ISO 14001:2015 life cycle perspective

Definition of Life Cycle:

The definition of the life cycle as per ISO 14001:2015 is Consecutive and interlinked stages of a
product (or service) system, from the raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources
to final disposal. Life cycle stages include the acquisition of raw materials, design, production,
transportation/delivery, use, end-of-life treatment, and final disposal.
According to ISO 14001:2015 ,(0.2 Aim of an environmental management system) Life cycle
perspective is “A systematic approach to environmental management can provide top management
with information to build success over the long term and create options for contributing to
sustainable development by controlling or influencing the way the organization’s products and
services are designed, manufactured, distributed, consumed and disposed by using a life-cycle
perspective that can prevent environmental impacts from being unintentionally shifted elsewhere
within the life cycle“.

A system or life cycle can begin with extracting raw materials from the ground and generating
energy. Materials and energy are then part of manufacturing, transportation, use, and eventually
recycling, reuse, or disposal. In the context of this standard, the term life cycle refers to the
consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system from the acquisition of raw materials to end-
of-life disposal. A life cycle perspective means we recognize how our choices influence what happens
at each of these points so we can balance trade-offs and positively impact the economy, the
environment, and society. A life cycle approach is a way of thinking which helps us recognize how
our selections – such as buying a new machine or a raw material – are one part of a whole system of
events. A life cycle perspective identifies both opportunities and risks of a product or technology, all
the way from raw materials to disposal. To do this there is a continuum of life cycle approaches from
qualitative (life cycle thinking) to comprehensive quantitative approaches (life cycle assessment
studies). People, companies, and governments use these various life cycle perspective in anything
from day to day shopping, selecting office supplies for the workplace, engineering new product
design, or developing new government policy. The life cycle a product system includes all associated
activities, products, and services and may include procured goods and services as well as end-of-life
treatment, decommissioning, and disposal. A life cycle perspective includes consideration of the
environmental aspects of an organization’s activities, products, and services that it can control or
influence. Stages in a life cycle include acquisition of raw materials, design, production,
transportation/delivery, use, end of life treatment, and final disposal. When applying a life cycle
perspective to its products and services, the organization should consider the following:

 the stage in the life cycle of the product or service,

 the degree of control it has over the life cycle stages, e.g. a product designer may be
responsible for raw material selection, whereas a manufacturer may only be responsible for
reducing raw material use and minimizing process waste and the user may only be
responsible for use and disposal of the product,

 the degree of influence it has over the life cycle, e.g. the designer may only influence the
manufacturer’s production methods, whereas the manufacturer may also influence the
design and the way the product is used or its method of disposal,

 the life of the product,

 the organization’s influence on the supply chain,

 the length of the supply chain, and

 the technological complexity of the product.

The organization can consider those stages in the life cycle over which it has the greatest control or
influence as these may offer the greatest opportunity to reduce resource use and minimize pollution
or waste.

A Life-Cycle perspective Promotes

 Awareness that our selections are not isolated, but influence a larger system. Buying office
paper is a good example. If you knew that it takes 24 trees to create 50,000 sheets of office
paper and 2.3 cubic meters of landfill space to dispose of it, you might choose paper made
from recycled material and elect to support paper producers that source from sustainably
managed forests.

 Making choices for the longer term and considering all environmental and social
issues associated with those. Life cycle thinking helps us avoid short term decisions that lead
to environmental degradation – such as over-fishing or polluting our air with mercury.

 Improving entire systems, not single parts of systems, by avoiding decisions that fix
one environmental problem but cause another unexpected or costly environmental
problem. Life cycle thinking helps avoid shifting problems from one life cycle stage
to another, from one geographic region to another and from one environmental medium
(air, water or soil) to another.

 Informed selections, but not necessarily ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ ones. Life cycle thinking simply
helps us put our decisions in context with facts from all parts of the system or life cycle. It
means we look for unintentional impacts of our actions (such as damaging a natural eco-
system or inadvertently supporting unfair labour conditions and wages) and take some
action to prevent those impacts (such as purchasing office paper from sustainably managed
forests or coffee certified “fair trade”). For instance, if the shop around the block from your
office sells coffee grown by workers who receive a fair wage on the world market, cultivated
without pesticides that harm people planting or harvesting the beans and from a plantation
that did not cause an endangered forest to be chopped down, you might choose to purchase
your daily cup from that shop.
Why consider life cycle perspective?

