Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

EPA's Position on EMS

ISO 14001
EPA supports and promotes the development and use of EMSs, including those based on the ISO 14001 standard (the international standard for EMSs), that help an organization achieve its environmental obligations and broaden environmental performance goals. EPA does not specifically favor ISO 14001 over other EMS models or approaches. The Plan-Do-Check-Act/Continual Improvement approach used by ISO 14001 and similar models has proven to be effective as applied to environmental management, but not all facilities have modeled their EMSs on ISO 14001.
EMS at EPA
EPA is committed to implementing EMSs for its own employees, operations and facilities that focuses on compliance, pollution prevention and public outreach.
EPA's Position Statement on EMSsOn December 15, 2005, the EPA reissued its Position Statement on Environmental Management Systems (EMS). The revised Position Statement reaffirms the Agency’s long-held opinion that implementing an EMS will enable businesses, agencies, and other institutions to improve their environmental performance and business competitiveness.
Agency EMS PoliciesThis section contains a more complete discussion of EPA's Policies and approaches to EMS development including EPA's Position Statement on EMS, EPA's Own EMS Policy, and EPA's Strategy for Determining the Role of Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) in Regulatory Programs (EMS Strategy).
More Information
For a more complete discussion of EPA's Policies please see the links below:
Executive Order 13148: Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental ManagementThis order requires that by April of 2002, each Federal agency implement environmental management systems (EMS) pilot projects at selected facilities and by December 31, 2005, implement EMSs at all appropriate agency facilities. The EO also directs Federal agencies to conduct an agency-wide self assessment using an accepted EMS framework by October of 2001.
Federal Sector EMS ResourcesThis page provides descriptions and links to resources for federal agencies to use when developing and implementing an EMS for their operations. Many of these resources may be of use to other organizations as well. You can also find a list of EMS resources developed by EPA's Federal Facilities Enforcement Office (FFEO).
EPA's strategy for determining the role of EMSs in Regulatory Programs (PDF, 20 pages, 166 KB)This document is EPA's strategy for addressing the question of whether—and if so, how—it may also be appropriate to consider EMSs in the context of the Federal regulatory structure, either to improve the design of regulatory programs, to encourage the use of EMSs, or both. EPA wishes to make clear that it has no intention of mandating the use of EMSs in rules and permits.