Determining environmental aspects for ISO 14001
Environmental aspects are the parts of your activities, products or services that can affect the environment. Think of energy use, waste or emissions. Identifying and assessing them is a core part of ISO 14001 . NEN provides the official text of the standard, and SCCM provides additional guidance. Below you read how to determine your environmental aspects, including a completed register example and a link to the requirements of the standard.
What is an environmental aspect?
An environmental aspect is an element of your organisation’s activities, products or services that can lead to an environmental impact. It is the cause, not the effect.
The distinction matters. Energy use is an environmental aspect. The greenhouse gas emissions that result from it are the environmental impact. Waste production is an aspect, the burden on the environment from landfill is the impact.
By identifying environmental aspects, you gain grip on where your environmental impact comes from. You can then take measures to reduce that impact.
Step 1: map your activities for ISO 14001
Start with an overview of all your organisation’s activities. Think broadly. Not only the core activities, but also supporting processes such as purchasing, transport, maintenance and waste management.
For a manufacturing company, this includes receiving and storing raw materials, the production process itself, packaging and dispatch, machine maintenance, cleaning, and office activities.
For a service provider, the activities are different, but they still exist. Think of running an office with computers and lighting, travelling to clients, printing documents, and delivering the service itself.
Step 2: identify the environmental aspects
For each activity, ask: what interaction does this have with the environment? What is consumed, emitted, discharged or produced?
Typical categories of environmental aspects are energy use in the form of electricity, gas and fuels. Water use covers processes, cleaning and sanitation. Raw material use includes the materials you purchase and process. Emissions to air can come from combustion processes, cooling installations or production. Discharges to water and soil arise from production processes or cleaning. Waste production takes many forms, from paper and plastic to hazardous waste. Noise and vibration can be relevant in production or transport. Finally, there is the category of transport for moving people and goods.
Do not forget indirect aspects. The environmental impact of products you purchase, the impact of your product at the customer, and the impact at the end of your product’s life.
You do not need to dig endlessly. Focus on aspects you can control or influence. You may find it hard to control the environmental impact of a supplier on the other side of the world, but your choice to buy from that supplier is within your control.
Step 3: determine significance
Not all environmental aspects are equally important. You assess which are significant, so you can focus your attention on them.
The standard does not prescribe which criteria to use, but common criteria are the scale of the environmental impact, how often the aspect occurs, applicable laws and regulations, concerns of interested parties such as neighbours or customers, and the degree to which you can control the aspect.
A simple method is to score each aspect against these criteria, for example on a scale of 1 to 3. Aspects that score above a certain threshold are considered significant.
Example of a significance assessment
| Aspect | Scale | Frequency | Legislation | Stakeholders | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy use in production | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Wastewater from production | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| Office paper waste | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Goods transport | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
With a threshold of 8, energy use, wastewater and transport are significant. Paper waste is not.
Step 4: document in a register
You record the environmental aspects in a register. For each aspect, this register contains the description, the related environmental impact, the significance assessment and, for significant aspects, the operational controls and objectives.
The register is not a static document. You update it when activities change, when there are new insights, or when the assessment changes.
Example of an environmental aspects register
Below is a completed environmental aspects register for an installation company. Each row shows the aspect, the environmental impact, the significance assessment and the measure. This is what a workable register looks like: concrete, brief, and linked to an action.
| Activity | Environmental aspect | Environmental impact | Legislation | Significant? | Operational control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driving to clients | Fuel use of vans | CO2 emissions | Municipal low-emission zones | Yes | Optimise route planning, switch to electric vans |
| Installing central heating boilers | Disposal of old boilers and metal | Loss of raw materials | Activities Decree under the Environment and Planning Act (Besluit activiteiten leefomgeving, Bal) | Yes | Collection by an approved recycler, separation of metal |
| Warehouse and office | Electricity use | CO2 emissions | None specific | No | LED lighting, green electricity |
| Working with refrigerants | Leakage from air conditioning units containing F-gases | Greenhouse effect | EU F-gas Regulation | Yes | Certified technicians, leak checks, registration |
| Packaging and materials | Cardboard and plastic waste | Burden on waste processing | Activities Decree under the Environment and Planning Act (Bal) | No | Waste separation on site |
The three significant aspects (fuel, old equipment, F-gases) get priority in the environmental objectives. You keep the non-significant aspects in the register, but without a separate objective. You work out which law or permit applies to each aspect in your legal register.
