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FAQ

What is the difference between standard ISO 14001 and an eco-label?

In the past, businesses tended to focus their environmental initiatives on issues relating to production facilities (plant-based approach), i.e the "remedial" management of air and water pollution and waste; the focus then shifted to the development of "preventive" approaches targeting the deployment of "greener" procedures and technologies designed to reduce discharges from production facilities, as well as their consumption of energy and raw materials, etc.

This led to the adoption of new environmental management systems, the best known and most widely used of which is described in standard NF EN ISO 14001.

 

However, businesses may also extend their environmental initiatives beyond the boundaries of their production facilities to factor in a product's environmental considerations throughout its entire life cycle. This is known as the product-centred approach which focuses on methods such as eco-design or eco-labelling.
While the "plant" and "product" approaches are complementary, they provide buyers with two different types of information.
The "plant" approach is based on obligations of means and on the drive to achieve targets set by the business itself. The "product" approach focuses on environmental performance targets that are specifically quantified, matched to the product, and subject to guidelines. These guidelines are often drawn up jointly at sector level, and sometimes, as is the case with eco-labels, involve a number of third parties, i.e. consumers, public authorities and experts.


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