Environmental Management Systems By ISO 14001 Certified Industries

Examining the motivating factors, cost implications and associated challenges as well as the benefits of ISO 14001:2004 based EMS in ISO 14001 certified industries located in Addis Ababa City and its environs is given due attention in this study. Hence, a descriptive survey method was employed to address the focus of this study using questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis. The results of the study indicate that ISO 14001-based EMS implementation was motivated by different factors, including the need to improve resource efficiency being the top factor. All the selected industries were forced to incur some amount of cost and encounter various challenges during and after EMS certification. However, by contrasting their benefits with other aspects of EMS the industries agreed on the successfulness of the system in attaining the desired economic and environmental objectives. The findings of this study and many others made on industrial pollution indicated the need for urgent policy and regulatory shifts and also the creation of an enabling environment in terms of institutions, partnerships and incentivizing mechanisms.