CEN/SS S26 - Environmental Management

This document specifies requirements and gives guidance for conducting a critical review of any type of life cycle assessment (LCA) study and the competencies required for the review. It provides additional requirements and guidance to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
This document provides:
—     details of a critical review process, including clarification with regard to ISO 14044;
—     guidance to deliver the required critical review process, linked to the goal of the LCA and its intended use;
—     content and deliverables of the critical review process;
—     guidance to improve the consistency, transparency, efficiency and credibility of the critical review process;
—     the required competencies for the reviewer(s) (internal, external and panel member);
—     the required competencies to be represented by the panel as a whole.
This document can be applicable to other standards that require independent review of LCA-based procedures and information (e.g. ISO 14045, ISO 14046, ISO 14025, ISO 14067), and can be adapted to the specific fields of application. Other reference standards can be included in the critical review process.
This document does not apply to
a)       critical reviews performed prior to its publication, and
b)       the applications of LCA (as illustrated in ISO 14040:2006, Figure 1).

This document gives general guidelines for organizations seeking to address water-related environmental aspects, environmental impacts, environmental conditions, and the associated risks and opportunities within an environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001.
The document addresses issues for environmental management related to water quantity and quality, such as water withdrawal, efficient use of water, and water discharge, as well as approaches to cope with water-related events such as flooding and droughts. The document considers the interconnections of water with other environmental media and takes a holistic approach to the management of water due to its impacts on ecosystems, ecosystem services, related biodiversity, as well as human life and well-being.
This document is applicable to organizations irrespective of their size, type, financial resources, location and sector. It is applicable to all types of water and considers a life cycle perspective.

This document establishes principles and specifies general requirements that are applicable to all types of product-related environmental statements and environmental statement programmes. Environmental statements result from environmental statement programmes and include self-declared environmental claims, ecolabels, environmental product declarations (EPDs) and footprint communications.
This document is intended to be used in conjunction with other standards in the ISO 14020 family.
NOTE      Those other standards contain additional terms and definitions, principles and requirements that are relevant to their specific scopes.

This document gives guidance on how to conduct an environmental due diligence (EDD) assessment through a systematic process of identifying environmental aspects, issues and conditions as well as determining, if appropriate, their business consequences.
This document does not provide guidance on how to conduct other types of environmental assessment, such as:
a) environmental audits;
b) environmental impact assessments;
c) environmental performance, efficiency, or reliability assessment;
d) intrusive environmental investigations and remediation.

This document specifies principles and requirements for bodies performing validation and verification of environmental information statements.
Any programme requirements related to bodies are additional to the requirements of this document.
This document is a sector application of ISO/IEC 17029:2019, which contains general principles and requirements for the competence, consistent operation and impartiality of bodies performing validation/verification as conformity assessment activities.
This document includes sector-specific requirements in addition to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17029:2019.

This document gives guidelines for the design and use of environmental performance evaluation (EPE) within an organization. It is applicable to all organizations, regardless of type, size, location and complexity.
This document does not establish environmental performance levels. It is not intended for use for the establishment of any other environmental management system (EMS) conformity requirements.
The guidance in this document can be used to support an organization's own approach to EPE including its commitments to compliance with legal and other requirements, the prevention of pollution and continual improvement, among others.
NOTE     This document is a generic standard and does not include guidance on specific methods for valuing or weighting different kinds of impacts in different kinds of sectors, disciplines, etc. Depending on the nature of the organization's activities, there is often a need to also go to other sources for additional information and guidance on sector-specific topics, different subject matters or different scientific disciplines.

This document gives guidelines for assessing the risks related to the potential impacts of climate change. It describes how to understand vulnerability and how to develop and implement a sound risk assessment in the context of climate change. It can be used for assessing both present and future climate change risks.
Risk assessment according to this document provides a basis for climate change adaptation planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation for any organization, regardless of size, type and nature.

This document gives general guidelines for organizations seeking to systematically manage environmental aspects or respond to the effects of changing environmental conditions within one or more environmental topic areas, based on ISO 14001.
This document also constitutes a framework for common elements of subsequent parts of the ISO 14002 series.

