The growing importance of sustainable development and influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the performance of companies have forced companies to care more than ever about the environmental impact of their activities. Wide range of environmental legislations has been enforced by the European Union during recent years in order to ensure sustainable development of European cities. As a result, various initiatives have taken place to boost companies’ interest to take control over the environmental performance. An environmental management area has developed strongly in recent decades and various systems and tools have been introduced to effectively manage sustainable environmental development of companies. More and more organizations both in Estonia and worldwide are initiating the ISO14001 certification process, which specifies requirements for environmental management systems, in order to develop and implement environmental policy and objectives. The main purpose of the present research was to identify the main factors of initiating the ISO certification process by Estonian companies and to get their opinion regarding the future of the ISO 14001 certification in Estonia. To achieve the aim of the research, the authors have set the following research tasks: to provide a wide overview of the scientific literature covering the main relevant studies in the selected research area; to research the implementation of standards in European Union and Estonia; to conduct a survey in the form of questionnaire among ISO 14001 certified enterprises; to reveal respondent’s opinion about the current situation and future development of ISO 14001 certification in Estonia. The main methods applied in this article include analytical method and quantitative research method. Authors conducted a survey among ISO 14001 certified Estonian companies in September-October 2015 and collected 115 replies. The findings of the present research clearly demonstrate that Estonian companies are actively involved into the environmental management process; therefore, they initiated the ISO 14001 certification procedure and are willing to renew the certificate upon expiration. They also confirm that Estonian stakeholders are aware of the environmental management initiatives and their opinions are valued by companies and inspire them to show better performance in the field of environmental sustainability. The companies are also caring about their reputation and compliance with environmental laws and legislation, and believe that ISO 14001 certification will assist in this matter. However, it should be pointed out that surveyed companies do not identify a direct link between the ISO 14001 certification and reductions of certain costs and expenses. Therefore, there should be more workshops and training organized in order to explain how the sustainability helps to boost the effectiveness of the company by reducing various expenses and increasing profits. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.10.14490

中文翻译：

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欧盟的环境管理：ISO 14001认证爱沙尼亚公司的调查

可持续发展的重要性日益提高，企业社会责任（CSR）对公司绩效的影响日益增强，这迫使公司比以往任何时候都更加关注其活动对环境的影响。近年来，欧盟已经执行了广泛的环境立法，以确保欧洲城市的可持续发展。结果，采取了各种举措来提高公司对环境绩效进行控制的兴趣。在最近的几十年中，环境管理领域取得了长足发展，并引入了各种系统和工具来有效地管理公司的可持续环境发展。爱沙尼亚乃至全球越来越多的组织正在启动ISO14001认证流程，它规定了环境管理体系的要求，以便制定和实施环境政策和目标。本研究的主要目的是确定爱沙尼亚公司启动ISO认证过程的主要因素，并获得他们对爱沙尼亚ISO 14001认证的未来的看法。为了实现研究目的，作者设定了以下研究任务：对所选研究领域的主要相关研究进行广泛的科学文献综述；研究欧盟和爱沙尼亚标准的执行情况；在ISO 14001认证企业中以问卷形式进行调查；揭示受访者对爱沙尼亚ISO 14001认证的现状和未来发展的看法。本文采用的主要方法包括分析方法和定量研究方法。作者于2015年9月至10月对经过ISO 14001认证的爱沙尼亚公司进行了调查，收集了115份答复。本研究的结果清楚地表明，爱沙尼亚的公司正在积极参与环境管理过程。因此，他们启动了ISO 14001认证程序，并愿意在到期后续签该证书。他们还确认爱沙尼亚的利益相关者已经意识到环境管理计划，他们的意见受到了公司的重视，并激励他们在环境可持续性领域表现出更好的表现。这些公司还关心自己的声誉以及对环境法律和法规的遵守情况，并相信通过ISO 14001认证将有助于解决此问题。但是，应该指出的是，接受调查的公司并未在ISO 14001认证与某些成本和费用的减少之间找到直接联系。因此，应该组织更多的讲习班和培训，以说明可持续性如何通过减少各种费用和增加利润来帮助提高公司的效率。DOI：http：//dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.10.14490 应该组织更多的讲习班和培训，以解释可持续性如何通过减少各种费用和增加利润来帮助提高公司的效率。DOI：http：//dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.10.14490 应该组织更多的讲习班和培训，以解释可持续性如何通过减少各种费用和增加利润来帮助提高公司的效率。DOI：http：//dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.10.14490