The ISO 14064 standard is the latest additions to the ISO 14000 family of International Standards for environmental management. The ISO 14064 standards provide government and industry with an integrated set of tools for the quantification and reporting of emissions and emissions reductions as well as supporting programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and emissions trading.
What is ISO 14064?
ISO 14064 comprises three standards, respectively detailing specifications and guidance for GHG Inventories, GHG projects and for their validation and verification.
The first part specifies requirements for designing and developing organization or entity-level GHG inventories. The second part details requirements for quantifying, monitoring and reporting emission reductions and removal enhancements from GHG projects. The third part provides requirements and guidance for the conducting of GHG information validation and verification.
Unlike the GHG Project Protocol, which has specific guidelines on what tools and accounting methods to use, ISO 14064 gives guidance on what to do but does
not spell out the exact requirements. The requirements are usually spelled out only in general terms. For example, ISO points out that additionality needs to be taken into account but does not require a specific tool or additionality test to be used. These would be defined by the GHG programme or regulation under which ISO 14064 is used. ISO 14064 does not focus on co-benefits.
Implementing ISO 14064 is Intended to Achieve the Following Benefits:
- Promote consistency, transparency and credibility in GHG quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification;
- Enable organisations to identify and manage GHG-related liabilities, assets and risks;
- Facilitate the trade of GHG allowances or credits;
- Support the design, development and implementation of comparable and consistent GHG schemes or programs