ISO 14064-1 · Greenhouse gas inventories at organisation level
ISO 14064-1 verification readiness consulting for a GHG inventory your verifier, buyers and board can rely on.
Get your greenhouse gas inventory verified by an independent, accredited verification body, first time, with figures that hold when a customer or a lender looks behind them. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants set the boundaries with your team, build the quantification and the evidence trail, prepare the GHG report and stay with you through the verification and beyond, in 60+ countries. We ensure successful verification for our clients.
- One all-inclusive proposal for a fixed scope: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in a single proposal
- A team of expert and experienced GHG accounting consultants, advising on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling prepares the inventory and the evidence; the verification body verifies and issues its statement
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
ISO 14064-1 client experience
What it is
What is ISO 14064-1 and what is it used for?
ISO 14064-1 is the international standard for quantifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and removals at the level of an organisation. It tells you which operations belong in your inventory, how to separate the emissions you cause directly from those caused on your behalf by energy providers, suppliers, transport and the use of your products, how to calculate them, how to manage the data behind them and what a GHG report must contain so that a verifier can test it. It is programme neutral, so one inventory can serve a customer questionnaire, a disclosure platform, a reduction target and a regulator.
The question the standard answers is not "what is our carbon footprint?" but "could a stranger with the standard in one hand and our records in the other reproduce our number?" A number nobody can trace is a claim, not an inventory.
Current edition. ISO 14064-1:2018, the second edition, was published on 19 December 2018 and replaced the 2006 edition. It introduced reporting boundaries in place of operational boundaries, classified indirect emissions into five categories and added requirements on biogenic carbon and on electricity. ISO confirmed the edition in 2024 and has since opened a revision, with a working draft in development. In July 2026 the GHG Protocol and ISO announced a consolidated joint corporate standard bringing together the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance, Scope 3 Standard and ISO 14064-1, with a public consultation planned for the second quarter of 2027 and publication for the fourth quarter of 2028, subject to confirmation by the two organisations. Until then, ISO 14064-1:2018 is the edition you build to and are verified against. ISO 14064-1 and the GHG Protocol: what the joint standard means
Who it is for
Who needs ISO 14064-1 verification?
ISO 14064-1 applies to any organisation, in any sector, that has to state its greenhouse gas emissions and wants the statement tested rather than taken on trust: manufacturers, contractors, utilities, logistics operators, banks, hotels, BPO and technology groups and their suppliers. Organisations come to Sterling from four starting points:
- A customer, a tender or a supply-chain programme wants verified figures. Global buyers push their targets down to suppliers, and questionnaires increasingly ask for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with the verifier's name beside them. Confirm which categories, reporting year and level of assurance the buyer expects before the deadline is set.
- A reduction target or a climate commitment has to rest on a base year. The Science Based Targets initiative's Corporate Net-Zero Standard, version 2.0 of June 2026, requires the largest companies to obtain independent third-party assurance of the target base-year inventory across scope 1, 2 and 3, at a minimum of limited assurance, and recommends it for the rest. A carbon neutrality claim under ISO 14068 starts from a quantified footprint.
- A regulator, an exchange or a reporting framework requires assured emissions data. EU sustainability reporting under the CSRD, national disclosure rules and platforms such as CDP all expect emissions by scope from a defined method with a verification process behind it. An ISO 14064-1 inventory is the operational layer under that reporting.
- You have an inventory and it would not survive verification. The boundary changed with an acquisition and nobody recalculated the base year, the factors have no source, refrigerant top-ups were never counted, and the largest indirect category was left out because it looked hard. It has to be rebuilt before a verifier sees it.
The intended benefit is a number you can defend and a method you can repeat every year; lower emissions and better contracts follow from acting on the inventory, not from the statement.
Business benefits
How ISO 14064-1 turns emissions data into something you can use
A verified inventory earns its place when it settles arguments: which figure goes in the annual report, which sites drive the total, whether last year's reduction was real or a change in the electricity factor. We start with the sources that carry most of the emissions and most of the doubt.
