ISO 14001 Clause 6: Planning
Clause 6 is the heart of environmental planning. It requires you to identify environmental aspects and impacts, determine compliance obligations, assess risks and opportunities, and set measurable environmental objectives.
Environmental Aspects and Impacts
Clause 6.1.2 requires your organisation to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products, and services that it can control or influence, along with their associated environmental impacts. This includes normal operating conditions, abnormal conditions, and reasonably foreseeable emergency situations.
You must determine which aspects are significant using defined criteria. Significant aspects drive the controls, objectives, and monitoring activities throughout the rest of the EMS.
Compliance Obligations
Clause 6.1.3 asks you to identify and have access to the compliance obligations related to your environmental aspects. These include legal requirements such as environmental permits, discharge consents, and waste regulations, as well as voluntary commitments the organisation has made, such as industry codes of practice or customer requirements.
Environmental Objectives and Planning
Clause 6.2 requires you to establish environmental objectives at relevant functions and levels. Objectives must be consistent with the environmental policy, measurable where practicable, monitored, communicated, and updated as appropriate. For each objective you must plan what will be done, what resources are needed, who is responsible, when it will be completed, and how results will be evaluated.
Key Requirements
- Identify environmental aspects and determine significant impacts using defined criteria
- Consider normal, abnormal, and emergency conditions in aspects identification
- Identify and maintain access to all compliance obligations
- Assess risks and opportunities related to aspects, compliance obligations, and context
- Establish measurable environmental objectives with action plans
Audit Questions
- How are environmental aspects identified and what criteria determine significance?
- Does the aspects register cover normal, abnormal, and emergency conditions as well as all life-cycle stages the organisation can influence?
- How does the organisation maintain a register of compliance obligations and ensure access to current legislation?
- Can you show the environmental objectives and demonstrate how they are measurable and time-bound?
- How are risks and opportunities addressed in the planning of EMS actions?
Get the Full Audit Checklist
Our ISO 14001 checklist includes detailed audit questions for Clause 6 and every other clause. Download it to support your internal audits.