Certification · environmental management
ISO 14001: the 2026 edition, and what a certificate proves
ISO 14001 is the international standard for an environmental management system, and its fourth edition, ISO 14001:2026, replaced the withdrawn 2015 edition on 15 April 2026.
In the UK, certificates move to the new edition on UKAS’s transition timeline, which ends on 30 April 2029 and starts with a deadline for the certification bodies themselves.
A certificate attests a system, not a result, and it is voluntary: it discharges no UK legal duty.
The standard
A system standard, not a performance standard
ISO 14001 sets the requirements for an environmental management system: the arrangements an organisation uses to understand its environmental context, identify its environmental aspects, meet its compliance obligations and improve.
It is the most widely held environmental certification there is; ISO’s publication notice puts the figure at more than 670,000 certified organisations, citing the ISO Survey for 2024.
The point most often missed is in the standard’s own Clause 1: “This document does not state specific environmental performance criteria.”
Section 0.3 adds that adopting the requirements “will not in itself guarantee optimal environmental outcomes”, and that two organisations with similar activities can have different obligations and goals and both conform.
So a certificate answers one question: does this organisation run a management system that meets the standard.
It does not say whether emissions are falling, and a tender asking for evidence of performance needs a measured number as well, built with the GHG Protocol and reported by scope.
The standard follows the high-level structure shared by ISO management system standards, which UKAS describes as retained in the 2026 edition: context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation and improvement.
That shared structure is why ISO 14001 sits easily beside ISO 9001 for quality and ISO 50001 for energy in one integrated system.
| A certificate says | A certificate does not say |
|---|---|
| The organisation runs an environmental management system that meets ISO 14001 | That its emissions or waste fell |
| A certification body audited the system against the standard | That it performs better than a competitor |
| Which edition, which sites and which activities were in scope | That it complies with SECR, ESOS or any other UK duty |
| When it was issued and when it expires | That ISO itself certified it — ISO certifies no one |
The edition
ISO 14001:2015 is withdrawn; cite the edition every time
ISO’s catalogue record for ISO 14001:2015 now reads Status: Withdrawn, at stage 95.99, with ISO 14001:2026 named as the new version.
The fourth edition’s Foreword states the relationship exactly: it “cancels and replaces the third edition (ISO 14001:2015), which has been technically revised. It also replaces the Amendment ISO 14001:2015/Amd 1:2024.”
It runs to 36 pages and comes from ISO/TC 207/SC 1, the environmental management subcommittee.
The catalogue’s life-cycle table dates the passage to the day: stage 60.00 on 3 March 2026 and stage 60.60, published, on 15 April 2026.
Two ISO addresses now point at two editions: iso.org/standard/14001 serves the current edition, and the numbered record 60857 keeps the withdrawn one, so a link to one is not a link to the other.
ISO gives an instruction for describing certificates while both are in circulation: say “certified to ISO 14001:2026”, not just “certified to ISO 14001”.
Until 2029 an unqualified “ISO 14001 certified” is genuinely ambiguous, and a buyer asking for “ISO 14001” without a year has not specified which edition it wants.
The useful request is the edition, the certificate number and the body that issued it.
- 3 Mar 2026Stage 60.00
ISO 14001:2026 under publication.
- 15 Apr 2026Stage 60.60
ISO 14001:2026 published; the 2015 edition withdrawn (95.99).
- 7 May 2026UKAS bulletin
The transition plan for UK-accredited bodies.
- 22 May 2026Revision 1
UKAS clarifies assessment effort and the portal.
What changed
Editorial in ISO’s words, structural in places in UKAS’s
Two owners describe the same revision, and both descriptions are worth reading because they emphasise different things.
| Source | What it says about the 2026 edition |
|---|---|
| ISO, three main areas | A broader environmental context — pollution, resource availability, climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem health — in Clauses 4.1 and 4.2; stronger leadership accountability; a clearer focus on outcomes |
| ISO, key changes | A new Clause 6.1.4 on risks and opportunities; a formal approach to managing change in Clause 6.3; “outsourcing” becomes “externally provided processes, products and services”; documented internal audit programmes and objectives |
| UKAS, six areas | Updated environmental concepts; clauses linked for clarity and traceability; new or strengthened requirements; greater emphasis on evidence and documentation; stronger control of external providers; clarifications to requirements carried over |
| UKAS, scale | Revisions “mostly minor compared to previous revisions”, but “the implications will require careful consideration”; Annex A revised |
| UKAS, emphasis | “A stronger focus on environmental performance while retaining the high-level structure informed by core Appendix SL” |
ISO’s brochure language is that the edition brings clarity, sustainability and integration rather than new obligations, while ISO’s explainer calls it a step change in how environmental management supports performance.