- One number for every audienceThe same inventory, mapped once to the GHG Protocol scopes, feeds the questionnaire, the platform, the target submission and the annual report, so three documents never show three totals.
- Reductions you can proveA recorded base year, a recalculation policy and consistent methods turn a lower total into a demonstrated reduction rather than a coincidence of factors or boundaries.
- Eligibility for contracts and financeVerified figures at the level of assurance the buyer, lender or scheme names, with the statement ready to attach.
- Cost visibilityFuel, electricity, refrigerants, freight and travel counted source by source, so the energy and logistics decisions with the largest effect are visible in the same data.
- A shorter, calmer verificationBoundaries explained, factors referenced and data trails complete before the verifier arrives, so the visit tests evidence instead of hunting for it.
- A foundation for what comes nextProduct footprints under ISO 14067, carbon neutrality under ISO 14068, transport chain emissions under ISO 14083 and a net-zero pathway all draw on the organisational inventory.
Judge the inventory on a few measures: the share of the total covered by primary data, the number of verification findings and emissions per unit of output. A longer spreadsheet is not a climate result.
Requirements
What are the main ISO 14064-1 requirements?
ISO 14064-1 is not a management system standard and does not follow the harmonised clause structure. After the scope, references and terms it runs from principles to boundaries, quantification, mitigation activities, inventory quality, the GHG report and your role in verification, clauses 4 to 10, with eight annexes, two of them normative. The table maps each clause to what a sustainability manager produces.
| Clause | What it requires of you | What it looks like in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Principles | Apply relevance, completeness, consistency, accuracy and transparency to every choice in the inventory | Boundary, method and exclusion decisions written down with the reason, so a verifier sees why a source is in, estimated or out |
| 5 GHG inventory boundaries | Set organisational boundaries by consolidating the facilities you control or hold a share in (5.1); set reporting boundaries by category and decide which indirect emissions are significant (5.2) | An entity and site list with its consolidation approach, a source and sink register by category, and recorded significance criteria for the indirect categories quantified and excluded |
| 6 Quantification of GHG emissions and removals | Identify sources and sinks (6.1), select the quantification approach (6.2), calculate with documented data and factors (6.3) and set a base-year inventory with a recalculation policy (6.4) | Activity data by source with its origin, factors with reference and vintage, calculations by gas in CO2 equivalent, and a base year recalculated when boundaries, methods or errors change materially |
| 7 Mitigation activities | Report reduction and removal-enhancement initiatives (7.1), projects quantified separately (7.2) and targets (7.3), without mixing them into the inventory total | A register of initiatives with their estimated effect, projects kept apart from the inventory, and targets stated against the base year |
| 8 GHG inventory quality management | Manage the information behind the inventory (8.1), retain documents and records (8.2) and assess uncertainty (8.3) | Roles and procedures for data collection and checking, a retention rule for each year's evidence, and an assessment of how good the figures are |
| 9 GHG reporting | Plan the GHG report for its intended users (9.2) and include the required content (9.3): the organisation and its boundaries, emissions by category, base year, exclusions, methods and the statement on verification | A GHG report an outside reader can follow, every figure traceable and every departure from the standard explained |
| 10 Organisation's role in verification activities | Prepare for verification: agree objectives, level of assurance and criteria with the verifier, give access to the evidence and respond to findings | A verification plan agreed with the body, an evidence pack that matches the report, staff who can answer for their data and corrections where discrepancies are found |
| Annexes | Data consolidation (A), emission categories (B), data selection (C), biogenic emissions and CO2 removals (D, normative), electricity (E, normative), report structure (F), agriculture and forestry (G), significant indirect emissions (H) | Biogenic carbon and electricity handled as the normative annexes require; the informative annexes used as the working method for boundaries, categories and significance |
What does useful ISO 14064-1 evidence look like?
