The Environmental Management System (EMS) is a continuing cycle of planning, implementing, evaluating and improving processes to achieve environmental goals. Sandia National Laboratories' (Sandia) EMS provides an integrated approach for management and members of the workforce to identify and manage environmental risks, and is conducted in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001:2015 Standard for EMS. ISO 14001:2015 is the internationally accepted standard used to recognize and validate the effectiveness of EMS at Sandia. It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy, determining environmental aspects and their impacts, developing environmental objectives and targets, and implementing programs to meet these objectives and targets.

The scope of Sandia’s EMS encompasses all activities, products and services that have the potential to interact with the environment at all of Sandia’s numerous locations. All individuals working at Sandia are subject to this requirement, including employees, contractors, consultants, students and visitors. Sandia has a multi-site ISO 14001:2015 Certification for New Mexico (Sandia/NM) and California (Sandia/CA) locations. 

The Sandia/CA EMS was initially certified to the ISO 14001:2004 Standard in September 2006, with Sandia/NM receiving certification for its EMS in June 2009. In 2015, Sandia integrated the Sandia/CA site-specific EMS into the corporate program under one multi-site ISO 14001:2004 certification. In 2018, Sandia's EMS was recertified under the new ISO 14001:2015 standard.

See the Annual Site Environmental Reports for more information on the environmental programs and goals at Sandia.