Environmental standards for greenhouse gases are to be overhauled in response to changes in the market, the international standards organisation (ISO) has announced.
The standards were created in 2006 as tools to help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and for use in emissions trading. The organisation’s technical committee for greenhouse gas management, TC207/SC7, is reviewing the following standards:
ISO 14064-1 greenhouse gases, part 1, which provides guidance for organisations to quantify and report their greenhouse-gas emissions, will be revised to include a more standardised reporting frame, according to the committee.
ISO 14064-2 greenhouse gases, part 2, which covers quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse-gas emissions at the project level, will be expanded to cover carbon credits and innovative technology projects.
ISO 14064-3 greenhouse gases, part 3, which supports the validation and verification of greenhouse-gas assertions, and ISO 14065, the standard for verification bodies for use in accreditation, will both be updated to serve new markets, such as product carbon footprint verifications.
Tom Baumann, chair of TC207/SC7, said the committee regularly receives requests to revise standards in response to changing policy and market needs. He cites climate adaptation is an example of an issue driving the demand for change, saying that it is important that standards provide consistency on the range of issues related to climate adaptation.