A boundary document naming every entity, site and the consolidation approach, a source and sink register by category, invoices and meter readings reconciled to the activity data, fuel, refrigerant, fleet and travel records, supplier and freight data for the significant indirect categories, a factor library with the source and year of every factor, the calculation under version control, the base-year record, the uncertainty assessment, the GHG report and the internal review that checked it. The records live in Effivity from the first workshop, so the verifier sees an inventory that has been managed, not assembled.
ISO 14064-1 requirements explained, clause by clauseVerification process
How do you get ISO 14064-1 verified?
Build and operate the inventory first; then an independent verification body tests it. Sterling works with you on the boundaries, the quantification, the evidence and the report; the verification and the opinion belong to the verification body, and that separation gives the statement its value.
- 01Fix the boundaries, the categories and the reporting year.Agree the entities and sites, the consolidation approach, the reporting period, the significant indirect categories and the level of assurance the intended users expect.
- 02Gap analysis: review the current position against the requirements.The gap analysis examines what exists today, from utility data and factor sources to the base year, keeps what works and sets out the actions, owners, dates and resources to close every gap.
- 03Build the inventory, the factor library and the evidence trail.Sources and sinks registered, data collection assigned and scheduled, factors referenced, calculations set up by gas, the base year set and the quality procedures in use, with records accumulating as the year runs.
- 04Write the GHG report, review it internally, close the findings.An internal audit against the full standard and a management review of the report; whatever the verifier would find, we raise first and correct with evidence.
- 05Go through the independent verification.The verification body agrees the plan, level of assurance and materiality, reviews the documentation, visits sites as its risk assessment requires, completes its independent review and issues its statement with its opinion; respond to any findings before it is final.
- 06Keep the inventory running into the next reporting year.Data collection, factor updates, base-year checks, internal audits and reviews continue, so next year's verification tests a live system rather than a reconstruction.
Weigh the credibility of the route before the price. Ask which verification body will issue the statement, who accredits it for greenhouse gas verification, what level of assurance and materiality are proposed and how many verifier days for how many sites, and check the answers with the bodies concerned. An offer promising a "certificate" without a boundary document or any data is offering paper. How to choose a credible ISO 14064-1 provider · The certification buyer's checklist
Cost
How much does ISO 14064-1 verification cost?
No single figure describes an ISO 14064-1 programme accurately. A single-site service company reporting direct emissions and imported energy has a different scope from a manufacturer with ten plants and a fleet, and a group consolidating twelve countries differs from both. What Sterling commits to is a proposal in which every element is visible and nothing is added later before work starts.
| Cost component | What affects it |
|---|---|
| Consulting and implementation | The entities, sites and sources, the significant indirect categories, the state of your data and how much of the work your own team carries (Design™ or Drive™) |
| Independent verification | The verification body's days, which depend on the boundary, the categories, the sites visited and the level of assurance, plus travel and the annual repeat |
| Data, metering and factors | Sub-metering where invoices cannot be split, supplier and freight data collection for indirect categories, and any factor database subscriptions your countries require |
| Internal resources | Time from the sustainability lead, finance, procurement, facilities and the site contacts who own the data, plus training and process changes |
| Software and learning | Effivity for the inventory workspace and Sterling Academy access for your people, included in a Sterling engagement, with users, courses and access period stated in the proposal |
| Continued support | Next year's readiness, internal audits, factor and base-year updates, refresher learning and future transitions under Sustain™ |
What moves the price
- Entities, sites and countries in the boundary; one inventory or several
- How many indirect categories are significant, and the supplier data they need
- Whether data, factors and a base year exist today, and how much stands up
- The level of assurance the intended users require: limited or reasonable
- The deadline, the languages and any customer, scheme or group requirements
What a Sterling proposal always shows
- Deliverables, responsibilities, assumptions and exclusions, written down
- Verification-body fees shown separately, so programmes compare like for like
- Effivity, training and Academy access itemised, at no additional cost
- Payment milestones tied to deliverables rather than dates
- One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever
Timeline
How long does ISO 14064-1 verification take?
