Blackmores ISO Consultancy Service: The creators of isology®

ISO Standards have been at the forefront of creating a unified approach to various aspects of sustainability, ensuring businesses have a robust framework to both manage and reduce their environmental impact.

However, there are a lot of different sustainability Standards that cover specific areas of sustainability, or only apply to certain sectors. Each come with their own pros and cons, making it tricky to pick the best fit for you.  

In this episode Steph Churchman introduces four of the leading sustainability focused ISO Standards and explains the benefits and disadvantages of each to help you decide which could be the best fit for your business.

You’ll learn

• Learn about our upcoming ESG Workshop
• What is ISO 14001?
• What are the pros and cons of ISO 14001?
• What is ISO 50001?
• What are the pros and cons of ISO 50001?
• What is ISO 20400?
• What are the pros and cons of ISO 20400?
• What is ISO 14064?
• What are the pros and cons of ISO 14064?

Resources

• Isologyhub
• Register for our ESG Workshop (26^th March 2025)

In this episode, we talk about:

[02:05] Episode Summary – Steph discusses the leading sustainability ISO Standards, and explains the advantages and disadvantages of each.  

[02:45] ESG Workshop: On the 26th March 2025 we’ll be explaining how ISO Standards directly support ESG compliance, and we’re including the opportunity to participate in 1 of 3 interactive sessions that tackle things like completing a materiality assessment, a balance scorecard and learning more about the current mandatory ESG reporting requirements. 

Register your place here.

[03:15] What is ISO 14001?: ISO 14001 is the Standard for Environmental Management. Published back in 1996, this Standard is one of the staples in the ISO world.

Its main purpose is to establish and implement an effective environmental management system (EMS), with the primary goal of helping organizations to minimize their environmental impact and achieve sustainability objectives.

It sets out general requirements for:

• Pollution control
• Reduction of your impact on the environment
• And compliance to relevant legislation

It is also due for a revision soon, with the latest version expected to include further considerations for changes to available technology, more emphasis on product life-cycle and supply chain issues and further guidance on integrating environmental issues into your strategic planning.

[04:35] What are the benefits of ISO 14001?:

Reducing environmental impact: By identifying and controlling environmental aspects, organizations can minimize pollution, reduce waste, and conserve resources.

Improved compliance: ISO 14001 helps organizations comply with environmental regulations and legal requirements, such as the environment Act 2021, reducing the risk of fines and penalties.

Improved efficiency: ISO 14001 helps to tighten production processes, leading to better efficiency and reduction in the risk of incidents. It also removes uncertainty by managing disruption and waste and helps to clarify staff responsibility.

Enhanced reputation: Demonstrating a commitment to environmental responsibility can enhance your reputation and brand image, attracting environmentally conscious customers and stakeholders.

Cost savings: Implementing an EMS can lead to cost savings through improved resource efficiency, reduced waste disposal costs, and lower energy consumption. Businesses can also benefit from reduced insurance costs by demonstrating better risk management.

Increased competitiveness: ISO 14001 certification can give organizations a competitive advantage in the marketplace, particularly in sectors where environmental performance is a key consideration.

[06:45] What are the disadvantages of ISO 14001?

Initial costs: Implementing an EMS requires an initial investment in resources, including training, documentation, potentially hiring consultants, and if you’re going for certification, that will incur its own costs  from a certification body too.

Ongoing maintenance: Maintaining an EMS requires ongoing effort and resources to ensure compliance with the standard and continuous improvement.

Potential for bureaucracy: If not implemented effectively, an EMS can become cumbersome, hindering operational efficiency.

Limited scope: ISO 14001 focuses primarily on environmental aspects within an organization’s direct control, and may not address broader environmental impacts or social responsibility concerns – which is where other Standards can fill the gap.

[08:05] What is ISO 50001? – ISO 50001 is an internationally recognized standard that provides a framework for organizations to establish, implement, and maintain an Energy Management System (EnMS).

The primary goal is to help organizations improve energy performance, including reducing energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency, and using energy more effectively.  

[08:40] What are the benefits of ISO 50001?

Reduced energy costs: By identifying and addressing energy inefficiencies, you can significantly reduce your energy bills. We had great success with this when we worked closely with a branch of the NHS, where their initial energy spend was around £2.8 million which was reduced by £1 million as a result of implementing ISO 50001.

