ISO 14000 - An Industry Perspective

SAE research into the ISO 14000 series of standards offers insights into the opinions and attitudes of the experts, U.S. industry leaders and government representatives. A series of focus groups with industry leaders, in-depth interviews and a review of secondary research data, provide a perspective on the ISO 14000 series as it is understood on the eve of acceptance by the international community. This research study, sponsored by SAE, explores reactions to both the early components of the standard (14001 and environmental management systems scheduled to be adopted in the summer of 1996) and those portions of the standard still being developed which relate more specifically to product components and the global standardization of life cycle analysis and eco-labeling. Findings in this study suggest that: (1) there is little consensus on the impact ISO 14000 will have on U.S. industry, (2) that the new environmental standard is not seen as a market driven force and (3) that U.S. based businesses may be even more reticent to embrace the standard than they were to embrace ISO 9000.