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Environmental Analysis: Identifying Aspects and Impacts per ISO 14001

Environmental analysis is the key step of the ISO 14001 environmental management system. It identifies environmental aspects and evaluates their impacts to prioritize actions.

IICP HSE Academy Published on 18 October 2026 6 min read 16 views
Analyse environnementale — Aspects et impacts

Environmental Analysis: Identification of Aspects and Impacts according to ISO 14001

The environmental analysis is the key step of the ISO 14001 environmental management system. It consists of identifying environmental aspects and assessing their impacts to prioritize actions.

The environmental analysis is a foundational step of the Environmental Management System (EMS) ISO 14001:2015. It consists of identifying the environmental aspects of an organization and assessing their impacts in order to prioritize improvement actions. Its rigor determines the performance of the system.

Definition and Objective

The objective of the environmental analysis is to establish a comprehensive snapshot of the interactions between an organization's activities and the environment. It builds the framework upon which environmental objectives, action plans, and performance indicators are based (Chapter 6.2 of ISO 14001:2015).

Distinction: Aspect vs. Impact

ISO 14001 strictly distinguishes between two complementary concepts:

  • Environmental Aspect: An element of an organization's activities, products, or services that can interact with the environment (e.g., water consumption, CO2 emissions, waste generation).
  • Environmental Impact: Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, resulting from an environmental aspect (e.g., resource depletion, air pollution, soil contamination).

This distinction is essential: actions are taken on aspects to reduce impacts.

Analysis Methodology

The environmental analysis follows a structured approach:

  1. Scoping: defining the scope, work units, and multidisciplinary teams.
  2. Identification of aspects for each activity (normal, abnormal, emergency situations).
  3. Evaluation of significance of the aspects using a criteria grid.
  4. Prioritization of significant aspects.

Criteria for Significance

The significance of an aspect is generally evaluated based on 3 to 5 criteria, including:

  • Severity (potential impact on the environment and health).
  • Frequency / probability of occurrence.
  • Sensitivity of the receiving environment (protected area, population).
  • Associated regulatory requirement.
  • Technical control available (existing or not).

The product (grid or matrix) of these criteria assigns a score that classifies the aspect as significant or non-significant.

Examples of Environmental Aspects

Several categories of aspects can be distinguished:

  • Atmospheric emissions: VOCs, NOx, SOx, particulates, greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O).
  • Liquid effluents: wastewater, hydrocarbons, heavy metals.
  • Waste: non-hazardous, hazardous (DAS), inert.
  • Resource consumption: water, energy, raw materials.

Link with ISO 14001:2015

The environmental analysis is a prerequisite for several key requirements of the standard: Chapter 6.1.2 (environmental aspects), 6.1.3 (compliance obligations), and 6.2 (objectives). It must be reviewed regularly.

Sources et références

  1. Code du travail marocain (Loi n° 65-99), Titre IV — articles 281 et suivants (principes généraux applicables à l'analyse environnementale industrielle) ILO NATLEX : https://natlex.ilo.org/dyn/natlex2/r/natlex/fe/details?p3_isn=67319

  2. ISO 14001:2015 — Environmental management systems https://www.iso.org/standard/60857.html

  3. ADEME — Documentation SME (Agence de la transition écologique, France) https://www.ademe.fr/expertises/economie-circulaire

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