Improved energy performance: ISO 50001 helps organizations establish baselines, set targets, and track progress in improving energy performance. This is vital as you can’t hope to reduce what you can’t measure.

Enhanced environmental performance: Reduced energy consumption leads to lower greenhouse gas emissions and a reduced environmental impact. Often times, energy usage is the largest impact many organisations have on the environment, especially for those who may only have an office or warehouse.

Increased competitiveness: Demonstrating a commitment to energy efficiency can enhance an organization’s reputation and attract environmentally conscious customers and stakeholders.  

Improved operational efficiency: An energy management system can lead to improved operational efficiency through better resource management and reduced waste.

[10:55] What are the disadvantages of ISO 50001?

Initial investment: Implementing an EnMS requires an initial investment in resources, including training, data collection, and possible help from a consultancy.

Limited Guidance: Calculating your energy usage can be complicated, especially if you’re spread across multiple sites and countries. In cases where you’re renting space, you may face difficulties obtaining the information needed, then on top of that is the actual calculation which may involve conversion factors if you’ve got international sites in scope.

Resistance to change: Implementing changes to energy-using processes can sometimes meet with resistance from employees. A lot of practices will require a change in habits, such as turning off and unplugging all devices when leaving an office, or more frequent checks on equipment to ensure it’s running optimally.

Limited scope: ISO 50001 focuses primarily on energy performance within an organization’s direct control and may not address broader energy-related issues or the entire supply chain – which includes its own energy consumption considerations.

[12:30] What is ISO 20400? – ISO 20400 is an internationally recognized standard that provides guidance on sustainable procurement. It helps organizations integrate sustainability considerations into their procurement processes, ensuring that environmental, social, and economic factors are taken into account when making purchasing decisions.  

This Standard differs from the others as it’s not a certifiable Standard. It’s a guidance document that you can align with.

For those of you looking into ESG schemes, this Standard is often citied as a key tool to help get you in the right place for scoring.

In addition, for those of you looking into more comprehensive carbon reporting, Supply chains are often one of the biggest sources of emissions. Alignment with that Standard will allow you to take a good hard look at the suppliers you work with, and determine if they hold the same sustainability values as you.

[13:25] What are the benefits of ISO 20400? –

Reduced environmental impact: By selecting suppliers with strong environmental performance, businesses can reduce their overall environmental footprint. You also have a great chance to help influence your own supply chain, we know that if you’ve had a reliable supplier for a number of years, it’s not just a simple case of cut and move on.

Improved social responsibility: ISO 20400 encourages organizations to consider the social and ethical impacts of their procurement decisions, such as fair labor practices and human rights. 

Enhanced reputation: Demonstrating a commitment to sustainable procurement can enhance your reputation and brand image. It shows that you’re thinking and acting sustainably from start to finish for either your product production or service delivery.

Cost savings: Sustainable procurement practices can lead to cost savings through reduced waste, improved resource efficiency, and lower long-term maintenance costs.

Increased innovation: Working with sustainable suppliers can expose you to new technologies, products, and services that can improve your own operations.

[15:35] What are the disadvantages of ISO 20400? –

Increased complexity: Integrating sustainability considerations into procurement processes can add complexity and require additional resources. This would include supplier checks before working with new suppliers and a review of all current suppliers to see where improvement could be made.

Finding sustainable suppliers: Identifying and qualifying sustainable suppliers can be challenging. Though more businesses are certainly making an effort to be more sustainable, ensuring they have proof of their claims is essential.

Potential for higher costs: In some cases, sustainable products and services may have a higher initial cost compared to conventional options.

Limited scope: ISO 20400 focuses primarily on procurement practices and may not address broader sustainability issues within the organization. This is where ISO 20400 can be supported by certifiable standards such as ISO 14001 and ISO 50001.

[17:00] What is ISO 14064? – ISO 14064-1 is an internationally recognized standard that provides a framework for organizations to quantify and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals.

It helps organizations to:

• Understand their carbon footprint
• Set reduction targets
• Engage in carbon markets
• Improve environmental performance

[17:45] What are the benefits of ISO 14064?

Improved data quality: The standard provides a robust methodology for collecting, analyzing, and reporting GHG emissions data, ensuring accuracy and consistency.

Set achievable reduction targets: By having an accurate way to measure your impact, you can look to set realistic and more importantly achievable reduction targets.