Realistically, three to six months from kick-off to a verified first inventory for most organisations, and the reason is data. A full reporting year of activity data has to exist, so the year you verify is usually the one that has just closed. Invoices have to be reconciled to sites, fleet and refrigerant records found, supplier data requested, factors referenced, the base year set and the report written and reviewed. We plan backwards from the deadline, with milestones your team tracks in Effivity.
| Phase | What determines the pace |
|---|---|
| Boundaries and gap analysis | Access to the entity structure, site list, invoices, existing calculations and the people who hold the data |
| Quantification and build | The number of sources and categories, how quickly supplier and freight data arrive, and the metering or estimation gaps the gap analysis reveals |
| Report, internal audit and review | The report drafted against clause 9, the internal audit, corrections and the management review before the verifier is engaged |
| Independent verification | The verification body's availability, the level of assurance and site visits agreed, and the time to close discrepancies before the statement is issued |
If a customer deadline, a target submission or a reporting date fixes the timetable, say so at the first call. We will tell you plainly whether it is achievable and which data to request in the first fortnight. A verification date promised before anyone has seen your invoices is a sales line, not a plan.
Challenges
Common ISO 14064-1 implementation challenges
ISO 14064-1 programmes stall at the same five points. Each has a practical answer, and none calls for more paper.
Nobody agrees where the boundary is.
Joint ventures, outsourced fleets and a subsidiary acquired mid-year are counted by one team and excluded by another. We set the boundary with finance and legal, apply one consolidation approach, record the reason for every entity in or out and keep the site list under change control.
Indirect emissions are either everything or nothing.
Either the largest category was left out because it looked impossible, or a generic spend-based estimate swamps the total and hides the real drivers. We run the significance assessment with procurement, logistics and sales, quantify the categories that matter, explain the exclusions and replace estimates with supplier data year by year.
The emission factors have no source and the data has no owner.
Factors were copied from an old workbook, invoices are missing for two sites and nobody knows whether the electricity figure is location-based or market-based. We build a factor library with the reference and year of each factor, give every data stream an owner and a schedule, and reconcile the data to invoices and meters.
The base year no longer describes the company.
Sites were sold, a business was bought, a method changed, and the reduction on the slide is an artefact. We set the base year, write the recalculation policy with a significance threshold and apply it when a trigger occurs, so trends and targets compare like with like.
The verifier finds discrepancies the inventory cannot explain.
A total that cannot be traced, a conversion applied twice, a category described in the report but missing from the calculation. We audit the inventory internally against every clause, keep the evidence pack in step with the report and prepare the people who will answer the verifier.
Your engagement
What your ISO 14064-1 engagement includes
Your agreed scope covers everything a verifiable inventory and a prepared team need. Most providers hand over a calculation and leave you to find software, training and verification support elsewhere; a Sterling engagement is the whole journey, from one team, under one all-inclusive proposal.
Boundaries, gap analysis and implementation plan
Boundaries fixed, significance criteria agreed, the gap analysis done and a plan with owners, dates and decision points agreed before work starts.
Inventory, factor library, procedures and the GHG report
The source and sink register, the factor library, the calculation method, the base-year record, the quality procedures and the GHG report, built with your data owners on Sterling's templates.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Your inventory workspace runs in Effivity from the first workshop, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training for the people who will audit the inventory, as applicable to your standard, plus preferential Sterling Academy access with special pricing, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Internal audit and management review
Conducted or facilitated as agreed, with every finding corrected with evidence before the verifier arrives.
Verification readiness and support
Preparation for the verification body's documentation review and site visits, and support with any discrepancies until the statement is issued.
The verification opinion remains with the independent verification body; Sterling does not verify and does not issue the statement.
How we deliver
How Sterling supports your ISO 14064-1 implementation
Every ISO 14064-1 engagement runs on Sterling OS™, our delivery operating system: five phases, each with named deliverables, decision owners and evidence. You choose how much of the work your team carries; the method, the software and the accountability do not change.
