ISO Participates in Conference to Fight Climate Change

December 24, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

To address that goal, standards from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) were identified, and the ISO process for supporting voluntary approaches was cited as a way to develop international consensus amongst countries and stakeholders from civil society, business and other interests.

At the meeting, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the impact of mankind's activities on the world's climate in its Summary for Policymakers, a summary from its Fourth Assessment Report (go to http://www.ipcc.ch/).

The findings indicate that the global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) increased from preindustrial values of about 280 parts per million (ppm), to 379 ppm in 2005. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 in 2005 exceeded the natural range over the last 650,000 years (180 to 300 ppm).

The report predicts that continued greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system during the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century.

With a mandate to address these challenges, the meeting convened the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. The meetings included an array of side events and exhibits that probed topical issues of importance to global climate change.

ISO standards offer tools for addressing climate change at four levels:

• Monitoring climate change through technical, basic equipment and measurement standards (e.g., ISO/TC 211 on geomatics, ISO/TC 146/SC5 on meteorology).
• Quantifying GHG emissions and communicating on environmental impacts, including ISO standards ISO 14064 (parts 1, 2 and 3) and ISO 14065 on GHG accounting, verification, validation and accreditation of bodies carrying out these activities.
• Promoting good practice in environmental management and design, for example, achieving broad deployment of organizational commitment to the environment through widespread implementation of ISO 14001, which provides the requirements for environmental management systems.
• Opening markets for energy-efficient technologies and renewable sources, including established programmes for hydrogen, nuclear and wind technologies, as well as new standardization work on solid and liquid biofuels, and proposals for standards on improving energy management in organizations.

ISO also participated in discussions concerning a proposed new initiative to fund and encourage small business action on the sustainability agenda.

Currently titled the Sustainability of the Planet foundation, its founders seek to establish the initiative at a global level and to strengthen formal cooperation with the ISO, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), the U.N. Global Compact, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

ISO also presented at a side event concerning voluntary carbon markets and the impact of the new voluntary carbon standard (VCS). The VCS is a global carbon offset standard that incorporates principles from the ISO 14064 series and ISO 14065.

Co-developed by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the Climate Group and WBCSD, the VCS will provide a level of assurance for the certification of voluntary offsets, targeted to organizations that want to tackle climate change by going carbon-neutral.

Developers of the VCS estimate that annual transactions in the voluntary carbon market could reach $4 billion in the next five years and that the VCS will be instrumental to this growth.

Kevin McKinley, ISO deputy secretary-general, said, "The success of all emissions trading programmes will be assisted by extensive use and reference to the globally accepted ISO 14064 series and ISO 14065.

"In fact, truly additional and material reductions in global GHG emissions can only be achieved through the continued convergence of ISO standards and both the voluntary and regulatory GHG emission verification, validation, accreditation and trading regimes," McKinley said.

"This ... meeting has been especially useful to promote, particularly with key industry and nongovernmental partners, the foundational role that ISO standards are playing in contributing to mitigating climate change and to achieving a truly sustainable world."

Source: International Organization for Standardization (ISO).