BUSINESS STANDARDS
is the quarterly magazine of BSI Group, highlighting the vital role that standards play in today's business environment. Regular features include interviews with leading business figures, as well as news on the latest developments in management systems and standards.
Accenture goes global with certification to ISO 14001
10 Jun 2009
Topics: Environment, ISO 14001, USA, Canada, South Africa, Europe, South America, Asia
Accenture, the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, has achieved certification to ISO 14001, reflecting its ongoing commitment to environmental issues as well as the quality of its environment management system (EMS).
Certification covers 53 Accenture locations around the world, including the US, Canada, South Africa and countries throughout Europe, South America and Asia.
Accenture works with public and private sector clients to help them improve their performance across a range of areas. The company employs more than 181,000 people serving clients in over 120 countries.
ISO 14001 helps organizations better manage their environmental impact and risk, while demonstrating their environmental commitment to their stakeholders. The standard covers everything from carbon emissions and energy use to water consumption; organizations seeking certification to the standard must implement environmental management programmes to control and improve these areas.
"Achieving this certification is a significant milestone in Accenture's environmental journey, and it's due in large part to the efforts of our people," says Adrian Lajtha, Accenture's chief leadership officer. "They bring our commitment to environmental stewardship to life every day through a host of initiatives in the communities where we live and work."
Accenture's environmental efforts include programmes to measure and manage aggregate environmental impact, and to engage employees in these efforts through training, local action teams and special events. Accenture plans to continue working towards ISO 14001 certification for additional parts of the business around the world.
"Accenture has embraced and implemented the principles of this Environmental Management System and we are confident that it will seek to continually improve its environmental programmes," says Rob Wallis, managing director of BSI EMEA. "Our work with Accenture in several regions of the world has enabled a truly international approach to supporting its business needs."
Business Standards © 2009. Editorial produced by Caspian Publishing in association with the British Standards Institution. Editorial opinions expressed on are not necessarily those of BSI Group or Caspian Publishing. Neither Caspian Publishing nor BSI Group accept responsibility for advertising or editorial content, nor for that appearing on linked third-party websites. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without written permission from BSI Group or Caspian Publishing.
Integra ICT Hits environmental high
Integra ICT, the Bedfordshire-based telecoms provider, has achieved certification to ISO 14001 Environmental management from BSI.
A clear case for carbon neutrality
"Carbon neutral" sounds good on paper, but what does it really mean? Organizations are making claims about carbon neutrality for everything from products to travel, events, projects and buildings. The problem is that no one quite agrees what "carbon neutral" means or how far it extends.
As part of its evolving governance, risk and compliance strategy, BSI has acquired the Supply Chain Security Division of First Advantage Corporation.
OCS, an international facilities services group based in the UK, has achieved triple certification to ISO 9001 Quality management, ISO 14001 Environmental management/ and BS OHSAS 18001 Health and safety management with BSI.
Security is a challenge at the best of times for a retail bank. If you offer services via the internet, security becomes even more complicated. For Barclays UK Retail Online Banking, information security is at the core of their business, which is one of the main reasons the organization pursued and achieved certification to ISO/IEC 27001 Information security from BSI.
Question: This year marks the 25th anniversary of data protection regulation in the UK. Does the fact that such legislation exists mean that standards do not have a big role to play in the data protection puzzle?
First of all, the fact that there is legislation in place does not mean standards do not have a role to play. Quite the contrary: in many cases, standards offer a framework for businesses to better prepare and comply with legislation.
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