Research on environmental aspects and risks

Answer:

ISO 14001 doesn´t provide the organizations with a tool to conduct a risk analysis neither to use defined criteria for the evaluation of environmental aspects and impacts.

Basically, ISO 14001:2015 states that an organization must understand and identify those environmental aspects that have or can have a significant impact on the environment, known as significant environmental aspects. When establishing criteria for determining the significance of the environmental aspects, the organization needs to consider several factors:
- condition of the environment
- compliance regulations and needs and
- needs and expectations of interested parties.

Identification of significant environmental aspects will be necessary to determine where the controls or improvements are needed.

In regards to the risks, the standard suggests that the risks and opportunities should be considered in terms of the following elements:
- The relevant compliance obligations
- The environmental aspects
- The stakeholders and interested parties

ISO 31000 is an ISO standard designed specifically to deal with risk management. Although, the simplest way to perform a risk analysis is conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis in order to help you to find those risks.

For example, Advisera has developed a procedure to determine the environmental aspects and risks using criteria based on the ISO 14001 requirements. You can see a free preview here - Procedure for identificaion and evaluation of environmental aspects: https://advisera.com/14001academy/documentation/procedure-for-identification-and-evaluation-of-environmental-aspects/

These materials can help you to better understand environmental aspects and risks in ISO 14001:2015:
- ISO 14001:2015 - How to set criteria for environmental aspects evaluation: https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2016/10/31/iso-140012015-how-to-set-criteria-for-environmental-aspects-evaluation/
- Risk management in ISO 14001:2015: what, why and how: https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2019/08/27/key-iso-14001-benefits-to-customers/nowledgebase/risk-management-in-iso-140012015-what-why-and-how/
- Risks and opportunities in ISO 14001:2015: what they are and why they are important: https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2016/03/07/risks-and-opportunities-in-iso-140012015-what-they-are-and-why-they-are-important/
- Free online ISO 14001:2015 Foundations Course: https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course/
- Book - The ISO 14001:2015 companion: https://advisera.com/books/the-iso-14001-2015-companion/