The reason according to ISO 14001 (A.8.1 Operational planning and control) is that ‘Some of the
organization’s significant environmental impacts can occur during the transport, delivery, use, end-
of-life treatment or final disposal of its product or service. By providing information, an organization
can potentially prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts during these life cycle stages.‘
The organization considers the extent of control or influence that it can exert over activities,
products, and services considering a life cycle perspective.

Today organization and its employees in design, sales, and finance make many choices to
balance customer satisfaction, quality, innovation, safety, costs, and more. Thinking in terms of the
life cycle, businesses recognize that each choice sets the stage for not only how the product will look
and function, but also for how it will impact the environment and the community as it is
manufactured, used, disposed, or re-used and recycled. For example, washing machines,
refrigerators, and other appliances can be made from recycled materials, be free of
harmful substances, use minimal water and energy, and be designed to have a long life. Each
product characteristic is determined when the product is designed and will impact the environment
differently.

Products can be designed so they will have a less environmental impact when
they are manufactured, used, and discarded. Today, refrigerators are made
without CFC refrigerants that harm the ozone layer, and some models are also
designed to use half as much energy as they did 10 years ago.

To make decisions during product design, organization research where the raw materials might
come from, which manufacturing processes may be needed, who will use the product, what type of
maintenance and cleaning might be required, what types of waste will be created, and where the
product will go when it is discarded. To find this out, designers conduct life cycle studies and
measure the potential impacts of various options. (Example: The German carpet producer Donau-
Tufting GmbH conducted a life-cycle study of their carpet production. Based on what the study
found, Donau-Tufting decided to remove heavy-metal colourings and vulcanization chemicals from
the carpets they make. The company gained an advantage in the market over its competitors, as the
new carpet achieved an additional 25% turnover.).
The organization can also request such information from suppliers. With life cycle information,
companies are able to calculate the full life-cycle cost of the goods they purchase. This includes the
point-of-purchase price as well as the costs of transporting, storing, installing, cleaning, operating,
repairing, and eventually discarding those goods – also known as the ‘total cost’ of owning that
product (Example: A business which makes industrial cleaners worked with its chemical supplier to
identify the life cycle costs of manufacturing, purchasing, using, and disposing of the chemicals
supplied. Together, they used the results to identify changes in the formulation of the cleaner to
reduce these costs. Next, the business approached its customer who purchases the cleaner to wash
buses, subway cars, and train cars. The business calculated that this customer was paying not only
for the cleaner, but also for water use, cleaner spilt during use, and unused cleaner discarded as
residue in each packaging container. This customer also paid fees for special handling, storage,
worker training, and reporting on the use of the cleaner to comply with laws and regulations. But so
far this customer had never measured these costs or connected them with its choice of cleaner.
Seeing an opportunity to work with its customer, the business designed a cleaning “system” to
deliver cleaner to customers in one large container, connect it to a hose, mix it with the exact
amount of water, and apply it directly to the buses, subways, and train cars. The system would use
less water and less clean, eliminate handling and storage, and ensure cleaner wasn’t lost as residue
in packaging or as “waste” to the environment from spills. By managing all life cycle issues, the
system reduces the customer’s costs, manages risks to worker health and safety, mitigates
environmental impacts, and provides a longer-term contract for the business.)
A product designed with better environmental, social and economic performance across its life cycle
may have benefits the company can communicate to its customers. Some businesses elect to use
product declarations or other labels to market environmental and social attributes to their
customers. There are international standards for these business-to-business communications or
“environmental product declarations”. Each declaration must be based on a life cycle study and tell
the business customer about the life cycle environmental impacts of the component or product
being purchased. Declarations exist for building and construction products, refrigerators and other
appliances, chemicals, train cars, dairy products, and circuit breakers, to name a few. Life cycle
thinking that influences product design, strategic planning, procurement, and sales help businesses:

 Enhance their image and the value of their brands. The organization can avoid criticism and
participate in issues abroad or beyond their direct sphere of influence. Financial indices such
as the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) track and report the financial performance of
leading sustainability-driven businesses, worldwide.

 Find new ways for marketing and sales departments to communicate and interact with
customers – some fifty percent of the organization say they are interested in learning about
sustainability. This means a company can promote its products and services by talking about
its social and environmental attributes.

