ISO 14064

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges faced by countries, government departments, economic sectors, and the public around the world. It has negative impact on human health and the natural world, and may lead to significant changes in the use of resources, production, and other economic activities. Therefore, measures are being developed and actions are being taken at international, regional, national, and local levels, to control the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These measures and actions rely on quantifying, monitoring, reporting, and verifying GHG emissions and/or reductions.

The ISO 14064 standard provides clarity and consistency for the quantification, monitoring, reporting, validation or verification of greenhouse gas emissions and removals, and is use by organizations, project implementers, and other stakeholders to support sustainable development through a low-carbon economy.

The ISO 14064 standard consists of three parts:

Part 1- Specification with guidance at the organizational level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emission and removal

Part 2- Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions or removal enhancements

Part 3- Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas statements (applicable to verification organizations)

The new version of ISO 14064:2018 standard include the following six emission categories:

Category 1: Direct greenhouse gas emissions within organizational boundaries, including fixed source combustion emissions, mobile source combustion emissions, industrial process emissions, fugitive emissions, etc.;

Category 2: Indirect emissions from input energy, i.e. indirect emissions from input electricity and heat;

Category 3: Indirect emissions from transportation, including emissions from the transportation of raw and auxiliary materials from suppliers to organizations, emissions from the transportation of organizational products to downstream customers, emissions from employee commuting and traveling, etc.;

Category 4: Indirect emissions from products and services used by organizations, including emissions from the manufacturing process of products purchased by organizations, emissions from the disposal process of solid or liquid waste outputs by organizations, etc.;

Category 5: Emissions related to the use of organizations’ products, including emissions generated from the use of products sold by the organizations throughout their entire lifecycle, emissions related to the disposal process of products sold by the organizations, etc.;

Category 6: Other indirect emission sources, special emission sources that are not included in the above five categories, shall be defined by the organization itself.

ISO 14064 can be applied to the following:

Corporate risk management: such as identifying and managing opportunities and risks related to climate change;

Voluntary actions: such as joining voluntary GHG registration or reporting actions;

GHG Marketplace: trading of GHG allowances and credits;

Compliance requirements: Submitting greenhouse gas reports as required by laws and regulations or government departments.

The values of implementing ISO 14064 can include:

Strengthening environmental integrity for GHG quantification;

Improving the credibility, transparency and consistency of quantification, monitoring and reporting of GHGs, including GHG emission reductions and removals in GHG projects;

Assisting in the development and implementation of organizational GHG management strategies and plans;

Assisting in the development and implementation of GHG projects;

Enhancing the ability to track and monitor the performance and progress in GHG emission reductions and removal enhancement;

Facilitating the issuance and trading of credit limits of GHG emission reductions and removal enhancement.