Developing insights in the environmental performance of organizations; Testing a tool that provides insights in the results of environmental management systems of companies with the ISO 14001:2015-certificate.

Abstract

This study focuses on the environmental performances of organizations with the ISO 14001:2015-certificate. The standard demands a continuous improvement of environmental management systems, but does not state how and to what extent environmental performances have to improve. This results in a debate among scholars about the effect of the ISO-standard on environmental performances. To gain insights in the effect of the ISO-standard on environmental performances the Environmental Performance Scale (EPS) has been developed. The EPS is a tool that provides business who are certified with more insights in their environmental management systems with the aim to improve environmental performances. Identifying the most relevant qualifications of a good functioning environmental performance instrument, this study enables to determine how the EPS meet these qualifications. Furthermore, this study identifies the demand for a tool to measure the environmental performances of organizations with the ISO 14001:2015-certificate, determines the EPS’ applicability, the added value for both organizations and the ISO-standard, and will validate the instrument via a test-pilot. This study is relevant for organizations with an ISO 14001:2015 certificate, not only to gain more insight in their environmental management systems, but also to truly contribute to the improvement of environmental performances.