ISO 14001:2015 emphasizes a life cycle perspective for environmental management, requiring businesses to assess the full life cycle of their products and services, from raw material acquisition to disposal. This approach encourages organizations to identify significant environmental impacts throughout the entire process, including upstream and downstream activities, rather than focusing solely on onsite operations. By adopting this perspective, companies can better manage their environmental responsibilities and enhance sustainability in their supply chain and product lifecycle.

1. ISO 14001:2015
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

2. LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS
• The revised environmental management standard requires businesses to
undertake a life cycle perspective of their goods and services.
• This involves looking beyond the business processes and considering the
entire life cycle of the product or service.
• Enables the processes with the dominant environmental impacts to be
revealed.
• Need not necessarily be one’s own production process. Depending on the
type of product and use, the raw materials, transportation, use phase or
disposal may be the main drivers of environmental impacts.

3. WHAT IS A LIFE CYCLE?
 The definition of life cycle is ‘Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product
(or service) system, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural
resources to final disposal.
 Life cycle stages include acquisition of raw materials, design, production,
transportation/delivery, use, end-of life treatment and final disposal.’

4. WHY INCLUDE LIFE CYCLE PERSPECTIVE?
• According to ISO 14001 - A systematic approach to environmental
management can provide top management with information to build success
over the long term and create options for contributing to sustainable
development by controlling or influencing the way the organization's products
and services are designed, manufactured, distributed, consumed and disposed
by using a life cycle perspective that can prevent environmental impacts from
being unintentionally shifted elsewhere within the life cycle.

5. LIFE CYCLE APPROACH
• ISO 14001:2004 identified environmental Aspects that relate to products and
services, with most organisation concentrating on onsite activities only.
• This misses the environmental and business opportunity of addressing the
often more significant environmental impacts occurring in the supply chain, in
use phase or during disposal. The 2015 standard adds emphasis on lifecycle
thinking.
• • Environmental aspects should be considered at each stage of the lifecycle
(design, procurement, use, transport, end of life etc.) and not just those
relating to onsite activities

6. LIFE CYCLE APPROACH
• Consideration of environmental requirements at the design stage and during
procurement
• Information should be provided about potential significant environmental
impacts during the delivery of the products or services, during use and at the
end-of-life treatment of the product

8. PRACTICAL HELP – LIFE CYCLE PERSPECTIVE
When applying a life cycle perspective to its products and services, the
organisation should consider the following:
 the stage in the life cycle of the product or service,
 the degree of control it has over the life cycle stages, e.g. a
product designer may be responsible for raw material selection,
whereas a manufacturer may only be responsible for reducing raw
material use and minimizing process waste and the user may only
be responsible for use and disposal of the product,

9. PRACTICAL HELP – LIFE CYCLE PERSPECTIVE
• the degree of influence it has over the life cycle, e.g. the designer
may only influence the manufacturers production methods,
whereas the manufacturer my also influence the design and the
way the product is used or its method of disposal,
• the life of the product,
• the organization’s influence on the supply chain,
• the length of the supply chain, and
• the technological complexity of the product.
• The organisation can consider those stages in the life cycle over which
it has the greatest control or influence as these may offer the greatest
opportunity to reduce resource use and minimize pollution or waste.

10. LESSONS LEARNT FROM CERTIFICATION AUDIT
• Address the life cycle in the environmental aspects and implact
• Create a Life Cycle Perspective document which looks at the
following
• Suppliers who feed in to the supply chain
• Have the supplier ISO 14001 or an Environmental Policy
• Has a life cycle assessment been carried out on the aspect they
suppliers to the final product or service.