Identification of environmental aspects vs Environmental risks & Opportunities

Let us start with ISO 14001:2015, clause 6.1.1. Organizations determine risks based on its environmental aspects, compliance obligations, and context and interested parties.

Determining risks and opportunities based on context and interested parties is straightforward. For example, an organization that manufactures plastic packaging can realize that consumers (an interested party) are pressuring governments to issue legislation (an external issue) about single use plastics. So, part of that company’s products will face a dark future. That’s a risk.

Please check risk definition (3.2.10) on ISO 14001:2015 (effect of uncertainty). With environmental aspects and impacts we are considering normal, expected situations, like startup and closing down operations, but also abnormal and emergency situations. Whenever there is uncertainty there is risk or opportunities, there is a potential deviation from the expected.

About determining risks based on environmental aspects and compliance obligations I see that different organizations follow different approaches:

1. There are organizations that determine their environmental aspects and use a risk and opportunities assessment to determine its significant environmental aspects. (Please see the end of the second paragraph of Annex A.6.1.1 of ISO 14001:2015)

2. There are organizations that determine their environmental aspects evaluate them and determine the significant ones and use a risk and opportunities assessment to determine which ones need an action plan, and which ones need only to be monitored.

3. There are organizations that only apply the risk-based approach to the context part. In a certain way they are following the same approach as 1 without explicitly mentioning it.

Let us present another example:

In this example the risk of not complying with wastewater discharging permit can be considered very low for normal situation, for normal operation, but very high for and emergency situation.

In the example above one of the risks, one of the possibilities, is an emergency due to a wastewater treatment unit malfunction. That malfunction can generate a negative deviation from the expected, can generate a discharge exceeding permit limits, increase river pollution, and generating more environmental aspects and impacts like neighborhood complaints.

• The following material will provide you information about risks and environmental aspects:
  ISO 14001 risks and opportunities vs. environmental aspects - https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2016/06/06/iso-14001-risks-and-opportunities-vs-environmental-aspects/
• Free webinar – How to implement risk management in ISO 9001:2015 - https://advisera.com/9001academy/webinar/how-to-implement-risk-management-in-iso-90012015-free-webinar/
• Free online course - ISO 14001:2015 Lead Implementer Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-lead-implementer-course/