In fact, ISO 14001 is unproven. ISO 14001 needs some success stories, not just successes for corporations and government regulators, but clearly demonstrable environmental improvements. As the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection noted, we need to see real and significant reductions in emissions. If ISO 14001 is to be a bridge to the environmental community, what is needed is a series of innovative industry - community partnerships which demonstrate that ISO 14001 can deliver on its promise. These early partnerships also need to demonstrate that ISO 14001's extraordinary flexibility can be used to improve upon the minimum standards.
Voluntary systems are ideal.
But as James Madison noted, only if men were angels would government not be needed. I am not an advocate of massive and restrictive government regulations. But, somewhere between over-regulation and purely voluntary compliance, there is an appropriate balance. If ISO 14001 could become a tool to restore that balance to the environmental sector, wonderful. But it should not become a tool for those who would greatly weaken environmental laws and enforcement.