The two descriptions are reconcilable: a system standard can require an organisation to attend more closely to performance — set objectives, measure, evaluate, improve — without ever prescribing a level it must reach.
The 2026 edition does more of the first and still none of the second, which is why Clause 1 is unchanged on the point.
For an organisation already certified, the practical reading is that the evidence an auditor asks for will change more than the duties do, especially around external providers and documented internal audits.
Annex A was revised too, and it is where an auditor goes to read what a clause is asking for.
Certification
Certification is one route of four, on a three-year cycle
Nothing in ISO 14001 requires certification, and section 0.5 sets out four ways to demonstrate conformity, of which certification is the fourth.
An organisation that “operates a system aligned to ISO 14001” is describing the first route, which the standard expressly contemplates and which is not a certificate.
A certificate is issued by a certification body, never by ISO: ISO says it “does not perform certification or issue certificates”.
Certification bodies work to ISO/IEC 17021-1, whose clause 9.1.3 sets the cycle: a two-stage initial audit, surveillance audits in the first and second years after the certification decision, and a recertification audit in the third year before expiry.
The initial audit is in two stages, and stage 2 takes place at the client’s sites to evaluate whether the system is implemented and effective.
The same standard keeps certifying and consulting apart: clause 5.2.5 bars a certification body from offering management system consultancy, with two-year bars after internal audits or related-entity consultancy.
Those clauses sit behind ISO’s paywall and their text has not been re-read for this page, so they are summarised here rather than quoted.
The practical consequence holds either way: there is no such thing as an “ISO 14001 certified consultant”, and a supplier offering both to implement your system and to certify it is offering something the certification body rules do not allow.
A consultancy may hold ISO 14001 for its own management system, which is a different and checkable claim; the carbon footprint consultant and ESG consultant guides cover what to ask a consultant instead.
| Route in §0.5 | What it is |
|---|---|
| 1. Self-declaration | The organisation determines and declares conformity itself |
| 2. Confirmation by interested parties | For example, customers confirm conformance |
| 3. External confirmation of a self-declaration | A party outside the organisation confirms the declaration |
| 4. Certification | An external organisation certifies the system — the only route that produces a certificate |
Accreditation
Accredited, or merely certified
ISO defines the two words carefully: certification is written assurance by an independent body that a system meets specified requirements, and accreditation is formal recognition that a certification body operates to international standards.
ISO also says accreditation “is not compulsory, and non-accreditation does not necessarily mean the certification body is not reputable” — so an unaccredited certificate is not automatically worthless, but it is not accredited certification.
In the UK, UKAS accredits EMS certification bodies against ISO/IEC 17021-1 together with ISO/IEC 17021-2, the competence requirements for auditing environmental management systems.
Only UKAS-accredited certificates carry the UKAS accreditation symbol, and the government’s accreditation guidance says it recognises only UKAS accreditation of organisations operating in the UK.
The new edition adds a timing trap: a body has to be accredited to audit ISO 14001:2026 before it can issue accredited certificates to it, and anything it issues earlier is unaccredited.
Between publication in April 2026 and a body’s own UKAS decision, a certificate to the 2026 edition from that body is therefore not an accredited certificate, whatever it says.
The check is the accreditation status of the body, which is public in the UKAS directory, and the certificate itself can be checked in UKAS CertCheck; UKAS accreditation explains both.
“Certification to ISO 14001:2026 shall only be issued under accreditation following a positive UKAS accreditation decision.
Any certification issued prior to this shall be considered unaccredited and managed in line with UKAS TPS 65 and IAF PR7 requirements.”
UKAS technical bulletin, Revision 2, 7 October 2026
The UK transition
Six UK dates, and whose deadline each is
The UK dates come from the transition-timeline table in the UKAS technical bulletin, Revision 2 of 7 October 2026, which replaced Revision 1 and brought the first transition tranche forward. The final transition deadlines are unchanged.