Enhanced credibility and transparency: Both consumers and stakeholders are increasingly looking at real tangible evidence of your carbon claims. Simply having a sustainability page full of promises is no longer enough, you need facts and figures to back up what you say you’re doing.

Reduced climate risk: By understanding and managing your GreenHouse Gas emissions, you can better mitigate the risks associated with climate change, such as regulatory changes and physical impacts.

Competitive advantage: In an increasingly climate-conscious world, businesses that can demonstrate their environmental performance through credible GHG reporting will gain a competitive advantage.

[19:30] What are the disadvantages of ISO 14064?

Initial investment: Much like the other Standards, if you want to do this right you will have to invest time, resources and money. That could include hiring consultants to help you with the necessary calculations, and if you wish to go for full verification, then there will be an additional cost from a verification body.

Ongoing maintenance: Maintaining an accurate and up-to-date GHG inventory requires ongoing effort and resources. Monitoring your emissions doesn’t stop once you get a verification badge, it will be on-going.

Data complexity: Collecting and analyzing GHG emissions data can be complex, especially for large and diverse organizations. So, you may need some initial help to do and understand this yourselves.

Limited scope: ISO 14064-1 focuses primarily on the quantification and reporting of GHG emissions and removals, and may not address broader sustainability issues.

If you’d like any assistance with implementing any of these Standards, get in touch with us, we’d be happy to help!

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The UK events industry accounts for 35% of the UK visitor economy and is estimated to be worth £42 billion, yet it is still incredibly wasteful, with 68% of waste going directly to landfill.

Haymarket Media Group is a global media data and information company, who offer a wide range of digital print, tech and live event services. Haymarket UK had been certified to ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO 50001 (Energy Management) for a few years prior to 2019, covering most aspects of their business from a sustainability point of view.

However, their live events still had many sustainability opportunities that were not being taken into consideration by their existing certifications. So, in early 2022 they embarked on their journey to gain ISO 20121 (Sustainable Event Management) certification. 

Today, Gary Charlton and Natalie Harris from Haymarket join Mel to discuss exactly why they added ISO 20121 to their portfolio, the challenges faced with Implementing the Standard, and the benefits gained from certification.

You’ll learn

• Who are Haymarket?
• What is ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management?
• Why did Haymarket choose to Implement ISO 20121?
• What challenges did they face?
• What are the benefits of ISO 20121?

Resources

• Haymarket Media
• ISO 20121
• isologyhub

In this episode, we talk about:

[00:50] An Introduction to Haymarket Media Group – A global media data and information company, with offices in the UK, US, Germany, India and Asia. They produce live events (including award ceremonies, conferences and exhibitions), digital print, education data and tech services.

[02:25] Gary Charlton is the Head of Procurement for the UK –  Part of his role includes supporting the Haymarket approach towards sustainability, to ensure their products and services are as environmentally and socially sustainable as possible.

[02:45] Natalie Harris is the Procurement Executive at Haymarket – A lot of her role revolves around live events in addition to purchasing our products and services. Additionally, she advises the wider team on buying legally, sustainably and ethically. Both Natalie and Gary form a team, and were the main driving force behind the creation of their Sustainable Event Management System.

[03:40] What is ISO 20121?: ISO 20121 was launched for, and named after, the 2012 Olympics, making it the worlds first sustainable Olympics!  The Standard provides a framework for managing events sustainably, that includes having the policies, procedures, registers and records to demonstrate that the events are being run in a sustainable manner. Being certified indicates that a company is not just paying lip service to sustainability, it’s actually practicing what they preach. If you’d like to learn more about ISO 20121, go back and listen to episode 38.

[05:30] What was the main driver behind Haymarket achieving ISO 20121?: Haymarket first contacted Blackmores about assisting with ISO 20121 Implementation in 2019. At the time, they were already certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001, so they understood the benefits that came with ISO certifications – including the framework to start making better decisions and accurately measure what you’re doing.

Their head of facilities had started the process of evaluating other areas they could improve with ISO Standards, particularly around sustainability. Live events are a large service offering for Haymarket, which has a significant environmental footprint, so a case was put forward for the benefits if reducing that impact with the help of ISO 20121. The team running their live events were very positive about the potential benefits presented, and the go ahead was given.