Since ISO 14001:2026, you must also consider climate change when determining your environmental aspects: is this aspect a source of climate change, or sensitive to it?
Keep the register compact. A table with the aspects, the impact, the assessment and the measure is enough. The auditor wants to see that you thought systematically, not that you wrote dozens of pages.
Examples by sector
Manufacturing company
At a manufacturing company, typical significant environmental aspects are the energy use of machines and installations, the use of raw materials and packaging materials, the production of process waste and packaging waste, emissions to air from combustion processes or the use of solvents, and discharges of process water.
The focus is often on energy efficiency, waste reduction, and preventing emissions and discharges.
Transport company
At a transport company, the main concerns are the fuel use of vehicles and the emissions of CO2 and fine particulates. In addition, vehicle maintenance involving oil use and waste, and tyre replacement involving rubber wear and tyre waste, play a role.
Objectives focus on more fuel-efficient driving, greening the fleet, and route optimisation.
IT service provider
At an IT service provider, the environmental aspects are less obvious, but they do exist. Think of the electricity use of servers and office equipment, the lifespan and disposal of hardware as e-waste, and business travel to clients.
Objectives can cover energy-efficient equipment, extending the lifespan of hardware, and reducing business mileage.
Construction company
At a construction company, the environmental aspects are varied. Material use of timber, concrete and steel plays a major role. In addition, there is construction waste and its separation, fuel use of construction plant and transport, noise and dust on the building site, and the risk of soil contamination.
The focus is on waste separation, efficient material use, and limiting nuisance.
Do not copy a standard list from the internet. Environmental aspects are specific to your organisation. An auditor will see through it if you have written down aspects that do not match your activities.
Dealing with changes
Your environmental aspects analysis is not a one-off exercise. If your activities, processes or products change, you must review the analysis.
Introducing a new production process? Assess the environmental aspects. Moving to a different site? Assess again. New laws or regulations? Check whether the significance assessment still holds.
The standard asks for an up-to-date overview. Plan periodic reviews, for example annually, and carry out an ad hoc review when important changes occur.
From aspects to objectives
Significant environmental aspects form the basis for your environmental objectives. If energy use is significant, you set targets to reduce it. If waste production is significant, you work on waste reduction.
Not every significant aspect needs its own objective. You prioritise based on where the greatest gains can be made, where you have the most influence, and what fits your resources and ambitions.
Common mistakes with environmental aspects
The most common mistake is not distinguishing between aspects and impacts. Energy use is an aspect, CO2 emissions are the impact. The auditor checks for this.
Another mistake is copying standard lists without adapting them to your own situation. Every organisation is different. What is significant for a manufacturing company does not have to be significant for a service provider.
Some organisations forget indirect aspects. The environmental impact of purchased products or of your product at the customer can be significant, even if you have less direct control over it.
Finally, the significance assessment is sometimes not recorded transparently. The auditor wants to see which criteria you used and how you reached your conclusions.
Next step after determining environmental aspects
With your environmental aspects mapped, you can formulate objectives and take measures. Read more about the requirements of the standard or go back to the step-by-step plan. Do you want to turn the aspects into concrete, measurable goals? See the page on environmental objectives for a SMART approach and example tables. Terms such as environmental aspect, significance and life cycle perspective are explained on the terms and definitions page. Are you working in construction? The page ISO 14001 in construction covers construction-specific aspects and tender requirements. Are you a manufacturing company? Then read ISO 14001 for manufacturing companies for a sector-specific approach.
Working further in practice
Also look at the steps before and after your own process. The explanation of the life cycle perspective in ISO 14001 helps you determine where purchasing, design, use and waste processing fall within your influence.