30 October 2026: the first tranche of UKAS transition decisions, where complete and sufficient evidence allows assessment and independent decision-making to finish in time.
1 November 2026: the second tranche begins.
31 December 2026: all certification bodies must submit their self-declarations.
30 April 2027: certification bodies must complete their own transition; missing defined milestones may put accreditation in the relevant scope at risk. A new-edition certificate is accredited only after a positive UKAS decision.
31 October 2027: bodies stop all new certifications to the previous version.
30 April 2029: bodies must have transitioned all certified customers to ISO 14001:2026.
Revision 2 puts the tranche decisions and the final deadlines on separate milestones; check whether each date applies to the certification body or its customer.
UKAS describes its assessment of each body as a self-declaration supported by a gap analysis and evidence of implementation, submitted through the UKAS portal, with a combination of desktop and remote assessment.
The check beside this text reads a certificate’s edition and date against those dates; the UK regulation timeline holds the rest of the year’s dates.
Check a certificate
Choose the edition and the issue date to see where the certificate stands against the UKAS timeline.
The dates are UKAS’s, for UK-accredited certification; ISO sets no international deadline.
Nothing you enter is saved.
The arithmetic
Why 15 October 2027 is the wrong date
Some certification bodies publish 15 October 2027 or 15 April 2029 as transition deadlines, and both come from arithmetic rather than from the UKAS table.
UKAS’s prose says new applications to the old version stop “after 18 months of the date of publication of the revised standard”, and 18 months from 15 April 2026 is 15 October 2027.
UKAS’s own table says 31 October 2027, and the table is the date to use.
Both UKAS dates fall out of a month-end convention: run the period from the last day of the month of publication, 30 April 2026, and 18 months gives the end of October 2027 while three years gives 30 April 2029.
Count from the publication day instead and you arrive at 15 October 2027 and 15 April 2029, which is where the wrong numbers come from.
Read the dates off the table rather than computing them, and treat any certificate plan that uses the 15th as one to correct.
Not international
What is not settled internationally
The UK dates are firm and attributable to UKAS; the international position is not, and a page that presented UKAS’s dates as global would be wrong.
ISO sets no transition end date: its notice says certified organisations “will have to transition… within the timeframe set by their certification cycle (typically around three years)”, and the withdrawn edition’s record tells them to consult their certification body.
The instrument that would normally fix an international deadline is a Global ACI mandatory transition document published through the International Accreditation Forum, and it had not been located for this page.
UKAS hedges against it in terms: if any part of its plan “materially conflicts with the anticipated publication of the Global ACI mandatory document”, the UKAS plan “will be updated”.
Accreditation bodies also differ by a day: UKAS gives 31 October 2027 and Accredia, the Italian body, gives 30 October 2027 — immaterial to a plan, and enough to show there is no single international date.
For a UK-accredited certificate, use UKAS’s dates and note that UKAS has reserved the right to move them.
Is ISO 14001 mandatory?
Does it satisfy any UK legal duty? No — it is voluntary
ISO 14001 is mandatory in the UK only where a contract makes it so; no statute requires an organisation to hold it.
It does not discharge SECR, the annual energy and carbon disclosure in a qualifying company’s own report, and the SECR requirements apply whether or not a certificate exists.
It does not discharge ESOS either: since 22 July 2026 the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme has two compliance routes, an ESOS energy audit or ISO 50001, and ISO 14001 is not one of them.
ISO 50001 is the standard with a statutory role, which is why ISO 50001 and ESOS are so often compared and why the two ISO standards get confused; the ESOS and SECR comparison shows how the two duties differ from each other.
A listed company reporting under the FCA’s final rules (PS26/19) reports against UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027; an ISO 14001 certificate is not a UK SRS disclosure, and the UK SRS legislation page sets out where those rules sit.
The panel beside this text works through each UK duty in turn, with the provision behind each answer.
Does an ISO 14001 certificate satisfy a UK legal duty?
No. An ISO 14001 certificate is voluntary, and it discharges none of the duties below.
Choose a duty to see why, and the provision behind the answer.
SECR is a disclosure a qualifying company makes in its own directors’ report. An ISO 14001 certificate is not that disclosure and does not change whether a company is in scope; the guidance adds that there is no statutory requirement to have the environmental information audited.