[07:20] Sustainability is central to how Haymarket wants to operate – Implementing ISO 20121 would ensure that there was more standardisation across their processes. This would introduce some uniformity that could apply to all types of events, which was very important to the Live event lead – Donna Murphy.

Natalie was in the right place at the right time, already in the position of working in collaboration with Haymarket’s Live events team on sustainable procurement, ensuring that due diligence was followed with suppliers and their accreditations. So, it was a no-brainer getting her on board with the ISO 20121 project!

[09:30] How long did it take to implement ISO 20121?:  Haymarket engaged in Blackmores services in February 2022 and were accredited by July 2023. In total, it took 18 months for the planning, creation and development ahead of the assessment.

They ensured the system was refined to ensure it worked efficiently, encouraging continual improvement and a harmonious approach for the whole business.

[11:15] Above and beyond: Haymarket received a lot of praise from their Assessor – highlighting their thoroughness, including the involvement of top management and many others within the organisation in the creation of the Management System. Also for ensuring that the system would be applicable for the 4 main types of events that Haymarket runs.

[12:00] ISO 20121 requires an audit to be conducted during a live event – So Haymarket had a lot to consider when selecting the event to be audited.  

[13:30] Haymarket’s key insights on Implementing ISO 20121: #1: The Gap Analysis was an integral part of the process – by highlighting the gaps you can clearly see where improvements can be made. While they may have been a bit crestfallen and daunted by the gaps presented, they came out if knowing they already had around 27% of a Sustainable Event Management system already in place – partly due to their existing certifications. 

This soon bumped up to 59% at the half-way checkpoint! This assured them that ISO 20121 was within reach, and simply required at bit of time and effort to achieve.

#2 Having leadership involvement and backing – They were quick to involve their live event lead, Donna Murphy, in key decision making and with the roll-out of the Management System. She was instrumental in ensuring the Standard was in place and being followed.

[18:45] What were some of the gap identified and how did Haymarket bridge them?  Required documentation – Many ISO standards have required documentation. A lot of times companies do have a lot of it place, but it’s simply just not formalised. Natalie highlights that this was the case with a Risk Register. It’s not a universal company need to have, but as part of the Procurement Team it’s simply a part of who they are and what they do.

For live events, they need to do the appropriate health and safety checks, but it wasn’t formalised in any way. Thankfully their facilities and environment specialist, who assisted with the existing ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 certifications, was on hand to help with the creation of risk procedures based on procedures from the existing Management System.

With this collaborative approach, using elements from the exiting Management System, they created 31 brand new documents consisting of Procedures, Registers, Log and Records that are continuously used, monitored and updated.

This new documentation, while a lot of work to create, ultimately helps Haymarket track, measure and set parameter’s for continuous Improvement. It ensured they have a really visual system, with a clear view of what needs to be done to run sustainable events. 

[23:00] What difference has Implementing ISO 20121 made?: There was a big amount of short-time work for a long term gain. It’s not simply a stack of useless documents sitting in a corner, it’s a living, breathing system that is injected into the business.

The Management system is of benefit to everyone, including those new to Haymarket’s team as it provides a structured and standardised approach to sustainable event delivery. It’s provided knowledge and helped to develop new skills that will stick with all those that interact with the Management system, whether they stay with Haymarket or move elsewhere.

Ultimately, it’s all about ensuring they are doing the right thing for the planet. By creating more sustainable events, they are reducing their impact as a whole.

[26:00] What is the main achievement from being certified to ISO 20121?: Morale and confidence that they can say they really do practice what they preach. They could hold a mirror up and say, right, we’ve created this system and we’re confident in it – with internal audits conducted by third-parities to confirm they’re on the right track with their intended goals.

Certification is not the end goal. You have annual Surveillance Audits to check-in, so the system must be a long-term feature in your business, and it must drive continual improvement.

[27:50] What top tip would Gary and Natalie give for ISO 20121 Implementation? Gary: Make sure you’re resolute in your reasoning for Implementing the standard and the implications of doing so. Also, enlist the help of someone with Implementation experience!

Natalie: Don’t underestimate the amount of work required. Select someone in-house to manage the project and when / if you can, use external resources such as a consultant to assist. They can also provide unbias, reflective feedback to ensure you’re on the right track.

[30:10] What’s a favorite quote? “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it” – Robert Swan

If you’d like to learn more about Haymarket check out their website!

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