International Appointment for IEMA’s Chief Policy Advisor

Martin Baxter named as new Chair Elect of ISO Sub Committee

IEMA’s reputation as a leading contributor to the development of environment and sustainability policy has just grown further following the appointment of Chief Policy Advisor as head of an international standards committee.

IEMA’s Chief Policy Advisor, Martin Baxter, has just been confirmed as the new Chair-Elect of the International Organisation for Standardisation’s (ISO) sub-committee responsible for environmental management systems standards. He will replace Full members Dr Anne-Marie Warris, who stands down from the role of Chair at the end of 2017.

Commenting on his appointment, Baxter said: “It’s a tremendous honour to have been appointed to this role. ISO’s environmental management systems standards support organisations in all parts of the world to improve performance and enhance resilience. I look forward to working with colleagues from around the world to enhance the contribution that standards make to tackling long-term environment and sustainability challenges”.

Scott Steedman, Director of Standards at BSI, said: “International standards play an important role in reducing barriers to global trade to the benefit of organizations that adopt them. ISO’s suite of environmental management standards provide comprehensive guidance for organizations’ to improve their environmental performance, develop good processes and save money. We are delighted to welcome Martin Baxter to this influential position.”

ISO TC207/SC1 is the ISO sub-committee with responsibility for ISO 14001 - the international standard for environmental management systems - and other supporting standards, such as ISO 14004, ISO 14005, ISO 14006. Standards under development include ISO 14007 and ISO 14008.

The latest data from ISO shows that 319,324 organisations in 201 countries as certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 14001, with annual growth of 8%. Many more organisations use the standard as a framework to improve environmental performance.

Further information on the work of SC1 is available at https://committee.iso.org/tc207sc1. A full list of environmental management standards in the TC207 portfolio, including those relating to environmental labelling, life-cycle assessment and greenhouse gas emissions is available at http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_tc_browse.htm?commid=54808&published=on&includesc=true.