ISO 14001 offers a common, harmonized approach for organizations to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance. The main objective of ISO 14001 is to help organizations manage the environmental aspects and impacts of their operations while always working toward continual improvement. ISO began developing the standard in 1993 through the TC 207 committee. 14001 is the first document in a series called ISO 14000. The current version of ISO 14001 was published in Sept. 1996.
Japanese companies are heavily registered to the standard, followed by a strong showing in Europe.
North American companies are beginning to show strong interest, especially since Ford and GM began requiring 14001 registration in their supply chains. BVQI has registered more than 2,000 organizations worldwide. The number of organizations becoming registered has doubled in the last year. It is expected that there will more than 18,000 organizations registered worldwide by the end of 2000 from many different industry sectors. A broad range of industry sectors have been registered worldwide which is a good sign of its value and acceptance.