How and Why ISO 14001 Standard has been evolved?

The concept of Environmental Management System emerged in early nineties and its genesis could be traced back to 1972 when the United Nations organised a Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm and subsequently launched the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This set the ball rolling for establishing the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), adopting Montreal Protocol and Basel Convention and holding United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) popularly known as Earth Summit in 1992, in Rio-de-Janeiro. All these initiation led to evolving the concepts of Sustainable Development and Environmental Management System (EMS).

The itinerary of events, which lead to development of ISO 14001 standard, is given in Table 2.

Table 2: Itinerary 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 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 Organisation (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 standard was brought out by ISO