This document defines terms used in documents in the fields of environmental management systems and tools in support of sustainable development. These include management systems, auditing and other types of assessment, communications, footprinting studies, greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

This document specifies a methodological framework for the monetary valuation of environmental impacts and related environmental aspects. Environmental impacts include impacts on human health, and on the built and natural environment. Environmental aspects include releases and the use of natural resources.
The monetary valuation methods in this document can also be used to better understand organizations' dependencies on the environment.
During the planning of the monetary valuation, the intended use of the results is considered but the use itself is outside the scope of this document.
In this document, monetary valuation is a way of expressing value in a common unit, for use in comparisons and trade-offs between different environmental issues and between environmental and other issues. The monetary value to be determined includes some or all values reflected in the concept of total economic value. An anthropocentric perspective is taken, which asserts that natural environment has value in so far as it gives utility (well-being) to humans. The monetary values referred to in this document are economic values applied in trade-offs between alternative resource allocations, and not absolute values.
This document does not include costing or accounting, although some valuation methods have the term "cost" in their name. This document does not include the development of models linking environmental aspects to environmental impacts.
NOTE       In this document, what is valued in monetary terms is either environmental impacts or environmental aspects. When valuing environmental impacts of an organization, it is important that links between environmental aspects and environmental impacts are established.

This document gives guidelines for organizations on determining the environmental costs and benefits associated with their environmental aspects. It addresses the dependencies of an organization on the environment, for example, natural resources, and the context in which the organization operates or is located. Environmental costs and benefits can be expressed quantitatively, in both non-monetary and monetary terms, or qualitatively.
This document also provides guidance for organizations when disclosing related information.
This document takes an anthropocentric perspective, i.e. looking at changes that affect human wellbeing (utility) including their concern for, and dependence on, nature and ecosystem services. This includes use and non-use values as reflected in the concept of total economic value when environmental costs and benefits are determined in monetary terms.
The ways in which the environmental costs and benefits are used after they have been determined are outside the scope of this document.
This document is applicable to any organization regardless of size, type and nature.

This document gives guidelines to organizations for general principles, policy, strategy and activities relating to both internal and external environmental communication. It uses proven and well-established approaches for communication, adapted to the specific conditions that exist in environmental communication.
It is applicable to all organizations regardless of their size, type, location, structure, activities, products and services, and whether or not they have an environmental management system in place.
It can be used in combination with any of the ISO 14000 family of standards, or on its own.
NOTE 1  A reference table to the ISO 14000 family is provided in Annex A.
NOTE 2  ISO 14020, ISO 14021, ISO 14024, ISO 14025 and ISO 14026 provide specific environmental communication tools and guidance relating to product labels and declarations.

This document gives guidelines for assisting organizations in establishing, documenting, implementing, maintaining and continually improving their management of ecodesign as part of an environmental management system (EMS).
This document is intended to be used by organizations that have implemented an EMS in accordance with ISO 14001, but it can also help in integrating ecodesign using other management systems. The guidelines are applicable to any organization regardless of its type, size or product(s) provided.
This document is applicable to product-related environmental aspects and activities that an organization can control and those it can influence.
This document does not establish specific environmental performance criteria.

This document gives guidelines for a phased approach to establish, implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system (EMS) that organizations, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), can adopt to enhance their environmental performance.
The phased approach provides flexibility that allows organizations to develop their EMS at their own pace, over a number of phases, according to their own circumstances. Each phase consists of six consecutive stages. The system's maturity at the end of each phase can be characterized using the five-level maturity matrix provided in Annex A.
This document is applicable to any organization regardless of their current environmental performance, the nature of the activities undertaken or the locations at which they occur.
The phased approach enables an organization to develop a system that ultimately satisfies the requirements of ISO 14001.
The guidance does not cover those elements of specific systems that go beyond ISO 14001 and it is not intended to provide interpretations of the requirements of ISO 14001.

This document specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for adaptation to climate change. This includes the integration of adaptation within or across organizations, understanding impacts and uncertainties and how these can be used to inform decisions.
This document is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature, e.g. local, regional, international, business units, conglomerates, industrial sectors, natural resource management units.
This document can support the development of sector-, aspect- or element-specific climate change adaptation standards.

This document specifies principles and requirements and provides guidance for verifying and validating greenhouse gas (GHG) statements.
It is applicable to organization, project and product GHG statements.
The ISO 14060 family of standards is GHG programme neutral. If a GHG programme is applicable, requirements of that GHG programme are additional to the requirements of the ISO 14060 family of standards.

This document specifies principles and requirements and provides guidance at the project level for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of activities intended to cause greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions or removal enhancements. It includes requirements for planning a GHG project, identifying and selecting GHG sources, sinks and reservoirs (SSRs) relevant to the project and baseline scenario, monitoring, quantifying, documenting and reporting GHG project performance and managing data quality.
The ISO 14060 family of standards is GHG programme neutral. If a GHG programme is applicable, the requirements of that GHG programme are additional to the requirements of the ISO 14060 family of standards.

