ISO 14001 delivers profits

Registering to the international environmental quality standard pays off in several ways.

Prior to the introduction of ISO 14001 more than three years ago, U.S. companies developed internal environmental management systems (EMS) for the primary purpose of increasing profitability. Because of the lack of guidance and structure of creating an EMS-as well as the added costs-few companies chose to do so. Today, however, approximately 10,000 companies worldwide, including large U.S.-based Companies such as Ford and IBM, have registered to the ISO 14001 EMS. Market pressure making more companies believe that ISO 14001 is a necessary business tool.