Requirements of the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and the expected effects of its implementation in transport undertakings

Abstract

The environmental management system according to PN-EN ISO 14001: 2015 [1] is a system whose message is to protect the natural environment. The environmental management system focuses mainly on reducing waste, possibilities and methods of waste disposal, pre-venting pollution, reducing the use of natural resources, and in the context of the transport industry, reducing emissions. The idea of the system is continuous improvement of activities related to the protection of the natural environment - through identification of threats, risk assessment and mobilization of enterprises to comply with the requirements of law in the field of environmental protection. For many years, the transport industry has been governed by its laws. However, with the changing market, where apart from large transport concerns, there are also small and micro companies providing transport services that also have an impact on the environment in individual parts of the transport industry. There are more and more entrepreneurs, both Polish and foreign, specializing in the transport industry, hence legal regulations, EU regulations and industry standards or standards aimed at reducing the impact of transport on the natural environment appear. It seems that as of today, mobilizing enterprises of various sizes to implement unified rules, reduce emissions, oversee waste, implement unified management systems, including environmental management systems, is the most effective method of impacting the improvement of environmental protection in this area.