ISO 14001 is the most widely used standard to the development and implementation of environmental management systems (EMS). It is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model, where managers receive guidance on how to “identify critical environmental risks, implement actions to address these risks, check the performance of those actions, and respond to this performance” (Hanson et al., 2011).
ISO 14001 is a process standard, allowing companies to continually improve their EMS. It does not set performance criteria or targets to be met in order to become certified, as it is not a performance standard. The approach a company decides to take during its adoption of ISO 14001 may vary according to company specific criteria and the content of its EMS. This being the case, companies are free to, but not required to consider biodiversity and ecosystem services (B&ES) during their ISO 14001 adoption process.
This guide is aimed to help those companies who wish to adopt a B&ES approach during their implementation of the ISO 14001 standard. Users of this guide are provided with a variety of checks and tools which may be used to integrate B&ES into ISO 14001, on a clause-to-clause basis.