​IRCA Environmental Management System Certification Scheme

Who the scheme is for

• Environmental auditors, such as those employed by third-party certification bodies and registrars or by purchasing organisations (second-party auditors)
• Environmental practitioners, such as environmental consultants, environmental managers and other environmental personnel
• Employees conducting environmental management system audits within their own organisations (internal audits).

Requirements

As an environmental management systems auditor, you will need to demonstrate that you have:

• Knowledge of environmental aspects and impacts
• Ability to judge aspect significance
• Knowledge of local environmental legislation
• Understanding of methods and techniques of environmental management that enable the auditor to examine an environmental management system, and to generate appropriate audit findings and conclusions
• Understanding of environmental science and technology that enables the auditor to understand the fundamental relationships between human activities and the environment
• Understanding of technical and environmental aspects of operations that enables the auditor to understand the interaction of an organization’s activities, products, services and operations with the environment.

Auditing Key Standards

The scheme is based on the auditing standard ISO 14001:2015.

Auditing experience

The audit experience that you acquire after you have successfully completed your course will determine your auditor certification grade. The auditing experience requirements for each grade are detailed here: Grades

Acceptable alternative standards

We may accept audits to alternative standards not listed on the IRCA certification scheme. To find out more please visit the Acceptable Alternative Standards page.