# Organizations towards the Evaluation of Environmental Management Tools ISO 14001 and EMAS
## 4 Research Results and Discussion
What is more, entrepreneurs are aware of benefits connected with increasing the competitiveness of the organization on the market. The fifth question of the survey was to identify the most burdensome costs associated with the implementation of EMAS/ISO14001 in the company (Figure 5). Although in the answers to the second question (see Figure 2), few organizations indicated financial problems as a serious obstacle to the EMS implementation, the fifth question is specific and indicates areas where financial outlays are important. Results of the survey confirm that in the case of ISO 14001 implementation, companies mainly indicate costs of staff training and an increase in environmental investments, while in the case of EMAS, the highest costs incurred by enterprises are related to certification and audits. The percentage of organizations with implemented EMAS which have indicated this answer is equal to 60%. These trends are confirmed in the study conducted by [PERSON] (2013) [60], where the largest amounts of implementation costs were system certification (100% of responses) and training. Costs of the crew training during the EMAS implementation in the analyzed study were not of key importance, but were visible in the implementation of ISO 14001. The reason of this may be that crews, while implementing EMAS, had previously received ISO 14001 training and training was partially based on the acquired knowledge. Figure 4: Answers to the fourth question of the survey: External benefits stemming from EMAS/ISO14001 implementation. The high costs incurred for the implementation of EMS are described in numerous publications [61; 62; 63; 64; 65]. The research carried out by other authors also shows that entrepreneurs, while implementing ISO 14001, complain about high costs of additional outlays on necessary investments, e.g., related to environmental protection [66; 67; 68]. [PERSON] et al., in an article published in 2016 [66], underlined that during a period of economic crisis the motivations behind the certificate implementation may have an impact on the renewal of EMAS certificates. They concluded that the higher the internal reasons to adopt EMS, the lower the possibility of not renewing the certificate. According to their conclusions, both the initial investment made by the organization in order to adopt EMAS and maintenance costs do not influence the likelihood of not renewing the certification [60]. In turn, [PERSON] at al., in the research published in 2018 [67], concluded that adoption of ISO 14001 positively influences the image, internal practices, and environmental awareness of institutions, but, on the other hand, may generate implementation costs, paperwork or bureaucracy. According to [PERSON] et al., this may result in a situation where some companies and institutions may adopt ISO 14001 only symbolically, without substantial changes or care for the environment [67]. It can be noted that in Poland, entrepreneurs often choose ISO 14001 over EMAS because they find EMAS more difficult and more expensive [28], which has been confirmed in the current research. However, there are Polish organizations which have successfully implemented EMAS and achieve many benefits related to water and energy savings, proper waste management, customer trust, and the economic benefits [68]. The costs of company modernization (especially in case of EMAS) were reported by relatively small number of organizations. These companies probably have borne the majority of these costs and investments during previous ISO 14001 implementation. The analysis of research results prompted authors to assess the impact of the EMS operating duration on benefits perceived by the organizations. Analyzed organizations were divided into two groups: companies with EMS functioning time for less than five years and companies with EMS functioning time for over five years.