This document specifies principles and requirements at the organization level for the quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. It includes requirements for the design, development, management, reporting and verification of an organization's GHG inventory.
The ISO 14064 series is GHG programme neutral. If a GHG programme is applicable, requirements of that GHG programme are additional to the requirements of the ISO 14064 series.

ISO 14026:2017 provides principles, requirements and guidelines for footprint communications for products addressing areas of concern relating to the environment.
ISO 14026:2017 also provides requirements and guidelines for footprint communication programmes, as well as requirements for verification procedures.
ISO 14026:2017 does not address the quantification of a footprint, nor does it address the communication of footprints that are not related to the environment, e.g. footprints addressing social or economic issues. In particular, footprint communications relating to the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development are outside the scope of ISO 14026:2017. Footprint communications relating to organizations are also outside the scope of ISO 14026:2017.

ISO 14052:2017 provides guidance for the practical implementation of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) in a supply chain. MFCA fundamentally traces the flows and stocks of materials within an organization, quantifies these material flows in physical units (e.g. mass, volume) and evaluates the costs associated with material flows and energy uses. MFCA is applicable to any organization that uses materials and energy, regardless of its products, services, size, structure, location, and existing management and accounting systems. In principle, MFCA can be applied as an environmental management accounting tool in the supply chain, both upstream and downstream, and can help to develop an integrated approach for improving material and energy efficiency in the supply chain.
ISO 14052:2017 is based on the principles and general framework for MFCA described in ISO 14051.
The MFCA framework presented in this document includes scenarios for improving material and energy efficiency in a supply chain, principles for successful application of MFCA in a supply chain, information sharing, and practical steps for the implementation of MFCA in a supply chain.

ISO 14034:2016 specifies principles, procedures and requirements for environmental technology verification (ETV).

This document specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for the quantification and reporting of the carbon footprint of a product (CFP), in a manner consistent with International Standards on life cycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044).
Requirements and guidelines for the quantification of a partial CFP are also specified.
This document is applicable to CFP studies, the results of which provide the basis for different applications (see Clause 4).
This document addresses only a single impact category: climate change. Carbon offsetting and communication of CFP or partial CFP information are outside the scope of this document.
This document does not assess any social or economic aspects or impacts, or any other environmental aspects and related impacts potentially arising from the life cycle of a product.

ISO 14024:2018 establishes the principles and procedures for developing Type I environmental labelling programmes, including the selection of product categories, product environmental criteria and product function characteristics, and for assessing and demonstrating compliance. ISO 14024:2018 also establishes the certification procedures for awarding the label.

ISO/TS 14027:2017 provides principles, requirements and guidelines for developing, reviewing, registering and updating PCR within a Type III environmental declaration or footprint communication programme based on life cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 as well as ISO 14025, ISO 14046 and ISO/TS 14067.
It also provides guidance on how to address and integrate additional environmental information, whether or not it is based on LCA in a coherent and scientifically sound manner according to ISO 14025.

ISO 14021:2016 specifies requirements for self-declared environmental claims, including statements, symbols and graphics, regarding products. It further describes selected terms commonly used in environmental claims and gives qualifications for their use. This International Standard also describes a general evaluation and verification methodology for self-declared environmental claims and specific evaluation and verification methods for the selected claims in this International Standard.
ISO 14021:2016 does not preclude, override, or in any way change, legally required environmental information, claims or labelling, or any other applicable legal requirements.

ISO 14004:2016 provides guidance for an organization on the establishment, implementation, maintenance and improvement of a robust, credible and reliable environmental management system. The guidance provided is intended for an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability.
This International Standard helps an organization achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provides value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Consistent with the organization's environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include:
-      enhancement of environmental performance;
-      fulfilment of compliance obligations;
-      achievement of environmental objectives.
The guidance in this International Standard can help an organization to enhance its environmental performance, and enables the elements of the environmental management system to be integrated into its core business process.
NOTE          While the environmental management system is not intended to manage occupational health and safety issues, these can be included when an organization seeks to implement an integrated environmental and occupational health and safety management system.
ISO 14004:2016 is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that the organization determines it can either control or influence, considering a life cycle perspective.
The guidance in this International Standard can be used in whole or in part to systematically improve environmental management. It serves to provide additional explanation of the concepts and requirements.
While the guidance in this International Standard is consistent with the ISO 14001 environmental management system model, it is not intended to provide interpretations of the requirements of ISO 14001.