- 01Design™Guided implementation: your sustainability lead and data owners build the inventory with Sterling's structure, templates, workshops and coaching.
- 02Drive™Fully managed consulting: Sterling consultants carry the agreed work, from the boundary document to the GHG report, with your data owners.
- 03Sustain™After the statement: next-year readiness, internal audits, factor and base-year updates, refreshers and new-hire training, year after year.
- 04Automate™The inventory running in Effivity: boundaries, sources, factors, data collection, evidence, audits, actions and management review in one workspace.
- 05Revise™The consolidated ISO and GHG Protocol standard when published, and changes in entities, sites, methods, factors or the frameworks that use your figures.
We agree the engagement team, the weekly working session, the deliverables and who decides what at the start, so a missing invoice surfaces in week three, not in the verifier's findings.
How Sterling OS™ worksOften combined with
Standards organisations pair with ISO 14064-1
- EMASEMAS registration explained: requirements, the validated environmental statement, the verifier and Competent Body route, cost factors and all-inclusive support.
- FSC and 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.
- GHG ProtocolGHG Protocol inventory consulting: scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions on boundaries and methods an outsider can test, ready for independent verification.
- ISCC PLUSISCC PLUS certification for circular and bio-based materials: requirements, mass balance, ISCC HUB registration, standalone documents and an all-inclusive plan.
- ISO 14001ISO 14001 certification consulting: aspects, impacts and compliance obligations controlled, with support until an accredited body certifies you.
- ISO 14005ISO 14005 implementation guidelines: build your environmental management system in phases, measure maturity and reach ISO 14001 certification at your own pace.
Effivity · ISO 14064-1 inventory software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of ISO 14064-1:2018.
Every Sterling ISO 14064-1 engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Your consultant configures the inventory workspace within the agreed scope, so the boundary document, source register, factor library, data collection calendar with its evidence, base-year record, internal audits, actions and management review sit in one place and the verifier reviews live records rather than a folder of exports. For Sterling consulting clients the Effivity subscription is included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Decisions recorded with their reasons
Every boundary choice, method, estimate and exclusion logged with who decided, when and why, so the five principles are visible in the record, not asserted in the report.
Entities, sites, categories and significance
The entity and site list with its consolidation approach, the source and sink register by category, and the significance assessment for indirect emissions with its criteria.
Activity data, factors and the base year
Data streams with owners, frequencies and attached evidence, the factor library with reference and vintage, calculations traceable to their inputs, and the base-year record with its recalculation policy.
Initiatives, projects and targets
Reduction and removal-enhancement initiatives with their estimated effect, projects kept separate from the inventory, and targets tracked against the base year from the figures the report uses.
Procedures, retention and uncertainty
Data collection and checking procedures with versions and approvals, retention rules applied to each year's evidence, and the uncertainty assessment recorded source by source.
The GHG report and its evidence
The report assembled against the content the standard requires, each figure linked to the register and calculation behind it, and previous years kept alongside, so restatements are explained, not rediscovered.
Verification plan, findings and corrections
The objectives, level of assurance and materiality on record, the evidence pack shared from the workspace, the verifier's discrepancies logged and corrected with evidence, and the statement filed with the year it covers.
Your own processes, forms and reports
Data request forms, site checklists and dashboards adapted to how your organisation works, without code, and the same workspace extended to environmental or energy management when you integrate.
What this means at the verification
The verifier asks for the boundary document, the source register, the invoices behind the largest sites, the base-year record, the internal audit and the management review. In Effivity each is a screen with dates, owners and evidence attached, not a folder assembled the week before. After the statement, Sustain™ runs in the same workspace, so next year's verification finds an inventory that never paused.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant within the agreed scope
- Your registers, factors and previous years migrated, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your sustainability team and data owners
- Modules for EMS, EnMS, QMS and ISMS when you integrate
ISO 14064-1 client experience
Client letters on file, available on request.
