ISO has a number of standards that play an essential role in climate action, helping to monitor climate change, quantify greenhouse gas emissions and promote good practice in environmental management.

One notable example is the ISO 14000 family of standards for environmental management systems, which details practical tools for organizations to manage the impact of their activities on the environment. This suite of standards, which includes one of ISO’s most widely used standards – ISO 14001, Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, covers overall frameworks, audits, communications, labelling, life-cycle analysis and methods to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Aligned with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol and compatible with most GHG programmes, the ISO 14064 series gives specifications for the quantification, monitoring and validation/verification of greenhouse gas emissions, while ISO 14067 specifies the principles, requirements and guidelines for quantifying and reporting the carbon footprint of products. Other standards in this area include ISO 14080, which gives organizations a framework to develop consistent, comparable and improved methodologies in the fight against climate change, and future ISO Guide 84, Guidelines for addressing climate change in standards, which is aimed at those involved in standards development.