ISO 14046:2014 specifies principles, requirements and guidelines related to water footprint assessment of products, processes and organizations based on life cycle assessment (LCA).
ISO 14046:2014 provides principles, requirements and guidelines for conducting and reporting a water footprint assessment as a stand-alone assessment, or as part of a more comprehensive environmental assessment.
Only air and soil emissions that impact water quality are included in the assessment, and not all air and soil emissions are included.
The result of a water footprint assessment is a single value or a profile of impact indicator results.
Whereas reporting is within the scope of ISO 14046:2014, communication of water footprint results, for example in the form of labels or declarations, is outside the scope of ISO 14046:2014.

ISO 14001:2015 specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to enhance its environmental performance. ISO 14001:2015 is intended for use by an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability.
ISO 14001:2015 helps an organization achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provide value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Consistent with the organization's environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include:
·         enhancement of environmental performance;
·         fulfilment of compliance obligations;
·         achievement of environmental objectives.
ISO 14001:2015 is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that the organization determines it can either control or influence considering a life cycle perspective. ISO 14001:2015 does not state specific environmental performance criteria.
ISO 14001:2015 can be used in whole or in part to systematically improve environmental management. Claims of conformity to ISO 14001:2015, however, are not acceptable unless all its requirements are incorporated into an organization's environmental management system and fulfilled without exclusion.

ISO 14045:2012 describes the principles, requirements and guidelines for eco-efficiency assessment for product systems including:
        the goal and scope definition of the eco-efficiency assessment;
        the environmental assessment;
        the product-system-value assessment;
        the quantification of eco-efficiency;
        interpretation (including quality assurance);
         reporting;
        critical review of the eco-efficiency assessment.
Requirements, recommendations and guidelines for specific choices of categories of environmental impact and values are not included. The intended application of the eco-efficiency assessment is considered during the goal and scope definition phase, but the actual use of the results is outside the scope of ISO 14045:2012.

ISO 14051:2011 provides a general framework for material flow cost accounting (MFCA). Under MFCA, the flows and stocks of materials within an organization are traced and quantified in physical units (e.g. mass, volume) and the costs associated with those material flows are also evaluated. The resulting information can act as a motivator for organizations and managers to seek opportunities to simultaneously generate financial benefits and reduce adverse environmental impacts. MFCA is applicable to any organization that uses materials and energy, regardless of their products, services, size, structure, location, and existing management and accounting systems.
MFCA can be extended to other organizations in the supply chain, both upstream and downstream, thus helping to develop an integrated approach to improving material and energy efficiency in the supply chain. This extension can be beneficial because waste generation in an organization is often driven by the nature or quality of materials provided by a supplier, or the specification of the product requested by a customer.
By definition, management accounting and environmental management accounting (EMA) focus on providing organizations with information for internal decision-making. MFCA, one of the major tools of EMA, also focuses on information for internal decision-making, and is intended to complement existing environmental management and management accounting practices. Although an organization can choose to include external costs in an MFCA analysis, external costs are outside the scope of ISO 14051:2011.
The MFCA framework presented in ISO 14051:2011 includes common terminologies, objective and principles, fundamental elements, and implementation steps. However, detailed calculation procedures or information on techniques for improving material or energy efficiency are outside the scope of ISO 14051:2011.
ISO 14051:2011 is not intended for the purpose of third party certification.

ISO 14025:2006 establishes the principles and specifies the procedures for developing Type III environmental declaration programmes and Type III environmental declarations. It specifically establishes the use of the ISO 14040 series of standards in the development of Type III environmental declaration programmes and Type III environmental declarations.
ISO 14025:2006 establishes principles for the use of environmental information, in addition to those given in ISO 14020:2000
Type III environmental declarations as described in ISO 14025:2006 are primarily intended for use in business-to-business communication, but their use in business-to-consumer communication under certain conditions is not precluded.

ISO 14044:2006 specifies requirements and provides guidelines for life cycle assessment (LCA) including: definition of the goal and scope of the LCA, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical review of the LCA, limitations of the LCA, relationship between the LCA phases, and conditions for use of value choices and optional elements.
ISO 14044:2006 covers life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and life cycle inventory (LCI) studies.

