Integration of biodiversity considerations into business activity
Last updated: 2024
Latest data available: 2023
The number of indicators published as part of the Biodiversity Indicators suite will increase as new indicators are developed in response to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, consequently the Biodiversity Indicators production team may not have the capacity to continue to update this indicator in the future. If you use the data published for this indicator and feel this decision would impact you, please get in touch.
Introduction
This indicator shows the number of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 14001 certifications in the UK as a proportion of the total number of medium (50 to 249 employees) and large (at least 250 employees) businesses in the UK.
It is a proxy for the number of medium and large businesses in the UK that are taking steps to minimise their environmental impact as measured by the proportion of these businesses with ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) certification.
Data for this indicator can be found in the published datafile.
Type of indicator
Pressure indicator
Type of official statistics
Official statistic
Assessment of change
Assessment of change in the proportion of medium and large UK businesses with ISO 14001 certification:
No assessment has been carried out for this indicator. This is due to changes in mandatory reporting requirements in 2021 and the resulting time series artifact, meaning assessment of change in the short-term time horizon (2018 to 2023) could be misleading.
Key results
In 2023, the number of ISO (‘International Organization for Standardization’) 14001 certifications in the UK as a proportion of the total number of medium and large businesses in the UK was 37% (Figure 1). In 2022, this figure was 42%.
Figure 1: Number of ISO 14001 certifications in the UK as a proportion of the total number of medium and large businesses in the UK, from 2018 to 2023
Source: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; International Organization for Standardization
Notes about Figure 1
- Based on the total number of ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) certifications in the UK on 31 December each year and the total number of medium and large businesses in the UK on 1 January of the following year.
- ‘Medium businesses’ are those that employ between 50 and 249 staff; ‘large businesses’ are those that employ at least 250 staff.
- The UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) is appointed by the UK Government to accredit Certification Bodies for their competence, independence, and impartiality in issuing certifications such as ISO 14001. UKAS recently launched UKAS CertCheck - a free to use, publicly accessible database of all UKAS accredited certifications. Since 2021, it is mandatory for Certification Bodies to upload their certification data to CertCheck (who also provide this information to the ISO survey team) and as a result, the number of ISO 14001 certifications before 2021 was likely underreported. The increase seen from 2020 to 2021 is therefore due to an improvement in reporting, rather than a true increase in the proportion of businesses with ISO 14001 certification.
Further detail
Internationally, the two main Environmental Management System (EMS) certification schemes currently available are ISO 14001 and EMAS (the European Union’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme). ISO 14001 represents the core set of standards used by organisations to design and implement an effective EMS. At the end of 2017, ISO 14001 was used by more than 360,000 organisations across 181 countries and economies; more than 17,500 of these organisations were based in the UK. The requirements of ISO 14001 are also an integral part of EMAS, however, the structure and material requirements of EMAS are more demanding, mainly concerning performance improvement, legal compliance, and reporting duties. In September 2018, there were 3,822 organisations with EMAS registration across the EU, only 14 of which were based in the UK.
Alternative EMS options include (i) BS (British Standard) 8555, not a certifiable standard as such, but designed to provide guidance for implementing an EMS on a phase-by-phase basis and (ii) ‘in-house’ EMSs that are not officially certified.
Environmental management has become a core business issue for many organisations. Minimising the amount of waste that is produced, reducing energy consumption and making more efficient use of resources can all help to protect and enhance the environment, in addition to leading to financial cost savings.
It is challenging to develop a universal measure that captures business interaction with biodiversity. Businesses can have direct and indirect impacts on nature, influenced by a wide variety of factors including resource consumption, land use, emissions/pollution, supply chain impacts and sourcing. The use of an EMS has been chosen as a proxy to measure the proportion of businesses that are taking steps to manage their environmental impacts. There are a number of regulatory and market drivers that may influence a company’s decision to adopt an EMS, however the adoption of an accredited and audited EMS demonstrates that a company is willing to track the implications of its operations on the environment. According to the ISO (2015):
- An environmental management system helps organizations identify, manage, monitor and control their environmental issues in a “holistic” manner
- It requires that an organization considers all environmental issues relevant to its operations, such as air pollution, water and sewage issues, waste management, soil contamination, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and resource use and efficiency
Therefore, while many companies may not measure their specific biodiversity impacts as part of an EMS, steps that are taken to reduce resource consumption, energy, waste, emissions and pollution offer benefits to the environment and ultimately reduce pressures on biodiversity.
Relevance
Decisions made by businesses of any size within key sectors such as agriculture, forestry, industry, housing and infrastructure development, water supply and fisheries can have significant biodiversity impacts. Information on how biodiversity considerations have been integrated into agriculture, forestry and fisheries is included in other UK indicators but additional sectors were not adequately covered elsewhere in the indicator set. This indicator aims to provide information on the biodiversity considerations of businesses across all sectors. UK production and consumption has an impact within the UK as well as overseas.
International/domestic reporting
The UK Biodiversity Indicators have been reviewed in response to the latest goals and targets agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The indicators are being adapted, with some new indicators being developed, to better align them with the monitoring framework for the GBF. The suite of biodiversity indicators is therefore expected to change ready for forthcoming UK national reports to CBD in 2026 and 2029.
The intention is for this indicator to be modified to better align it with the requirements of the GBF monitoring framework, specifically to align with headline indicator 15.1 - ‘Number of companies disclosing their biodiversity-related risks, dependencies, and impacts’ relevant to Target 15.
Web links for further information
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the many people who have contributed by providing data and to the many colleagues who have helped produce this indicator.
Technical annex
Background
The government’s Environmental Protection Expenditure (EPE) survey (on which this indicator was previously based) has been revised. As a result, it is no longer possible to update the original measures for the indicator.
The revised measure for this indicator (introduced in 2019) tracks the number of ISO (‘International Organization for Standardization’) 14001 certifications in the UK as a proportion of the total number of medium (50 to 249 employees) and large (at least 250 employees) businesses in the UK. It is a proxy for the number of UK businesses that are taking steps to minimise their environmental impact as measured by the proportion of these businesses with ISO 14001 certification.
In the 2020 publication, it was not possible to update the indicator with comparable data as ISO refined their survey in 2018 and the results were not comparable with the previous data (1999 to 2017) published in 2019. The previously published data is shown in Figure 2.
In 2017, the number of ISO (‘International Organization for Standardization’) 14001 certifications in the UK as a proportion of the total number of medium and large businesses in the UK was 41.5% (Figure 2).
This represented a long-term increase of 559% since the ISO Environmental Management System standard was first introduced in 1999; a small, short-term decrease of 3% since 2012; and a similarly small increase of 2% in the final year of comparable data (2017).
Figure 2: Number of ISO 14001 certifications in the UK as a proportion of the total number of medium and large businesses in the UK, 1999 to 2017
Source: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; International Organization for Standardization
Notes about Figure 2
- Based on the total number of ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) certifications in the UK on 31 December each year and the total number of medium and large businesses in the UK on 1 January of the following year.
- ‘Medium businesses’ are those that employ between 50 and 249 staff; ‘large businesses’ are those that employ at least 250 staff.
- ISO refined their survey in 2018 meaning the results shown in Figure 2 are not directly comparable to those shown in Figure 1.
Development plan
Since our previous publication we have adapted the language and visualisations used in this indicator. We are keen to hear from our users about these changes, as well as our published development plan, please email us.
References
- International Organization for Standardization (2015). ISO 14001 Key benefits. Available at: https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/PUB100372.pdf
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