.svg)
One of the requirements of the ISO 14001 2015 version is to "determine the environmental aspects of its activities, products, and services that it can control and those that it can influence, as well as their associated environmental impacts, from a life cycle perspective."
The standard does not mandate a specific method. Nor does it state that a life cycle assessment (LCA) must be performed.
Life cycle assessment in ISO 14001:2015: what are we talking about?
Life cycle assessment is the process used to measure the environmental impact of a product at any point during its entire lifespan. This covers everything from raw material extraction to material processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and final disposal or recycling.
The life cycle assessment of a product or activity must comply with standards such as ISO 14044, "Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines."
A life cycle assessment should not be "limited" to analyzing CO2 emissions alone; other parameters must be taken into account, such as NOx (nitrogen oxide) and SOx (sulfur oxide) emissions, energy and raw material consumption, eutrophication and acidification, and photochemical ozone creation potential.
What approach should be taken?
Since every company aims to develop a high-performing and efficient management system, the choice of method should be dictated by the financial and human resources available to the company, as well as the complexity of the issues it must manage and, above all, its field of application.
Consequently, companies that initiate or influence product design will need to implement more advanced methodologies and tools, unlike companies that manufacture products without having any real ability to influence their design.
Experience shows that two methods should ideally be developed within the company. One, used at the site level, is usually quantitative and uses criteria such as impact intensity, environmental sensitivity, and level of control. The second method allows for addressing upstream and downstream processes.
In addition to life cycle assessment in ISO 14001, working on upstream and downstream processes can follow these methodologies (non-exhaustive list):
- "Select" one or two themes in the environmental policy (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, use of non-renewable materials, etc.) and plan to research information on these topics throughout the year (consulting life cycle inventory databases, websites,
- Rely on ISO 14004, which provides examples of activities, products, and services along with their associated environmental aspects and impacts,
For specific maintenance and new project activities, when purchasing a new machine, it is possible to include the provision of the equipment's life cycle cost (LCC) and commitments regarding performance criteria, such as ease of dismantling, in the specifications. Similarly, when planning or constructing a new building, it is useful to include the provision of the quantity ofGHG emissions over the building's entire life cycle, the building's LCC, and commitments regarding performance criteria such as waste recovery from construction sites, the use of bio-based materials, and more.
Clearly, new approaches still need to be invented to meet this requirement of determining environmental aspects from a life cycle perspective.