Regenerate3

Substantiation via ISO 14065 third-party verifiers.

Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) is the world's most widely used voluntary carbon crediting program (over 1,900 active projects). Land-use methodologies include: REDD+ (VM0007, VM0015), Afforestation/Reforestation (VM0047), Improved Forest Management (VM0012), Soil Carbon (VM0042), Blue Carbon (VM0033 — tidal wetlands and seagrass), and Agroforestry. Each methodology requires: project boundary GIS files, baseline scenario documentation, monitoring reports with field measurements, and third-party verification by a Verra-approved VVB.

ISO 14064 (2018 revision) is the international standard family for greenhouse gas accounting and verification. Part 1: organizational GHG inventories (boundary, quantification, monitoring, reporting). Part 2: project-level GHG reductions and removal enhancements (baseline scenario, additionality, monitoring plan, uncertainty assessment). Part 3: validation and verification requirements for GHG assertions (verifier competence, evidence requirements, materiality threshold 5% for project-level). Adopted by reference in Verra VCS, Gold Standard, and EU CRCF verification requirements.

Type III declarations from Life Cycle Assessment data under ISO 14025 / EN 15804.

ISO 14040:2006 describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA): definition of the goal and scope, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical review, limitations, the relationship between the LCA phases, and conditions for use of value choices and optional elements. It covers LCA and LCI studies. It does NOT describe the LCA technique in detail and does NOT specify methodologies for the individual phases — a study claiming a method on 14040's authority is claiming something 14040 declines to give. Edition 2, published 2006-07, 20 pages, ISO/TC 207/SC 5, ICS 13.020.10 / 13.020.60. Stage 90.93 — confirmed on review in 2022, so this version remains current. One amendment: ISO 14040:2006/Amd 1:2020.

ISO 14044:2006 specifies requirements and provides guidelines for life cycle assessment: definition of goal and scope, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical review, limitations, the relationship between the LCA phases, and conditions for use of value choices and optional elements. It covers LCA and LCI studies. This is the requirements half of the pair — 14040 states the framework, 14044 states what a study must actually do to conform. Edition 1, published 2006-07, 46 pages, ISO/TC 207/SC 5, ICS 13.020.10 / 13.020.60. Stage 90.93 — confirmed on review in 2022, so this version remains current. Two amendments: Amd 1:2017 and Amd 2:2020.

ISO 14046:2014 specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for water footprint assessment of products, processes and organizations, based on life cycle assessment. A water footprint assessment may stand alone or sit inside a broader environmental assessment. Only air and soil emissions that impact water quality are included, and not all of them. The result is a single value or a profile of impact indicator results. Reporting is in scope; COMMUNICATION of results as labels or declarations is outside it. Edition 1, published 2014-08, 33 pages, ISO/TC 207/SC 5, ICS 13.020.10 / 13.020.60. Stage 90.60 — close of review, under review as of the 2026-08-27 reading.

ISO 14067:2018 specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for quantifying and reporting the carbon footprint of a product (CFP), consistent with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. Requirements for a PARTIAL CFP are also specified. It addresses only a single impact category: climate change. Carbon offsetting and the communication of CFP information are explicitly OUTSIDE its scope — a standard that quantifies a number is not a standard that licenses a label built on it. It assesses no social or economic aspect and no other environmental impact. Edition 1, published 2018-08, 46 pages, ISO/TC 207/SC 7, ICS 13.020.40. Supersedes the withdrawn ISO/TS 14067:2013.

Gold Standard (GS4GG v4.1) is a certification standard for climate and development projects, requiring compliance with all three pillars of sustainable development alongside climate impact. Requirements: safeguarding against negative impacts (social, environmental), stakeholder consultation and consent, SDG co-benefit quantification (at least three SDGs demonstrated and reported), third-party validation and verification, and listing on the Gold Standard registry. Commonly applied to cookstove, clean water, biogas, soil carbon, and agroforestry projects in the Global South.

The product carbon footprint data large buyers require for Scope 3 reporting, per WBCSD PACT Technical Specifications v2.3.3.