Standards & frameworks
Environment, energy & climate: standards and frameworks
Environmental and energy standards set how an organisation manages its environmental aspects, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and how it backs a climate claim. This family holds 20 records, from ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 certification to emissions verification and validated reduction targets.
What the family covers
What do environmental and energy standards cover, and how do they fit together?
The family holds three kinds of document. Management system standards, ISO 14001 for environmental management, ISO 50001 for energy and ISO 20121 for events, set requirements that an organisation is certified against. Quantification and claim standards, ISO 14064-1 for an organisation’s greenhouse gas inventory, ISO 14067 for a product carbon footprint and ISO 14068 for carbon neutrality, set rules for figures and claims that a verification body tests. Frameworks such as the GHG Protocol and the SBTi criteria set accounting methods and target rules with no certificate at the end. Around them sit life cycle assessment (ISO 14040 / 14044), water footprint (ISO 14046), climate adaptation (ISO 14090), energy audits (ISO 50002), EMAS and chain-of-custody schemes such as FSC, PEFC and ISCC PLUS. The requests usually come from outside: a customer questionnaire, a tender, a lender, a disclosure platform or a parent group. The standards connect through data. The aspects register of ISO 14001 and the energy review of ISO 50001 feed the emissions inventory, and that inventory becomes the base year for a reduction target and the footprint behind any carbon neutrality claim. Built well once, it serves every later request.
Sterling starts with the request you have to answer first, then builds the system or inventory that answers it so the next standard reuses the same data. You choose Design™, where we develop and your team implements under our expert advice and supervision, or Drive™, where we design and build under your approval, fully managed. Either way, Effivity is included at no additional cost to hold the aspects register, energy data, inventory evidence and actions in one place. Sterling does not certify, verify or validate: an independent certification body, an accredited verification body or SBTi Services makes that decision, and our work is to have your evidence ready for it.
Standards in this family
20 standards, frameworks and schemes in this family
Each card opens the standard’s own page, with its route and what the independent check involves.
- ISO 14001ISO 14001 certification consulting: aspects, impacts and compliance obligations controlled, with support until an accredited body certifies you.
- ISO 50001ISO 50001 certification consulting for measured, normalised energy performance improvement, with the data to prove it at an accredited certification audit.
- ISO 14064-1ISO 14064-1 GHG Inventory and Verification certification consulting: emissions and removals quantified within defined boundaries, ready for your verifier.
- ISO 14068-1ISO 14068 Carbon Neutrality certification consulting: footprint quantified, emissions reduced first and only the residual offset, ready for your verifier.
- GHG ProtocolGHG Protocol inventory consulting: scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions on boundaries and methods an outsider can test, ready for independent verification.
- SBTiSBTi Target Validation certification consulting: near-term and net-zero targets built on your inventory and prepared for validation by SBTi Services.
- ISO 20121ISO 20121 certification consulting for events: environmental, social and economic impacts managed from concept to review, ready for an independent audit.
- ISO 14067ISO 14067 verification and requirements explained: how to quantify a product carbon footprint, what the study report needs and how verification works.
- ISO 14064-2 / 14064-3ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3 explained: GHG project requirements, validation and verification by accredited bodies, cost and timing, and how Sterling helps.
- ISO 14040 / 14044ISO 14040 and 14044 life cycle assessment: requirements, critical review, cost and timing. No certificate exists; Sterling helps you build a defensible study.
- ISO 14046ISO 14046 water footprint assessment and requirements explained: the life cycle method, why there is no certificate, independent review and how Sterling helps.
- ISO 14090ISO 14090 implementation and requirements: assess climate impacts, plan adaptation and build it into ISO 14001, with no certificate involved. All-inclusive support.
- ISO 50002ISO 50002 energy audit support to ISO 50002-1:2025: requirements, audit levels and steps, with findings ranked and turned into an action plan you can prove.
- ISO 14005ISO 14005 implementation guidelines: build your environmental management system in phases, measure maturity and reach ISO 14001 certification at your own pace.
- ISO 14006ISO 14006 ecodesign implementation for your EMS: guidance, not certifiable. Sterling builds ecodesign into design and development, with Effivity included.
- EMASEMAS registration explained: requirements, the validated environmental statement, the verifier and Competent Body route, cost factors and all-inclusive support.
- FSC / PEFC chain of custodyFSC and PEFC chain of custody certification and requirements: FSC-STD-40-004 V3-1, PEFC ST 2002:2020, the audit route and cost factors, with Sterling.
- ISO 14065ISO 14065 accreditation and requirements for bodies verifying environmental information: GHG statements, footprints, the route, cost and timing factors.
- ISCC PLUSISCC PLUS certification for circular and bio-based materials: requirements, mass balance, ISCC HUB registration, standalone documents and an all-inclusive plan.
- PAS 2060PAS 2060 carbon neutrality: BSI withdrew PAS 2060 on 1 December 2025. See what replaced it and how Sterling moves your claim to ISO 14068 verification.
Cards run from the most requested standards to the specialist ones. Some records also appear in a related family, such as ESG and sustainability reporting.
- 60+countries where Sterling has delivered certification
- 21countries with a Sterling office, eight regions, one coordinated team
- 2003the year the group began implementing ISO management systems; the same method, refined, since
- 8,100+client engagements across the group, from single-site SMEs to multinationals
FAQs
Environmental and energy standards: common questions
Answered by route: certification, verification and validation.
Which environmental or energy standard should we start with?
Start with the one you are being asked for. A customer or tender asking for a certified environmental management system points to ISO 14001; significant energy costs point to ISO 50001; a request for emissions figures points to a greenhouse gas inventory under the GHG Protocol or ISO 14064-1, which is also the starting point for SBTi targets and any ISO 14068 carbon neutrality claim.
Can ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 be run as one system?
Yes. Both follow ISO’s common management system structure, so policy, objectives, internal audit and management review can be shared in one integrated system, and the same data can feed a greenhouse gas inventory. Ask your certification body whether it audits both standards in a combined visit; each standard still receives its own certificate.
Who checks the result, and what do they check?
It depends on the route. For ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and ISO 20121, an independent certification body audits the system and decides on certification; for ISO 50001 it works to ISO 50003. A greenhouse gas inventory or carbon neutrality claim is verified under ISO 14064-3 by a verification body accredited to ISO/IEC 17029 and ISO 14065, at limited or reasonable assurance. SBTi Services validates targets against the SBTi criteria. Sterling does none of these checks.
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