Measuring Carbon Footprint

[-ARK]

Hello Ladies and Gents,

Our company is considering getting ISO 14001 certification which is a body asking for an Environmental Management System. There are few tools for structural dept to measure their footprint and refine their choice of material, etc. I was wondering how we can contribute in a process department?

Results:
1. Adding an extra section in technical notes and reports calculating the design carbon footprint and propose more greener solutions if possible.
2. Redeployment of existing equipment.

I would like to ask your opinion regarding this as well.

Regards,
ARK

 

[bimr]

In order to be ISO 14001 certified, a company must:

Identify legal EMS requirements;
Define EMS scope, including the environmental policy and environmental aspects;
Establish EMS procedures and processes to ensure consistency that will help prevent negative environmental impacts and improve response to emergency situations;
Document implemented EMS procedures and processes to prevent environmental damage;
Perform employee training and awareness to explain the purpose of EMS and how it will be incorporated;
Choose a certification body to audit EMS processes for compliance with ISO 14001 requirements and evaluate the system for its effectiveness;
Operate the EMS and maintain records that will be needed during an audit to show that the processes meet the requirements defined;
Perform internal audits to make sure that the processes are functioning well. The audit will also help fix any problems that may arise;
Conduct management review for continued maintenance of the EMS;
Implement corrective action by finding the root cause of any problems found during measurements, internal audits or management review, and take corrective action.

Hard to tell since you don't identify the business that you are in.

Most interested companies hire consultants to walk them through the certification process. Ask the consultant. There may not be much that you can do other than have a control process for waste disposal.

 

[jaytelle]

Back in 2018 I developed an ISO14001 - EMS, that was certified about 6 months later, for a water/wastewater treatment chemical plant I worked at. In my experience, what you put in the EMS depends on what your goal is in having one in the first place. At the time ours was to decrease energy consumption and waste, so all the KPIs evolved around that. I think proposing green materials is a good idea - hard to give any more ideas with vague post though.

At the end of the day, I find ISO systems to be mostly a 'business' system rather than a 'lets do better' system. Most companies want an ISO system because customers want quality products (ISO9001) that are not harmful to the world (ISO14001). I always think unless customers demand it, or you think it will significantly increase business it probably is not worth the 15 or 20k per year, dependent on company size, for certifications. After all businesses shouldn't need certification to try to 'do better'.

I may have some old documents from when I put together an EMS, I'll check.

JL

 

[-ARK]

Hi, Thank you so much for your answer

Hi, we are a specialist consultancy offering conceptual studies and front end engineering. I was wondering if there is a way to come up with a general solution to and put in place to work for all kind of projects and it is audit-able. According to your quote We may be able to showcase our effort in being green project by project?

It would be great if I could have access to any kind of documents. Thank you so much.

Best regards,
Ark