Signed client letters for ISO 14064-1 are available on request. The client feedback wall lists every letter by standard.
Integrated programmes with ISO 14064-1 in scope
How a verified inventory runs inside an integrated programme.
- 01Integrated management systems
Manufacturing: environment, energy and a verified GHG inventory as one programme
How an ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and ISO 14064-1 programme typically runs: the energy review's consumption data feeding the inventory, so the kilowatt-hours in the energy baseline and in the emissions calculation are the same figures; aspects, significant energy uses and emission sources reviewed in the same workshops; one internal audit programme; and the certification body auditing the management systems while a separately accredited verification body verifies the inventory.
Sterling Academy · ISO 14064-1 e-learning
Train the people who hold the data, not only the sustainability team.
Most inventory errors happen where the data is born: the invoice filed under the wrong site, the refrigerant top-up nobody logged. Sterling Academy provides e-learning for data owners and for the people who run the inventory: video lessons with practice checkpoints, a final exam, and for each learner a numbered Certificate of Completion that can be verified online. Sterling consulting clients receive preferential Sterling Academy course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- ISO 14064-1 awareness for every employee who touches emissions data, with a certificate for each learner as the record
- Practitioner courses for the sustainability lead, the energy manager and the register owners
- Internal auditor training for the people who will audit the inventory, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Learner progress by site and department, and a training report for the verifier
- New hires trained as they arrive, so competence evidence is current every reporting year
- A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one
Keep exploring
Explore more about ISO 14064-1
Watch a video on how to implement ISO 14064-1 here.
Watch a video on ISO 14064-1 requirements here.
Why Sterling
Want successful ISO 14064-1 verification? Come to Sterling.
Whether you are quantifying one site or consolidating operations across several countries, Sterling helps you build one inventory method with clear data ownership at every location. We work through the differences in grid factors, supplier maturity and reporting rules between countries, so the inventory holds together as one figure while each entity's data stands up on its own.
Management systems in 60+ countries since 2003
Environmental, energy and greenhouse gas programmes for manufacturers, contractors, utilities, logistics operators, banks and service groups, with one engagement team accountable for every country you operate in.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in a single proposal, with the verification body's fees shown separately so nothing is hidden inside the fee. No surprises, ever.
An inventory your data owners can run
Less documentation and maximum effectiveness: registers, factors, data collection, training and software connected to the way finance, procurement and the sites already work, so the inventory is maintained, not rebuilt each year.
Expert and experienced consultants
Consultants who have advised on environmental and climate management systems across sectors and countries since 2003, and who build your inventory properly the first time, so the verification confirms what works.
The Sterling Promise
What our ISO 14064-1 verification success guarantee means
We stay with you until the ISO 14064-1 verification outcome agreed in your engagement is achieved, through implementation, preparation and the resolution of any findings. Plain explanations, practical delivery, included software and employee learning turn the investment into a capability your organisation keeps, not a statement filed and forgotten.
The engagement defines the standard, the boundaries, the categories, the level of assurance, the outcome and the responsibilities. Your organisation supplies accurate information about its entities, sites and activities and operates the agreed procedures. The inventory is verified by the independent verification body, whose opinion remains its own. Our commitment concerns the agreed verification support; it is not a promise of a particular emissions figure.
After verification
What happens after ISO 14064-1 verification?
An inventory is judged on what happens in the next reporting year. Data keeps arriving and is checked on schedule, factors are updated, boundary changes trigger the recalculation policy, estimates give way to primary data and the internal audit runs before the verifier returns. A statement covers one reporting period; the next is verified again, and the schemes that rely on your figures expect that annual rhythm.
Under Sterling OS™ Sustain™ we review your data quality, open findings and boundary changes with you alongside the planned internal audits and management reviews, so the inventory stays alive between statements.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about ISO 14064-1
Is ISO 14064-1 a certification?