SI 2018/1155, amending Schedule 7 to SI 2008/410 · SI 2018/1155; Environmental Reporting Guidelines (March 2019) Ch.1 Action iv
Answers rest on the provisions named in each row.
Nothing you choose is saved.
Neighbouring standards
ISO 50001, ISO 14064-1 and EMAS: three different jobs
ISO 50001 is the energy management standard, and it is not being revised alongside ISO 14001: ISO 50001:2018 was reviewed and confirmed in 2024, with Amendment 1:2024 on climate action.
ISO 14064-1 is the greenhouse gas quantification and reporting standard, the one that produces a number; ISO 14001 produces a system, and a tender asking for “ISO 14001 emissions data” has confused the two.
ISO draws the EMAS comparison itself: “EMAS emphasizes performance improvement, while ISO 14001 focuses on the EMS itself.”
EMAS, under Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009, requires a verified, published environmental statement and demonstrated improvement, which is a different promise from ISO 14001’s.
The pairing that answers a buyer fully is a certificate for the system and a measured, sourced figure for performance, built on carbon accounting that would stand up under sustainability assurance.
The same distinction applies to other badges: B Corp certification is audited on an ISO/IEC 17021-1 basis but certifies different things.
| Standard | What it does |
|---|---|
| ISO 14001:2026 | An environmental management system; certifiable; no performance criteria |
| ISO 50001:2018 | An energy management system; reviewed and confirmed 2024; one of the two ESOS routes |
| ISO 14064-1:2018 | Quantifying and reporting an organisation’s GHG emissions; confirmed 2024, now flagged for revision |
| EMAS | The EU scheme built on performance improvement and a verified environmental statement |
Scale
More than 670,000 certificates, all moving to edition four
Every one of those certificates has to move to the fourth edition, through a certification body that must itself be accredited to the new edition first.
ISO cites the count to its 2024 survey, and from 2025 the ISO Survey is compiled from anonymised data in IAF CertSearch rather than published on ISO’s survey page, so the next count will come from a different place.
Cite the figure to ISO’s April 2026 notice, which states it.
Before the clock
What to do between now and 2029
| Step | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ask your certification body for the date of its positive UKAS decision for ISO 14001:2026 | Certificates issued before it are unaccredited; bodies have until 30 April 2027 |
| 2 | Run a gap analysis against the six areas UKAS names | Evidence and documentation, and control of external providers, are the two that change the most |
| 3 | Re-read Annex A, not only the clauses | It is where an auditor reads what a requirement means |
| 4 | Plan the transition into a surveillance or recertification audit you are already having | ISO expects transition within the certification cycle |
| 5 | Name the edition everywhere the certificate is quoted | ISO’s full-designation instruction; a tender library is where the old wording survives |
Do not plan to 30 April 2029: for most certified organisations the binding date is their own next surveillance or recertification audit, which falls well before it.
If the system feeds wider reporting, the guides to ESG reporting in practice and ESG frameworks show where its data is used, and double materiality explains how the context analysis in Clause 4 overlaps with EU reporting under the ESRS and the CSRD and UK SRS comparison.
For dates across UK regimes, the ESOS deadlines and the reporting landscape after modernising corporate reporting are covered separately.
Check your understanding
Seven things said about ISO 14001
Most errors about ISO 14001 share one shape: a fact about one edition, one country or one accreditation body, restated as a fact about the standard.
The withdrawn 2015 edition is still described as current in tender documents; the UK dates are described as international; and the performance language of the 2026 edition is read as performance requirements.
Each statement beside this text has an owner document behind its answer.
The frameworks that do set performance-related disclosure, such as TCFD and the ISSB framework, are reporting frameworks rather than certifications.
The climate transition plan guide covers the kind of target-and-action document a management system can support but does not replace.
True or false?
“ISO 14001:2015 is the current standard.”
“ISO 14001 certification proves environmental performance.”
“The transition deadline is 15 October 2027.”
“The UK transition dates apply internationally.”
“Certification bodies have until 2029 to get themselves ready.”
“ISO 14001 is mandatory for UK companies above a certain size.”
“A self-declared system aligned to ISO 14001 is a recognised route.”
7 claims.
Choose true or false for each.
Still open
What the record does not yet settle
The Global ACI mandatory transition document had not been located as at 1 October 2026; until it appears there is no international deadline to report.
