Meet Kevin Boehmer — Secretary of ISO TC 207

2009-10-01

As secretary of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)’s technical committee for standards relating to Environmental Management (ISO/TC 207) – the technical committee responsible for developing and maintaining the renowned ISO 14000 family of environmental management standards – Canadian Kevin Boehmer has a front-row view of international efforts underway to combat climate change.

Q: What are the major achievements of ISO/TC 207 since it was formed 16 years ago?
A: One of the strengths of TC 207 is that it relies on multilateralism and consensus. Bringing 100 countries together to agree on environmental issues is an achievement in itself. 

In our core areas environmental management systems, environmental labelling, life cycle assessment and more recently greenhouse gas management – TC 207 is leading edge. It’s very encouraging to see our generic standards being applied in specific areas. For example, ISO 14067, a new standard under development, measures the carbon content of products based on our core life cycle assessment and labelling standards.

Q: ISO/TC 207’s vision is the worldwide acceptance and use of the ISO 14000 standards series improving the environmental performance of organizations and their products, facilitating world trade and ultimately contributing to sustainable development. Can you give one or two examples of how TC 207 has fulfilled this vision?
A: This is a tough question, because there is no centralized way to track companies using the standards. We do know that for ISO 14001, the number of certified companies has increased to more than 150,000 worldwide from about 15,000 ten years ago. And the number for ISO 9001 is a lot larger. The technical committee has also facilitated world trade and sustainable development. ISO 14001 principles are being incorporated in certain supply chains – for example the automotive industry and electronics. Many large companies require their suppliers to be compliant as part of the due diligence process. This helps green the supply chain and contributes to sustainable development.

Q: What role has Canada played in TC 207?
A: Canada was influential in the establishment of TC 207 in the early 1990s and subsequently accepted the Chairmanship and Secretariat roles. CSA Standards has been particularly involved, on behalf of the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), managing the technical committee leadership and subcommittee on greenhouse gas management.

Canada was also very influential in developing and implementing the notion of twinning where leadership positions on ISO technical committees are shared between developed and developing countries. For example, while Canada chairs TC 207, our vice-chair is from Brazil. This arrangement has been so successful that all of our TC 207 subcommittees and working groups are now twinned.

Q: What role has Canada played in climate change initiatives?
A: Canada leads the climate change subcommittee, and before that we led the climate change working groups and subcommittees. Canada is twinned with Malaysia for the climate change subcommittee. Canadian delegates were very influential in shaping the content of ISO’s greenhouse gas management standards (i.e., ISO 14064, ISO 14065).

Q: Why has Canada been such a leader in developing these standards?
A: Canada is a leader because of two dedicated institutions – SCC and CSA Standards. From the beginning, Canada understood the importance of international solutions to pressing environmental problems and the role that voluntary standards can play in addressing these issues.

Along the way, there were key Canadian champions. These include our first chair, George Connell, former chair Daniel Gagnier, and Dr. Robert Page, who took over as chair last summer. Dr. Page is both a senior advisor to the Canadian environment minister and a professor at the University of Calgary. Another key contributor is Ahmad Husseini of CSA Standards, my predecessor as Secretary and a man whom many stakeholders worldwide associate with ISO/TC 207.

Q: What standards is the technical committee working on right now?
A: Right now, we have eight new or revised documents in the works. The new standards deal with eco-efficiency, competence requirements for greenhouse gas verifiers, measuring the carbon footprint of products, measuring the water footprint of products and more.

Q: How did you personally get involved with ISO/TC 207?
A: I got involved through Ahmad Husseini. I joined CSA Standards as one of Ahmad’s project managers, and he was kind enough to let me mentor under him. I have been technical committee secretary for two years, and have managed various climate change task forces and working groups over the past 10 years.

Q: How has your work on this technical committee affected your own views on environmental management in business and daily life?
A: It’s given me a sense of realism. Working in a multi-stakeholder, consensus format ensures that the solution is realistic and implementable for a large variety of organizations. The format forces you to balance the environment and the economy with issues facing unique situations in various countries around the world. Many of the issues we deal with are tough environmental ones – both technically and politically. But we have found consensus solutions.

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This article first appeared in Volume 36 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2009.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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