The international Standard for Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14001, and the European EMAS-Guidelines, both emphasize the importance of a Continual Improvement Process (CIP), once an EMS is implemented within the organization. But what actually means continual improvement in environmental management?

According to ISO 14001, CIP is a recurring process of enhancing the environmental management system in order to achieve improvements in overall environmental performance in line with the organization's environmental policy (ISO 14001:2004, 3.2). CIP is mandatory in order to maintain certification. When audited by a certification body, organizations must proof that they have achieved and will achieve further improvements.

However, in practice, a whole lot of questions remain:

• What does CIP really mean?
• What actually needs to be improved?
• How does one measure improvements?
• How much improvement is enough?
• and many more.

Following the CIP-concept, as developed by Dr. René Gastl and approved by a growing number of certification bodies, certified organizations, consultants, and academic researchers, the practice-oriented part of the CIP-contecpt is a development that touches three dimensions:

EXPANSION - ENRICHEMENT -   UPGRADE