 Share lifecycle information with suppliers, customers, and waste handlers to identify risks
and opportunities for improvement – the risks might relate to the environment, human
health, safety, and finance, while opportunities could include growing market share, brand
image, effective use of materials, and innovation. Together, businesses can find new ways to
improve output while optimizing their use of time, money, labour, and material input

Providing Life Cycle Information to Customers

Market interest in environmental information on products that is credible, unbiased, verifiable, and
covers the entire life cycle is growing. To be complete, the information should cover the product life
cycle from acquiring raw materials to recycling those materials when the product is no longer in use.
Environmental product declarations (EPDs) are meant to provide this type of information in
business-to-business communication, promoting “green procurement” in the business and public
sectors. Companies use EPDs to communicate their product’s environmental performance. ABB, a
global manufacturer of power and automation technologies for utility and industry customers, has
more than 40 EPDs for a range of its products. EPDs include information about any hazardous
substances, disassembly, recovery, and recycling of used products and waste. Quantified life cycle
information from an EPD is also a necessary input for many ABB customers working to modify
and improve the environmental performance of their products and services through eco-design and
innovation

Is Life cycle assessment a requirement in ISO 14001:2015?

No, it is not a requirement as clearly stated in Annex to ISO 14001 (A.6.1.2 Environmental aspects):
‘When determining environmental aspects, the organization considers a life cycle perspective. This
does not require a detailed life cycle assessment; thinking carefully about the life cycle stages that
can be controlled or influenced by the organization is sufficient. Typical stages of a product life cycle
include raw material acquisition, design, production, transportation/delivery, use, end-of-life
treatment, and final disposal. The life cycle stages that are applicable will vary depending on the
activity, product or service.‘

The inclusion of life cycles in ISO 14001:2015 doesn’t mean an intricate and heavily detailed analysis.
The standard even goes so far as stating in Annex A that a detailed life cycle assessment is
not required “…. thinking carefully about the life cycle stages that can be controlled or influenced by
the organization is sufficient “.
It calls this lower level approach taking a life cycle ‘perspective’ rather than an ‘assessment’ and the
difference is an important one. One of the differences in the extent of an organization’s ‘control’ or
‘influence’ over the various life cycle stages and how that extent will be a crucial factor in the
breadth of the perspective considering the whole cycle. Thinking about the practical limits of where
an organization can directly control matters, where it can influence them and where that influence
begins to have little or no effect will certainly force clarity on the scope of the exercise and on the
environmental management system (EMS). Even though the standard is clearly steering
organizations away from a detailed life cycle assessment in the initial stages, the top-level exercise
like the one being promoted can still reap benefits (for example, new design possibilities, energy
savings, synergies in the supply chain). Any more detailed follow-up analysis, however, is in the
hands of the organization itself and can’t be ‘demanded’ by an auditor or driven by an external
certification body. To have a perspective implies viewing something from a singular point. Therefore
taking a perspective on a life cycle means viewing the entire life cycle from the position that you or
your organization has within that cycle and capturing the unique properties of such a view.
Finally, the whole point of a cycle is that it repeats itself, otherwise it is not cyclical. No two cycles
repeat themselves in exactly the same way or result in the same outcome. Life cycles of similar
products might look the same on the surface, but underneath, the environmental impacts could vary
widely. The real key to unlocking the benefits of taking a life cycle perspective lies in how it enhances
the various parts of your existing EMS. These benefits are less reliant on the level of detail but hinge
more on the sensible use of the information generated. More data may not mean more
information. To understand how this might work in practice, we need to look in more detail at how
life cycle thinking can affect individual elements of your existing EMS and the most obvious initial
point of impact on an EMS is in the steps required to establish an organization’s operating
and commercial context. Even though a formal life cycle assessment is not a requirement for your
EMS, understanding the life cycle of your product or service is necessary to get the job done. This
needs to include all aspects of your product life cycle such as product packaging, packaging for
shipment, and even the final disposal of your product.