The standard itself is sold, not published free: the quotations here come from ISO’s online preview and accredited national-body reproductions of identical text, not a purchased copy.
No located document says whether any UK sector or major buyer will require the 2026 edition ahead of UKAS’s dates.
When those change, the news log records it.
Where certification meets reporting
Guides that use ISO 14001
ESG criteria
What a buyer is assessing when it asks for a certificate.
ESG questionnaires
Where an ISO 14001 question sits among the rest.
ESG reporting template
A structure to write against, disclosures in order.
ESG reporting examples
Published disclosures, read closely.
ESG data management
The evidence a management system runs on.
ESG governance
Who owns the system and signs off its results.
ESG strategy
Where a management system fits in a wider plan.
The ESG pillars
Environment, social and governance, defined.
ESG standards
Which are standards and which are questionnaires.
The ESG manager role
Who usually runs the system day to day.
What is ESG?
The terms, from first principles.
ESOS requirements
The statutory audit duty, set out.
The documents
The standards family and who stands behind it
The ISO 14000 family and the audit standards
- ISOISO 14004 — general guidelines on implementing an EMS
- ISOISO 14031:2021 — environmental performance evaluation
- ISOISO 14064-1 — quantification and reporting of GHG emissions
- ISOISO 14067 — carbon footprint of products
- ISOISO 14040 — life cycle assessment, principles and framework
- ISOISO 14044 — life cycle assessment, requirements and guidelines
- ISOISO 14046 — water footprint
- ISOISO 14025 — type III environmental declarations
- ISOISO 19011 — guidelines for auditing management systems
- ISOISO 9001 — the quality standard built on the same structure
Who publishes, accredits and counts
- ISOISO/TC 207 — Environmental management (the committee)
- ISOISO/TC 207 — published standards
- ISOISO 14001 explained
- ISOISO 14001 — environmental management (topic page)
- ISOThe ISO Survey
- BSIBS EN ISO 14001 — the UK adoption
- BSIBSI — standards
- IAFInternational Accreditation Forum
- IAFIAF documents (mandatory documents are published here)
- IAFIAF CertSearch
- UKASUKAS — the UK national accreditation body
The UK duties and data a certificate sits beside
- GOV.UK (DESNZ)Environmental reporting guidelines, including SECR
- GOV.UKEnergy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
- GOV.UK (DESNZ)Government conversion factors for company reporting
- GOV.UK (DESNZ)UK greenhouse gas emissions statistics
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
Frequently asked
ISO 14001, answered
What is ISO 14001?
ISO 14001 is the international standard for an environmental management system: the arrangements an organisation uses to identify its environmental effects, meet its compliance obligations, set objectives and keep them under control.
It certifies a management system, not a level of environmental performance; Clause 1 says the standard does not state specific environmental performance criteria.
What is the latest version of ISO 14001?
ISO 14001:2026, the fourth edition, published on 15 April 2026.
Its Foreword says it cancels and replaces ISO 14001:2015 and the 2024 amendment.
ISO’s catalogue now shows ISO 14001:2015 as withdrawn, at stage 95.99.
Is ISO 14001:2015 still valid?
The standard is withdrawn, but certificates issued to it under accreditation remain valid through the transition.
For UK-accredited certification, UKAS says bodies stop issuing new certificates to the previous version on 31 October 2027 and must transition all certified customers by 30 April 2029.
When is the ISO 14001:2026 transition deadline?
For UK-accredited certification UKAS gives three dates: certification bodies complete their own transition by 30 April 2027, stop all new certifications to the previous version on 31 October 2027, and transition all certified customers by 30 April 2029.
ISO sets no international deadline, and UKAS has reserved the right to change its plan if the Global ACI mandatory transition document conflicts with it.
Is ISO 14001 mandatory in the UK?
No. ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard and no UK statute requires an organisation to hold it.
It does not discharge SECR, ESOS or the FCA’s UK SRS listing rules.
Customers and contracting authorities may ask for it in a contract, which is a commercial requirement, not a legal one.
Does ISO 14001 certification prove environmental performance?
No. Clause 1 states that the standard does not state specific environmental performance criteria, and section 0.3 says adopting it will not in itself guarantee optimal environmental outcomes.
ISO contrasts it with EMAS: EMAS emphasises performance improvement, while ISO 14001 focuses on the management system itself.
What changed in ISO 14001:2026?
