Environmental Concerns And Manangement Clause

Running head: MANANGEMENT
Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015
Introduction
Rozendal (1986) is of the opinion that the evolution of Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015 is a
result of the rising environmental awareness. The rising global pollution gave rise to
environmental concerns and the governments all over the world changed their environmental
policies and regulations to combat the new problems. The British Standards Institute published
BS 7750 in 1992 which was the ground work for the more recent ISO 14001 (Boiral et al. 2018).
Environmental management systems. One of the major sectors to be affected by the
environmental policies was the oil industry. The oil industry has been facing issues regarding
their environment policies and management. The following report analyses the environment
sustainability of the company Shell in the oil and petroleum sector.
Discussion
About the company
Shell is a part of the Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary that is entirely owned by the United States.
The company was founded in 1907 and has its headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands. The
parent company is the Royal Dutch Shell (Rozendal 1986). The company considers a continuous
demand for their product due to the advent of rapid globalisation and development. The
organisational structure of the company realises that while there is a rising demand for their
product they also understand the environment implications the oil industry has. The company
intends to focus on improving their technology and reducing their impact on the environment.
Analysis of the implementation of clause 4 within the context of Shell
The Shell Company is one of the largest oil and natural gas companies in the world with
a 2% share in the oil market and 3% share in the world gas market. The organisational structure

2Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015
of Shell is superficially involved in their CSR activities and have no thorough long term planning
to adhere to the legalities of the environment laws. Recently, however the company’s governance
structure faces criticism regarding their environmental management policies. The government,
regulatory bodies and public are of the opinion that they want to impose further regulations on
the energy sector and stresses on reducing their impact on the carbon release, reduce drilling of
crude oil and concentrate more on bio fuels and renewal source of energy (Rozendal 1986).
However, the activities of the company shows that the company has not been adhering clause 4
of the environmental management. Shell has not changed their strategy at all and continued to
procure crude oil and has hardly spent any money on the renewal source or clean energy
development. As a result of which the company is faced with numerous issues that has resulted
in the drop of the shares of the company. Now the ISO 14001:2015 is the newest standard that
can be integrated into the current system management to enhance its functionality (Boiral et al.
2018).
The implementation of sustainability in decision making policy is one of the most
important factor that governs the policy of business. Strategies that include the sustainable
polices are inclusive and have a more holistic philosophy of the business management. The
business environment refers to the external and internal factors that has an effect on the
organisations stance on various products, services and investments (Iatridis and Kesidou 2018).
Understanding the needs of both the external and internal environment is important and should
be in accordance with the EMS. Studies suggest that one of the first things is to strengthen the
leadership of the top management and to create an environment management that is aligned with
the organisation’s direction (Gleckman et al. 2017).

3Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015
Benefits of implementing management system audit
There are numerous benefits to encourage implementation of the ISO 14001. Firstly, it helps to
set a leadership among the other companies within the same industry. Currently Shell is under a
lot of criticism for the pollution in Nigeria from the broken Shell pipelines which contaminated
the ecosystem (Faturoti et al. 2019). This set a bad example to the company’s leadership policy
and development. With the implementation of ISO 14001 Shell can set an ethical standard of
corporate governance that will have an effect on the members of the organisation including the
Board of Directors. Moreover, studies suggest that it assures the trustees and customers about the
environmental risks that are related to the company (Iatridis and Kesidou 2018).
In addition to this, the implementation of ISO 14001in the organisational structure also signifies
economic incentive for the company by increasing its Unique Selling Point (USP). In a
competitive market where companies compete with each other showing ethical environmental
leadership can help Shell to gain a larger market share and more investors. According to the
Clause 4 ISO 1400: 2015, it specifies a standard of adherence to the legal policies and helps to
eliminate the environmental risks involved in unregulated activities. Lastly, ISO 14001 provides
the framework to help the organisation understand the current management as well as helps them
to monitor and improve in the future. When internal audits and management reviews are audited
from a certification body such as the NQA it gives the stakeholders the assurance that the EMS
meets the standard of the ISO 14001:2015 (Bergh et al.2016).
Recommendation
The importance of ethical corporate governance policy cannot be stressed enough. The
most effective method would be to implement the PDCA cycle which is a four step process that
signifies Plan, Do, Check and Act which is systematic approach and helps to analyse the result

4Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015
from the plan of action (Boiral et al. 2018). The very first step is planning and in this step it is
most essential to finds the context of the organisation. In this case Shell is a natural gas and oil
company that even though has several environmental activities yet has not actively implemented
any of the legalities and continues to emit carbon more than the set standards. In the second step,
the company can form safety measures for the procurement of their crude oil as well as lessen
their carbon emission through the use of better technology can help to save energy and make the
company more efficient. Thirdly, Check includes monitoring and evaluating the outcome
through internal audit and management reviews (Bergh et al.2016).. Lastly, Act signifies
constant improvement of system and investing in more renewal sources of energy (Iatridis and
Kesidou 2018).
Conclusion
The clause 4 of ISO 14001:2015 is latest standard for environmental management that the
company in discussion must take into consideration. The company can improve their current
issues and resolve their ethical concerns. As the pressure on the oil and natural gas companies
continues to grow Shell must ensure that the company is in adherence to the system.

5Clause 4 of ISO 14001: 2015
Reference
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outcomes of ISO 14001: a systematic review. International Journal of Management Reviews,
20(2), pp.411-432.
Faturoti, B., Agbaitoro, G. and Onya, O., 2019. Environmental Protection in the Nigerian Oil and
Gas Industry and Jonah Gbemre v. Shell PDC Nigeria Limited: Let the Plunder Continue?.
African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 27(2), pp.225-245.
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an instrument of global corporate environmental management. In ISO 14001 and Beyond (pp.
45-59). Routledge.
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ISO 14001 in a time of economic crisis? Insights from Greek manufacturing companies. Journal
of Business Ethics, 148(4), pp.859-877.
Rozendal, R.A., 1986. Conventional US oil and gas remaining to be discovered: Estimates and
methodology used by Shell Oil Company.