This study focuses on a set of variables associated with control processes and actions to mitigate the consumption of resources in operations in order to determine whether the companies certified by NBR ISO 14001 standard have environmental management procedures significantly different from those adopted by the companies which are not certified. It is a descriptive research based on a sample of 649 companies of different businesses which provided information for publication in the journal "Análise Gestão Ambiental" (2008). The objects of this study were the following: water, electricity, fuel, wood/coal and mineral resources. Using statistical analysis, embodied in the logistic regression and chi-square test, it was observed that the companies certified by NBR ISO 14001 standard invest in a larger set of environmental factors in their management, through controls, actions, and programs structured to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment.
Environmental management; Environmental management system; ISO 14001