ISO 14001 key requirements that refer to the life cycle perspective are:

I Scope

“This International Standard is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and
nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products, and services that the
organization determines it can either control or influence considering a life cycle perspective.”
There’s more to understanding an organization’s effective reach than direct managerial control of
activities. As per ISO 14001:2015 (A.4.3 Determining the scope of Environmental management
system ) “In setting the scope, the credibility of the environmental management system depends
upon the choice of organizational boundaries. The organization considers the extent of control or
influence that it can exert over activities, products, and services considering a life cycle perspective.”
No organization exists in a vacuum but is part of a complex web of buying, selling and exchanging. At
each transactional point, there’s an opportunity to make a decision that favours minimization of
negative or promotion of positive environmental impacts. Until now, most organizations have
looked at the minimum starting point of what is in their direct control; an approach that tends to
focus on the physical boundaries of an operational site and everything inside that perimeter. Many
have not progressed much beyond that view. Some might have revisited the scope due to
managerial or operational changes, some may even have embraced the idea that sourcing raw
material can benefit from the attention of an environmental manager, revealing the power of a
procurement policy that brings financial as well as reputational benefits. All these management
system scopes have their advantages, but they are all dogged by a conscious decision to take a
limited view of the whole. The obvious next step is to relate the scope of your existing EMS to the
number of stages in the life cycle of your product or service. Usually, this will be no more than one or
two if you are thinking about direct control in relation to the responsibility; looking at the stages
immediately adjacent and either side of your operations and the potential for influence can be an
eye-opening experience for many. In such cases, life cycle thinking, whether prompted by internal
initiatives, external product or material related legislation, has given new ideas, flushed out new
opportunities, new challenges and revealed hitherto unforeseen exposures to risk. Ultimately this is
more than a choice about credibility, reputation or corporate social responsibility. Taking this
approach increases an organization’s resilience, continuity, risk management and the promotion of
innovation through opportunity identification and realization. If an organization needs to
demonstrate that they are taking the ‘life cycle perspective’ requirement into account, they may also
need to account for any obvious disparity between an EMS scope and the specific characteristics of
the life cycle involved. So, for example, if areas out of the scope for EMS purposes such as suppliers,
transport or end-user disposal remain out of scope, the conscious decision taken to exclude such
factors may need supporting with further evidence

6.1.2 Environmental aspects

“Within the defined scope of the environmental management system, the organization shall
determine the environmental aspects of its activities, products, and services that it can control and
those that it can influence, and their associated environmental impacts, considering a life cycle
perspective.”
Looking at the requirement in Clause 6.1.2 one can see that the three elements that have to work
together are control, influence and life cycle. They should come from a consistent position
and inform one another on an ongoing, dynamic basis. New information or a change in one should
lead to the changes being reflected in the others. In turn, the system overall should reflect the
decisions taken with regard to the amount of control and influence that can be exercised, and how
far upstream and downstream of operations it can be usefully applied. Even more importantly, the
process of identification and evaluation of significant aspects should also be based on that same life
cycle perspective. If it has not been previously applied to that process, it may change the overall
significance rating, with new aspects added to reflect the increased sphere of influence being
considered. It can’t be overemphasized that this evaluation of aspects is a core element of the
system. If the process does not accurately reflect the management system scope or has an
evaluation structure that is not consistently applied across all the potential aspects and impacts,
the rest of the system is unlikely to rectify such problems. An extension of scope and a willingness to
start exercising influence through buying habits, information giving or rethinking design elements of
a product are all good decisions in themselves but any such changes will need to be consistent with
the identified and relevant environmental aspects as well. The outputs from the evaluation
of aspects and impacts will need a further examination for risks and opportunities in order to meet
the requirements of Clause 6.1.1. At the same time, these are added to a consideration of the risks
and opportunities related to contextual issues identified in Clause 4.1. All of which means that any
change prompted by the life cycle perspective already discussed in relation to these earlier clauses
should show up throughout the planning process.
So, in summary, when identifying the environmental aspects of your product or service, you need to
consider the entire life cycle of the product or service, and during your design and development of
the product and service, you need to identify what operational controls you will put in place to
address any significant environmental aspects. Here are some examples of environmental aspects
and operational controls that might not have been captured with the current requirements of ISO
14001:

 At the end of life, is there a way to recycle your product? Even if there is, could you recycle
the product better and re-use some materials? Many companies are starting to have
products returned at the end of life to be properly recycled, such as paint at hardware stores
or electronics at special electronic recycling depots. This allows for better and more
environmentally friendly recycling with the possibility of reclaiming materials for reuse.

 For a product made of plastic, have you considered the type of plastic it is made of? Could
the product be made of a material that is more easily recycled at the end of life? Could it be
made of a material that can be reused rather than recycled?

 When packaging your product, what are you using? If you are packaging in a large plastic
container, could the container size be reduced, or the material changed to something that
does not use a non-renewable natural resource?

