the roles and responsibilities of the parties to the assessment (the client, the assessor and the representative of the assessee), and the stages of the assessment process (planning, information gathering and validation, evaluation and reporting).
Note 1: ISO 14015 does not provide guidance on how to conduct other types of environmental assessment, such as:
Note 2: Intrusive investigations and site remediation, as well as the decision to proceed with them, are outside the scope of ISO 14015.
Note 3: ISO 14015 is not intended for use as a specification standard for certification or registration purposes or for the establishment of environmental management system requirements.
ISO 14015 on ‘Environmental management EASO’ is applicable to all companies irrespective of sector, size, or location. ISO 14015 is useful for:
ISO 14015 can be used by all organizations, including small- and medium-sized organizations, operating anywhere in the world. ISO 14015 is flexible in its application and may be used for self-assessments as well as external assessments, with or without the need to employ third parties. The users of ISO 14015 include:
ISO 14015 is especially useful in connection with the transfer of responsibilities and obligations.
The information used during an EASO may be derived from sources that include environmental management system audits, regulatory compliance audits, environmental impact assessments, environmental performance evaluations or site investigations.
Through the process of evaluating both existing and newly acquired information, an EASO helps you to draw conclusions relating to business consequences associated with environmental aspects and issues.
ISO 14015 provides you with guidelines on the roles and responsibilities of the client, representative of the assessee, and the assessor. Assessment process guidelines include planning, information gathering and validation, as well as evaluation. Reporting guidelines provided in ISO 14015 include guidance on report content, report form, as well as report distribution.
ISO 14015 guidelines are a step towards a more responsible approach to site management. This helps organizations to become more environmentally conscious in their activities.
EN ISO 14015:2010