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ISO 14064 standard on greenhouse gases in wings of UN's Climate Change Conference

2005-11-29

ISO’s future ISO 14064 standards for the quantification, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are being presented in the programme of side events to the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Montréal (Québec) Canada, 28 November-9 December 2005.

Targeted for release in mid-March 2006, the three-part ISO 14064 is being developed as a practical tool to enable government and business to measure and manage greenhouse gas emissions and reduction activities. Use of the ISO standard should support the development of GHG reduction programmes and emissions trading markets by providing an auditable, standardized process for GHG quantification and verification. The draft standard is already being incorporated in governmental GHG mechanisms in Australia and Canada.

ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden commented: “Claims made about reductions of the greenhouse gas emissions widely held responsible for climate change may have political and financial implications, in addition to environmental and technical ones. Ensuring their credibility is thus vital. ISO is combining its environmental and conformity assessment expertise to develop tools for measuring, validating and verifying such claims. This is a striking example of how ISO’s work can help to provide practical tools for meeting the global challenges that the international community is wrestling with.”

The UN conference in Montréal was predicted to be the largest inter-governmental gathering on climate change since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997, with 8 000-10 000 participants expected. It is also attracting unprecedented business interest.

ISO 14064 is being developed by a working group of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 207, which is responsible for the ISO 14000 family of environmental management standards. These include ISO 14001, the environmental management system standard, implemented by more than 90 000 organizations in 127 countries. The working group on climate change resulted from a joint proposal in mid-2002 by ISO’s members for Malaysia and Canada. Some 175 international experts from standardization, government and business organizations in 44 countries, and 13 international organizations, have participated.

The standard is being presented at Montréal on 5 December 2005 by a panel including representatives of ISO/TC 207; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); governmental entities of Austria, Canada and Indonesia; the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Among documents being distributed was a technical analysis prepared by UNDP showing broad compatibility between ISO 14064 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for corporate accounting and reporting developed by WBCSD/WRI.

ISO 14064 will be followed in early 2007 by ISO 14065, a standard that will provide requirements to accredit or recognize bodies that undertake GHG validation or verification using ISO 14064 or other relevant standards or specifications.