 For delivery service, have you considered your packing materials and how they impact the
environment? Instead of plastic packaging material, have you considered biodegradable
material made from corn starch or another material? Some companies are even using
popcorn as a packaging material, which is easily biodegraded.

 Have you considered the impact of your recycling partners? Remember that you need to
consider environmental aspects that you can influence, as well as those you can control. This
means that choosing a metal recycling company that is closer to your facility could be more
environmentally friendly that one that is far away, due to the distance the trucks would have
to travel.

 Have you considered the impact of your delivery partners? How often does your delivery
company maintain its vehicles? Is there an alternate company that has cleaner-burning
delivery vehicles? Identifying how your delivery company impacts the environment and
making your choices accordingly is one way that you can influence the impacts of these
environmental aspects.

8.1 Operational Planning and Control

”Consistent with a life cycle perspective, the organization shall:

establish controls as appropriate to ensure that its environmental requirement(s) are addressed in
the design and development process for the product or service, considering each stage of its life
cycle;
determine its environmental requirement(s) for the procurement of products and services as
appropriate;
communicate its relevant environmental requirement(s) to external providers, including
contractors;
consider the need to provide information about potential significant environmental impacts
associated with the transportation or delivery, use, end-of-life treatment and final disposal of its
products and services.”

The outputs from all the planning turn into the reality of day-to-day operations. Thus the life cycle
perspective gets a specific mention in the major ‘doing’ clause where the interface between the plan
and the complexity of operations is manifested in a series of controls. Planning and designing those
controls is an art in itself, especially where there is no direct employee of the organization involved,
where the process might be outsourced, or where the control is shared between the organization
and a supplier or contractor. Deciding at what point control becomes influence can also be
another important consideration in ensuring that the management of individual processes is
consistent, thorough but not constrictive. Here, consistency with the outputs of the earlier life cycle
thinking can shed light on areas that may formerly have been considered indistinct or that have
traditionally benefitted from a simple functional approach. In many cases, it highlights areas where
the levers of influence lie. Life cycle work can point out where

 purchasing policies need support with enough details so that it’s possible to go beyond lip
service,

 service level agreements can be drawn up informed by the chance to access and manage
both risks and opportunities,

 potential contract variations with contractors and suppliers can be revisited for mutual
benefit, and

 outsourcing processes have or can deliver benefits other than reduced costs by releasing
new and improved levels of environmental or resource-related performance,
still measurable in financial terms
Practical help – Life cycle perspective

A life cycle perspective includes consideration of the environmental aspects of an organization’s

activities, products, and services that it can control or influence. Stages in a life cycle include
acquisition of raw materials, design, production, transportation/delivery, use, end of life treatment,
and final disposal.
When applying a life cycle perspective to its products and services, the organization should consider
the following:

 the stage in the life cycle of the product or service,

 the degree of control it has over the life cycle stages, e.g. a product designer may be
responsible for raw material selection, whereas a manufacturer may only be responsible for
reducing raw material use and minimizing process waste and the user may only be
responsible for use and disposal of the product,

 the degree of influence it has over the life cycle, e.g. the designer may only influence the
manufacturer’s production methods, whereas the manufacturer may also influence the
design and the way the product is used or its method of disposal,

 the life of the product,

 the organization’s influence on the supply chain,

 the length of the supply chain,

 the technological complexity of the product.

The organization can consider those stages in the life cycle over which it has the greatest control or
influence as these may offer the greatest opportunity to reduce resource use and minimize pollution
or waste.
Life Cycle Tools

Life cycle thinking can be put into practice in many ways… involving a number of different “tools”.
Referring to eco-labels, sustainability indices, and company reports on environmental and social
issues help individual citizens bring life cycle thinking into purchasing decisions. Governments take a
life cycle approach to policy-making by involving a wide range of stakeholders (such as via Product
Panels), life cycle modelling, or new policy approaches (such as Integrated Product Policy). In private
sector companies, engineers and designers apply life cycle thinking when designing products and
services, via studies based on Life Cycle Assessment), Total Cost of Ownership calculations, Design-
for-Environment programs and management systems oriented toward products or facilities.
Quantitative and qualitative tools for mapping life cycles and measuring impacts continue to evolve
as more professionals apply life cycle thinking and ask for life cycle information.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Design for Environment (DfE), Product-Service Systems (PSS) &
Integrated Product Policy (IPP) are all responses to the identified need for a paradigm shift in our
approach to achieving sustainable development – each builds on the concept of life cycle thinking.