Climate change

International Standards practical tools for addressing climate change

Out of a current total of more than 17 000 ISO normative documents, some 570 are environment-related, including recent standards specifically developed to support greenhouse gas (GHG) emission accounting, claim verification and trading.

ISO standards offer practical tools for addressing climate change at four levels.

• Monitoring climate change
• Quantifying GHG emissions and communication on environmental impacts
• Promoting good practice in environmental management and design
• Opening world markets for energy efficient technologies

1. Monitoring climate change

ISO technical committee ISO/TC 211 develops standards on geographic information and geomatics. It collaborates, among other partners, with the:

• United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) on standards for satellite mapping and data acquisition and processing;
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on standards for meteorological and climatological data.

2. Quantifying GHG emissions and communicating on environmental impacts

Quantifying

The newly developed standards ISO 14064 and ISO 14065 provide an internationally agreed framework for measuring GHG emissions and verifying claims made about them so that "a tonne of carbon is always a tonne of carbon". They thus support programmes to reduce GHG emissions and also emissions trading programmes. ISO 14064 is emerging as the global benchmark on which to base such programmes.

• ISO 14064 is consistent and compatible with the GHG Protocol, published by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). ISO, the WRI and the WBCSD have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to promote their GHG accounting and reporting standards.
• The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), developed by The Climate Group (TCG), the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the WBCSD specifically integrates the principles of ISO 14064 and uses the validation and verification requirements of ISO 14065.

Achieving international agreement on the quantification and verification of emissions trading is the key to supporting the development, networking and consistency of emissions credit trading schemes.

Communicating

ISO has developed a number of standards to ensure good practice in environmental claims and communications:

• ISO 14020:2000, Environmental labels and declarations - General principles.
• ISO 14063:2006, Environmental management -- Environmental communication -- Guidelines and examples.
• ISO 21930:2007, Sustainability in building construction – Environmental declaration of building products.

3. Promoting good practice in environmental management and design

The ISO 14000 family of standards for environmental management developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 207 is firmly established as the global benchmark for good practice in this area.

ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, contributes to any organizations objectives to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. Up to the end of December 2006, more than 129 000 ISO 14001:2004 certificates of conformity had been issued to private and public sector organizations in 140 countries and economies. The ISO 14000 family includes supporting tools for environmental management and designing environmentally friendly products and services:

• ISO 14004:2004, Environmental management systems – General guidelines on principles, systems and support techniques.
• ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework.

4. Opening world markets forenergy efficient technologies

International Standards can also be the vehicle for the dissemination of innovative technologies, particularly for alternative and renewable sources, by reducing time to market, creating global interest and developing a critical mass of support to ensure the economic success of such technologies. ISO Standards are among the leading objective tools that assist policy-makers in decisions related to public incentives, regulations and use of standards, thus encouraging the judicious and widespread use of such innovative technologies. ISO has already developed standards with an impact on climate change for areas such as nuclear energy, solar energy, hydrogen technologies, intelligent transport systems, building environment design and sustainability in building construction.

ISO's proactive stance on climate change matters has resulted in the initiation of ISO work on biofuels, energy management systems and the examination of new opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. ISO maintains its close cooperation with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and has additionally partnered with the OECD's International Energy Agency (IEA) and the World Energy Council (WEC) in joint initiatives related to this field.

source : www.iso.org