ISO’s goal in developing standards for GHG accounting and verification is to provide a set of unambiguous, verifiable requirements or specifications to support organizations and GHG project proponents in using a quantification, monitoring and verification approach that ensures “a ton of carbon is always a ton of carbon”. ISO standards may also enable GHG scheme administrators to design systems using standardized “building blocks”, supporting the compatibility of rules and comparability and credibility of GHG quantifications.

ISO 14064 will be of interest to organizations, GHG scheme administrators, project proponents, validation/verification bodies, environmental non-governmental organizations and others. It is hoped that the standard will:

• Enhance environmental integrity by promoting consistency, transparency and credibility in GHG quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification;
• Enable organizations to identify and manage GHG-related liabilities, assets and risks through the systematic development and maintenance of GHG inventories;
• Facilitate the trade of GHG allowances or credits;
• Support the design, development and implementation of comparable and consistent GHG schemes or programs.

ISO’s GHG accounting standard (ISO 14064) hhas 3 Parts:

Part 1 - Greenhouse gases: specification for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of organization emissions and removals.

Part 1 of ISO 14064 specifies verifiable requirements for organizations to design, develop, maintain and report on organizational-level GHG inventories. The Part 1 standard will be of interest to organizations participating in voluntary GHG registries or regulatory allowance-based schemes or GHG scheme administrators designing such programs or schemes.

Part 2 - Greenhouse gases: specification for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of project emissions and removals.

Part 2 of ISO 14064 specifies verifiable requirements for GHG project proponents to plan, monitor, quantify and report on projects, including resultant GHG emission reductions or removal enhancement units. The Part 2 standard will be of interest to project proponents participating in voluntary programs or regulatory credit-based schemes or GHG scheme administrators designing such programs or schemes.

Part 3 - Greenhouse gases: specification and guidance for validation, verification and certification.

Part 3 of ISO 14064 specifies verifiable requirements for validation/verification bodies and validators/verifiers in providing assurance against GHG claims from organizations (eg, Part 1) or projects (eg, Part 2). The Part 3 standard aims to be applicable to any GHG scheme and will be of interest to validation/verification bodies, validators/verifiers and GHG scheme administrators.