ISO 14040:2006 describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA) including: definition of the goal and scope of the LCA, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical review of the LCA, limitations of the LCA, the relationship between the LCA phases, and conditions for use of value choices and optional elements.
ISO 14040:2006 covers life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and life cycle inventory (LCI) studies. It does not describe the LCA technique in detail, nor does it specify methodologies for the individual phases of the LCA.
The intended application of LCA or LCI results is considered during definition of the goal and scope, but the application itself is outside the scope of this International Standard.

This document defines terms used in documents in the fields of environmental management systems and tools in support of sustainable development. These include management systems, auditing and other types of assessment, communications, footprinting studies, greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

ISO/TS 14071:2014 provides additional specifications to ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006. It provides requirements and guidelines for conducting a critical review of any type of LCA study and the competencies required for the review.
ISO/TS 14071:2014 provides:
details of a critical review process, including clarification with regard to ISO 14044:2006;
guidelines to deliver the required critical review process, linked to the goal of the life cycle assessment (LCA) and its intended use;
content and deliverables of the critical review process;
guidelines to improve the consistency, transparency, efficiency and credibility of the critical review process;
the required competencies for the reviewer(s) (internal, external and panel member);
the required competencies to be represented by the panel as a whole.
ISO/TS 14071:2014 does not cover the applications of LCA.

This International Standard establishes guiding principles for the development and use of environmental labels and declarations. It is intended that other applicable standards in the ISO 14020 series be used in conjunction with this International Standard.
This International Standard is not intended for use as a specification for certification and registration purposes.
NOTE Other International Standards in the series are intended to be consistent with the principles set forth in this International Standard. Other standards currently in the ISO 14020 series are ISO 14021, ISO 14024 and ISO/TR 14025 (see Bibliography).

This International Standard provides guidance on how to conduct an EASO through a systematic process of identifying environmental aspects and environmental issues and determining, if appropriate, their business consequences. This International Standard covers the roles and responsibilities of the parties to the assessment (the client, the assessor and the representative of the assessee), and the stages of the assessment process (planning, information gathering and validation, evaluation and reporting).

ISO 14065:2013 specifies principles and requirements for bodies that undertake validation or verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) assertions.

ISO 14031:2013 gives guidance on the design and use of environmental performance evaluation (EPE) within an organization. It is applicable to all organizations, regardless of type, size, location and complexity.
ISO 14031:2013 does not establish environmental performance levels.
The guidance in ISO 14031:2013 can be used to support an organization's own approach to EPE, including its commitments to compliance with legal and other requirements, the prevention of pollution, and continual improvement.

ISO 14050:2009 defines terms of fundamental concepts related to environmental management, published in the ISO 14000 series of International Standards.

ISO 14063:2006 gives guidance to an organization on general principles, policy, strategy and activities relating to both internal and external environmental communication. It utilizes proven and well-established approaches for communication, adapted to the specific conditions that exist in environmental communication. It is applicable to all organizations regardless of their size, type, location, structure, activities, products and services, and whether or not they have an environmental management system in place.
ISO 14063:2006 is not intended for use as a specification standard for certification or registration purposes or for the establishment of any other environmental management system conformity requirements. It can be used in combination with any of the ISO 14000 series of standards, or on its own.

ISO 14006:2011 provides guidelines to assist organizations in establishing, documenting, implementing, maintaining and continually improving their management of ecodesign as part of an environmental management system (EMS).
ISO 14006:2011 is intended to be used by those organizations that have implemented an EMS in accordance with ISO 14001, but can help in integrating ecodesign in other management systems. The guidelines are applicable to any organization regardless of its size or activity.
ISO 14006:2011 applies to those product-related environmental aspects that the organization can control and those it can influence.
ISO 14006:2011 does not establish by itself specific environmental performance criteria, and is not intended for certification purposes.

ISO 14064-3:2006 specifies principles and requirements and provides guidance for those conducting or managing the validation and/or verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) assertions. It can be applied to organizational or GHG project quantification, including GHG quantification, monitoring and reporting carried out in accordance with ISO 14064-1 or ISO 14064-2.
ISO 14064-3:2006 specifies requirements for selecting GHG validators/verifiers, establishing the level of assurance, objectives, criteria and scope, determining the validation/verification approach, assessing GHG data, information, information systems and controls, evaluating GHG assertions and preparing validation/verification statements.

ISO 14064-2:2006 specifies principles and requirements and provides guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of activities intended to cause greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions or removal enhancements. It includes requirements for planning a GHG project, identifying and selecting GHG sources, sinks and reservoirs relevant to the project and baseline scenario, monitoring, quantifying, documenting and reporting GHG project performance and managing data quality.