IEC TR 62125:2007

IEC/TR 62125
Edition 1.0 2007-08
TECHNICAL
REPORT
RAPPORT
TECHNIQUE
Environmental statement specific to IEC TC 20 – Electric cables

Déclaration environnementale spécifique au TC 20 de la CEI – Câbles
électriques
IEC/TR 62125:2007
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IEC/TR 62125
Edition 1.0 2007-08
TECHNICAL
REPORT
RAPPORT
TECHNIQUE
Environmental statement specific to IEC TC 20 – Electric cables

Déclaration environnementale spécifique au TC 20 de la CEI – Câbles
électriques
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
N
CODE PRIX
ICS 13.020.01; 29.060.20 ISBN 2-8318-9270-8

– 2 – TR 62125 © IEC:2007
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3

INTRODUCTION.5

1 Scope.6

2 Normative references .6

3 Terms and definitions .6

4 Implementation of TC 20’s environmental policy .7

4.1 General principles .7
4.2 Environmental aspects for cable standards .7
4.3 Environmental check list for power cable standards.7
4.4 Life cycle assessment of cables .8

Annex A (informative) Check list .9
Annex B (informative) Life cycle considerations .11

Bibliography.15

Figure B.1 – Environmental aspects in electric cable standards relating to cable
concept and design.13
Figure B.2 – Environmental aspects in electric cable standards relating to the life cycle .14

TR 62125 © IEC:2007 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT SPECIFIC TO IEC TC 20 –

ELECTRIC CABLES
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote

international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for

example "state of the art".
IEC/TR 62125, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 20:
Electric cables.
This report should be used in conjunction with ISO Guide 64, with technical report
ISO/TR 14062, and with IEC Guide 109.

– 4 – TR 62125 © IEC:2007
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:

Enquiry draft Report on voting

20/868/DTR 20/880/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the

report on voting indicated in the above table.

This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
TR 62125 © IEC:2007 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
The cable sector has always considered the impact of electric cables on the environment, in

relation to their service conditions, and particularly for utility cables. Over the years, energy

utilities have considerably increased their requirements to take into account the environmental

impact of electric cables.
IEC TC 20 is constantly reviewing its approach to the incorporation of environmental aspects

into standards for electric cables and their components. Environmental considerations should

be included in both design and redesign work with respect to the raw materials used, energy

consumption and emissions during production, end of life disposal or recycling, and in-service

performance.
For example, there is an environmental demand for more efficient operation of electric cables
(lower transmission losses, reduced heating effects, and, as a result, lower emission of
greenhouse gases). There is some information on suitable cable design parameters to
achieve lower losses. Unfortunately, diverse pressures from a number of interests usually
result in the need to compromise in this area.

– 6 – TR 62125 © IEC:2007
ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT SPECIFIC TO IEC TC 20 –

ELECTRIC CABLES
1 Scope
IEC/TR 62125, which is a technical report, is intended to give assistance to standard-writers
of IEC Technical Committee 20, to take into account the relevant environmental aspects as
far as they are specific to electric cables in normal use. It also assists them to keep in mind a

clear methodology when considering these aspects and when checking possible interaction of
the normative requirements with the environment. Also, these guidelines assist standard-
writers to avoid too simple or too stringent requirements that might not achieve a favourable
global result.
This technical report, by its very nature, is not prescriptive and does not limit innovation.
NOTE 1 The term ‘environment’, as used in this report, differs from the term as used in those IEC standards
dealing with the impact of environmental conditions on electrotechnical products (see 3.1).
NOTE 2 As regards the impact of environmental conditions on the performance of products, reference is made to
IEC 60068, IEC 60721 and IEC Guide 106.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC Guide 109, Environmental aspects – Inclusion in electrotechnical product standards
ISO Guide 64, Guide for the inclusion of environmental aspects in product standards
ISO/TR 14062, Environmental management – Integrating env
...