ISO 14064 Carbon Footprint Verification

Carbon footprint verification helps quantify the greenhouse gas emissions that result from a company’s operations and thereby enables the company to demonstrate its commitment to mitigating the effects of climate change. Companies can use a carbon footprint inventory to determine their climate-relevant emissions. It then serves as a decision-making basis for developing climate protection targets and charting a strategic route. Is that, however, sufficient? Only when a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) balance has been independently verified does it become genuinely reliable.

YOUR BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

• Increased ecologic integrity of your Carbon Footprint by complying with recognized standards
• Improved credibility, consistency und transparency of the quantification, monitoring and reporting of your GHG
• Creating a reliable basis for developing and improving monitoring systems for tracking GHG-emissions
• Enabling the development and implementation of emission reduction and decarbonization strategies

TÜV SÜD'S CARBON FOOTPRINT VERIFICATION SERVICES

The goal of carbon footprint assessment and verification is to create reliability and transparency, identify emission drivers and push innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and raw material expenditures. Carbon management certification lets companies simultaneously cut costs and improve their environmental reputation.

• Company Level Reporting: Corporate Carbon Footprints (CCF) according to ISO 14064-1, if required, in combination with GHG Protocol. For the consistent preparation of a CCF, the use of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) and the ISO 14064-1 have been established. The TÜV SÜD experts check the corporate carbon footprint of a company regarding the compliance with those standards. In terms of content, ISO 14064-1 is strongly based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), which was published in 1998 by the WSBCSD and the WRI to standardise so-called carbon accounting and now describes a variety of calculation approaches for determining emissions.
• Product Level Reporting: Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) according to ISO 14067, if required, in combination with ISO 14040/44 and GHG Protocol. In a PCF, the main greenhouse gas emissions along the entire product life cycle are assessed and quantified, starting with resource extraction and raw material procurement, through the phases of production and use, to the end-of-life of the product. The calculation is verified based on the ISO 14067. ISO 14067 defines requirements and guidelines for quantifying the carbon footprint of products and builds on the ISO 14040/44 for Life Cycle Assessment. 
• Emissions Reduction Projects according to ISO 14064-2, if required, in combination with specific GHG program requirements such as EU Innovation Fund or Upstream Emission Reduction regulation
• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: preliminary verifications as preparation for the upcoming legislation

HOW DOES THE CARBON FOOTPRINT VERIFICATION SERVICE BY TÜV SÜD WORK?

The carbon footprint verification process at TÜV SÜD follows 5 clearly defined steps:

1. Kick-off meeting to determine assessment, timeframe and first estimations of greenhouse gas emissions

2. Audit planning with strategic risk analysis, creation of audit plan and possible interim review

3. Carbon audit with the assessment of actual greenhouse gas emissions

4. Post-processing to adapt corrections and creation of preliminary audit report

5. Verification certificate issuance