# Organizations towards the Evaluation of Environmental Management Tools ISO 14001 and EMAS
## 3 Materials and Methods  
The aim of the research was to compare the benefits and barriers to the implementation and operation of ISO14001:2015 and EMAS in the selected Polish companies. The study was conducted in 2019/2020 in the form of a written anonymous survey sent to various organizations. The questionnaire was prepared and developed by authors of the publication. The questions included in the questionnaire and the answers to be chosen were specified based on the literature review and the previous research of the first author [22]. The survey was structured in a way so that readers could compare the answers of companies that have implemented the ISO 14001 standard and those that have implemented the EMAS system (these organizations had previously implemented ISO 14001). It should be emphasized that all organizations with implemented EMAS, although they had previously implemented ISO 14001, answered the questions only in terms of implementing EMAS. The questionnaire was sent to 40 organizations that had implemented the EMAS system and 45 that had implemented ISO 14001. The completed questionnaires were received from 25 EMAS certified companies and 25 that had introduced ISO 14001. These organizations differed \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l} \hline \hline
**The Benefits of ISO 14001 Certification and EMAS Registration** \\ \hline \(\bullet\) the reduction of energy consumption and resultant energy savings; \\ \(\bullet\) climate protection due to the energy management and reduction of greenhouse gases emissions; \\ \(\bullet\) the reduction of raw material consumption; \\ \(\bullet\) lower insurance rates due to reduction of the environmental failure risk; \\ \(\bullet\) the reduction of waste disposal costs; \\ \(\bullet\) the lower fees related to the use of environmental resources; \\ \(\bullet\) the reduction of the risk of lawsuits related to environmental damage; \\ \(\bullet\) the improvement of image by reducing the negative impact on the environment; \\ \(\bullet\) the improvement of organization management; \\ \(\bullet\) the quick detection of places and processes threatening the environment thanks to regular internal and external audits; \\ \(\bullet\) for energy-intensive enterprises: the possibility of obtaining an exemption from excise duty for activities subject to taxation, the subject of which are coal or gas products intended for heating purposes; \\ \(\bullet\) ISO 14001 certification and entry in the EMAS register are an important marketing asset. \\ \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{The additional benefits of EMAS registration} \\ \hline \(\bullet\) the entry in a publicly available register; \\ \(\bullet\) for large companies: the exemption from the obligation to conduct an energy audit of the enterprise (subject to additional conditions); \\ \(\bullet\) for public sector entities: the confirmation of the implementation of energy efficiency tasks; \\ \(\bullet\) the transparent data provided by the mandatory and verified statement of registered organization; \\ \(\bullet\) the increase in the organization’s credibility thanks to the environmental declaration; \\ \(\bullet\) the improved stakeholder relationships; \\ \(\bullet\) the possibility of benchmarking in the field of environmental protection; \\ \(\bullet\) the exemption from the registration fee for entry in the database on products and packaging and on waste management. \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: The selected benefits of ISO 14001 certification and EMAS registration. Source: Own elaboration based on [36; 37; 41; 42]. in terms of both the industry and the location. Due to the number of people employed, they were small enterprises (less than 50 employees) and medium-sized enterprises (less than 250 employees). The activities of the surveyed organizations were related to the water and sewage management, waste management, energy production, energy supply, and public administration.