# Organizations towards the Evaluation of Environmental Management Tools ISO 14001 and EMAS
## 1 Introduction  
The development of businesses must go hand in hand with caring about the natural environment. Companies around the world are increasingly beginning to implement a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, defined as the \"responsibility of companies for their impact on society\" [1]. One of the main tasks of CSR is to manage the company's activities in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way [2]. Many analyses indicate that the promotion of environmental management systems (EMS) and their benefits is very important [3], in particular since their implementation in companies has an impact on the quality of products, processes, and green supply chain management [4]. [PERSON] et al., in an article published in 2016 [5], analyze the internal and external sources of motivation which lead companies to adopt EMS. They have concluded thatEMS certified companies belonging to the group or cluster with more intensive sources of motivation experience higher outcomes from the adoption of environmental management systems. The technological innovations and solutions may lead to the reduction of negative impacts of manufacturing plants on the natural environment [6]. The implementation of environmental protection measures can support sustainable development and thus provide economic, ecological, and social benefits for the society (i.e., for authorities, scientists, businesses, etc. [7]). The environmental management strategy in organizations is based on elements such as waste prevention, the reduction of waste sources [8], the reduction of pollution and waste management [9], as well as sustainable energy management [10], use of renewable energy sources [11], reduction of greenhouse gas (e.g., CO\({}_{2}\)) emissions [12], and water resources protection [13] (e.g., reduction of water losses in water supply [14]), etc. Companies should take advantage of an economy operating with higher rates of technological development, higher energy efficiency, as well as improved optimized materials [15]. Examples of global systems used to help companies to minimize their environmental impact are, among others, two environmental management systems: the International Standard ISO 14001, and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) [16]. EMAS is an environmental management system alternative to ISO 14001 and it is an extension of this international standard. The standard ISO 14001 [17] was introduced by the International Organization for Standardization. The EMAS scheme, on the other hand, is an instrument created by the European Commission and issued as Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 [18] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009, as amended by the Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1505 of 28 August 2017 [19]. The main assumption of both systems is to reduce the negative impact on the natural environment by taking action beyond the existing environmental legislation, and planning for continuous improvement of environmental activities. It should be emphasized that both ISO 14001 and EMAS certified companies carry out the energy management practices, even though they have not implemented the official Energy Management Systems (EnMSs), e.g., based on an International Standard ISO 50001 [10]. For example, the international standard ISO 14001:2015 recommends the reduction of energy consumption or replacement of non-renewable energy sources with clean energy to minimize the emissions and reduce environmental impact [10]. One of the most important benefits resulting from the use of sustainable resources and renewable energy sources is the climate change mitigation and adaptation. It should be stressed that the implementation of ISO 14001 can lay the foundations for many pro-environment actions, e.g., the reduction of emissions of particular matter (PM), CO\({}_{2}\) and SO\({}_{2}\), as well as reduced energy consumption and less heat losses [20].