Itinerary (Route) of Events leading to development of

ISO14001 Standard

Year Event

1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment was held in Stockholm

1972 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was launched

1974 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was established for
reassessing the environmental impact in the context of development

1984 To improve its public image, the Chemical industry launched "Responsible Care
Programme"

1987 WCED published a landmark report "Our Common future" which introduced the term
"Sustainable Development" and urged the industry to develop effective environmental
management systems

1987 Montreal Protocol on control of substances that deplete the ozone layer

1989 Adoption of Basal Convention on Control of Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous waste

and their disposal

1990 The International Chamber of Commerce developed the Business Charter for Sustainable
Development

1991 ICC Business Charter was launched during the Second World Industry Conference on
Environment Management (WICEM)

1991 The UNCED established the Business Council on Sustainable Development (BCSD) which
approached the ISO to develop EMS standards.

1991 ISO established a Strategic Advisory Group on Environment (SAGE), which after conducting
feasibility study recommended formation of an ISO technical committee for developing

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 Itinerary (Route) of Events leading to development of

ISO14001 Standard

uniform international standard on EMS.

1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) also referred as the
Earth Summit held in Rio-de-Janerio considered how the world can move towards
sustainable development and adopted Agenda 21, a "global consensus and political
commitment at the highest" level on how governments, enterprises and non-governmental
organisations can co-operate to solve the crucial environmental problems of our time which
threaten human life and society.

1992 Adoption of Convention on Biodiversity to ensure conservation of biological diversity and its
sustainable use.

1992 United Kingdom brought out BS 7750 the first standard on Environmental Management
System.

1993 On the recommendation of SAGE, a technical committee (ISO/TC/207) on Environmental

Management was set up to develop ISO 14000 series of international standards on
environmental management systems over a wide range of topics related to environmental
management.

1993 European Union introduced the Eco-Management and Audit Regulation (EMAS) on
voluntary basis.

1995 The world Trade Organization (WTO) encouraged development of the ISO 14000 series of
international standards as the "level playing fields" as required by international trade
agreements.

1996 ISO 14001 standards was brought out by ISO. First Edition.

2004 Compatible with ISO 9001:2000. Second Edition.

2015 High level structure. Third Edition.

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