QMS & EMS London

The revised standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001: 2015, was published on 15 September. The international standard was first published in 1996 and the latest version replaces the 2004 edition. About 300,000 organisations around the world are certified to 14001, including nearly 16,000 in the UK. ISO said the latest revisions aimed to ensure 14001 remained relevant and that the changes responded to the latest trends, such as an increasing recognition by companies of the need to factor in external and internal elements that influence their impact, including climate volatility.

More than three-quarters of the EU's important natural habitats are classified as "unfavourable", with many species threatened with extinction, according to the European commission. The findings came in the commission's mid-term review of the EU biodiversity strategy , which aims to halt biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystem services by 2020. Much more needs to be done on the ground to translate policy into action, the commission said. It wants biodiversity to be integrated into policies on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, regional development and trade.