ISO describes three areas: a broader understanding of environmental context including climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem health in Clauses 4.1 and 4.2; stronger leadership accountability; and a clearer focus on outcomes.
It adds Clause 6.1.4 on risks and opportunities and Clause 6.3 on planning changes, and replaces outsourcing with externally provided processes, products and services.
UKAS lists six areas of change and calls the revisions mostly minor, with implications needing careful consideration.
Do I have to be certified to use ISO 14001?
No. Section 0.5 gives four ways to demonstrate conformity: self-determination and self-declaration, confirmation by interested parties such as customers, external confirmation of a self-declaration, or certification by an external organisation.
Only a certificate from an accredited body is accredited certification.
How do I check an ISO 14001 certificate is genuine?
Check the body that issued it, not the certificate alone.
Look the body up in the UKAS directory, confirm its scope covers ISO 14001, and search the certificate in UKAS CertCheck.
For the 2026 edition, UKAS says certification issued before the body’s positive UKAS decision is unaccredited.
Who issues ISO 14001 certificates?
Certification bodies, which in the UK are accredited by UKAS against ISO/IEC 17021-1 with the ISO/IEC 17021-2 competence requirements for environmental management systems.
ISO itself does not perform certification or issue certificates.
How long does an ISO 14001 certificate last?
ISO/IEC 17021-1 sets a three-year certification cycle: a two-stage initial audit, surveillance audits in the first and second years after the certification decision, and a recertification audit in the third year before the certificate expires.
Can a consultant be ISO 14001 certified?
There is no such thing as an ISO 14001 certified consultant.
ISO 14001 certifies an organisation’s management system, and the certificate is issued by a certification body.
A consultancy may hold ISO 14001 for its own system and may help a client implement it; ISO/IEC 17021-1 bars a certification body from also providing management system consultancy.
Is ISO 50001 being revised at the same time?
No. ISO 50001:2018 was reviewed and confirmed in 2024 and remains current, with Amendment 1:2024 on climate action.
ISO 50001 has a defined role in ESOS, as one of its two compliance routes; ISO 14001 has none.
How many organisations hold ISO 14001?
ISO’s April 2026 news item states more than 670,000 certified organisations worldwide, citing the ISO Survey for 2024.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- ISOISO 14001:2026 — Environmental management systems (catalogue record, edition 4)
The current edition: published 15 April 2026, 36 pages, ISO/TC 207/SC 1; Foreword, Clause 1 and §§0.3 and 0.5.
- ISOISO 14001:2015 — catalogue record (Status: Withdrawn, stage 95.99)
The withdrawn third edition, and ISO’s instruction to consult the certification body on transition.
- ISOISO 14001:2026 is published (news, 15 April 2026)
The full-designation instruction, the EMAS comparison and the 670,000 certified organisations figure.
- ISOISO 14001:2026 — what has changed
ISO’s own account of the three areas of change, new Clause 6.1.4 and Clause 6.3.
- UKASTechnical bulletin: EMS ISO 14001:2026 transition (Revision 2, 7 October 2026)
The six areas of change, the transition timeline table, the unaccredited-issue rule and the Global ACI hedge.
- UKASCertification Body Accreditation — EMS to ISO 14001 under ISO/IEC 17021-2
How EMS certification bodies are accredited, and the rule that only accredited certificates carry the UKAS symbol.
- UKASFind an accredited organisation
The public directory used to check a certification body’s accreditation and scope.
- ISOCertification — ISO does not perform certification
The difference between certification and accreditation, in ISO’s words.
- ISOISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 — requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems
The certification cycle (clause 9.1.3) and the impartiality rules for certification bodies.
- ISOISO 50001 — energy management (reviewed and confirmed 2024)
The neighbouring standard, not being revised alongside ISO 14001, with a defined role in ESOS.
- European CommissionEMAS — the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
The performance-based scheme ISO contrasts ISO 14001 with.
- EUR-LexRegulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (EMAS)
The EMAS regulation itself.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/1643)
The statutory audit duty ISO 14001 does not discharge.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Companies (Directors’ Report) and LLP (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/1155)
SECR’s instrument: the statutory disclosure a certificate does not discharge.
- GOV.UK (DBT)Accreditation — guidance for business and government departments (updated 16 March 2026)
Government recognises only UKAS accreditation of organisations operating in the UK.