ISO 14001 2004

The ISO 14001 standard expects you to:

• Develop an environmental policy for your organization.
  Your policy should make it clear that your organization supports
  the establishment of an environmental management system.
  It should also make it clear that you are committed to protecting
  the environment and improving your organization’s environmental performance.

• Establish an environmental management system (EMS).
  An EMS is a network of interrelated elements. These elements
  include responsibilities, authorities, relationships, functions,
  processes, practices, procedures, and resources.

• Identify the most significant environmental aspects of your
  past, present, and future activities, products, and services.
  An environmental aspect is any feature or characteristic of 
  an activity, product, or service that has or could have
  an impact on the environment.

• Clarify and respect the legal and other requirements that apply
  to your organization’s environmental aspects. ISO 14001 wants
  you to identify and meet these requirements.

• Set environmental objectives and targets for all relevant functions
  and levels within your organization. Your objectives and targets
  should address significant environmental aspects and be
  consistent with your environmental policy.

• Create programs to implement your environmental policy and 
  achieve your environmental objectives and targets. Make sure
  that your programs allocate responsibility for implementing your
  environmental policy and achieving your environmental
  objectives and targets.

• Evaluate your environmental management system in order
  to identify opportunities for improvement. ISO 14001 expects
  you to monitor, measure, audit, and review your EMS in order
  to identify corrective and preventive actions and to improve
  your overall environmental performance. It also expects you
  to make sure that your environmental policy is appropriate
  and being applied, and that your environmental objectives
  and targets are being achieved.