No. A GHG inventory is verified, not certified. An independent verification body examines the inventory and the GHG report against ISO 14064-1, working to ISO 14064-3, and issues a verification statement with its opinion at the agreed level of assurance. There is no certificate; the inventory for a stated reporting period has been verified to ISO 14064-1.
Is ISO 14064-1 verification mandatory?
No law makes ISO 14064-1 compulsory. Customers, lenders, disclosure platforms, target schemes and, for companies within sustainability reporting rules, regulators make assured emissions data a condition of doing business, and many organisations verify with no external demand, because it is the surest way to know that a figure the board signs is right.
Should we use ISO 14064-1 or the GHG Protocol?
Both, and in practice you will. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard gives the scope vocabulary that questionnaires, platforms and target schemes use; ISO 14064-1 gives the requirements a verifier tests, with direct emissions and five categories of indirect emissions that map onto scopes 1, 2 and 3. We build to ISO 14064-1 and map every category to its scope. The two are now being consolidated into one standard, planned for the fourth quarter of 2028.
What is the difference between limited and reasonable assurance, and which do we need?
They are the two levels of assurance a verification can give. Reasonable assurance involves more evidence-gathering and a stronger opinion; limited assurance involves less work and a more cautious form of words, and ISO 14064-3:2019 sets out in its normative Annex A how a limited-assurance verification is conducted. Whoever relies on the figures sets the level: a customer, a lender, a regulator or a scheme such as the SBTi, which requires at least limited assurance for the largest companies.
Do we have to quantify scope 3, our indirect emissions?
ISO 14064-1:2018 requires you to assess which indirect emissions are significant using documented criteria, quantify those and explain any exclusions; it does not let you leave indirect emissions out because they are inconvenient. Schemes add their own rules: the SBTi's Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 requires the largest companies to cover every scope 3 category of five per cent or more in their targets.
Who can verify our inventory, and does Sterling verify it?
An independent verification body accredited for greenhouse gas verification under ISO/IEC 17029 with ISO 14065 by an accreditation body such as UKAS or ANAB, working to ISO 14064-3 with a team competent under ISO 14066. Sterling prepares your organisation, helps you shortlist a body and supports you through the verification; it does not verify and does not issue the statement.
Can we claim carbon neutrality or net zero on the strength of ISO 14064-1?
Not on its own. ISO 14064-1 quantifies and reports; it makes no claim. Carbon neutrality is the subject of ISO 14068:2026, published in September 2026 in place of ISO 14068-1:2023: a quantified footprint, reductions and removals within the value chain first, and offsetting only for what remains. A net-zero target follows a scheme such as the SBTi's.
ISO 14064-1 is being revised. Should we wait?
No. ISO 14064-1:2018 was confirmed in 2024 and remains the edition you are verified against; the revision is being prepared jointly with the GHG Protocol, with publication planned for the fourth quarter of 2028, subject to confirmation. The boundaries, data, factors and base year you build now are what any revised edition will ask for.
What do you need to prepare an ISO 14064-1 proposal?
The entities and sites to be covered, approximate headcount, your main activities and energy sources, whether an inventory or a previous verification exists, who is asking for the figures and at what level of assurance, and your deadline. That is enough for a scoped, all-inclusive proposal.
Before the first call
Prepare a useful ISO 14064-1 readiness brief
You do not need a calculation or a boundary document before the first conversation. A short account of what your organisation does and who wants the figures is enough. Seven questions:
- Who is asking for the inventory, a customer, a lender, a regulator, a platform, a target scheme or the board, and which entities and sites should it cover?
- What are your main activities, and which involve fuel, process emissions, refrigerants, purchased electricity or heat, or vehicles?
- Which indirect emissions are likely to matter: purchased goods, freight, travel and commuting, the use of your products, waste?
- What data exists today, who holds it, and has any inventory, disclosure or verification been done before?
- Which level of assurance, limited or reasonable, do the intended users expect, and for which reporting year?
- Who can make decisions and give time to data collection, internal review and staff learning in finance, procurement and the sites?
- Is there a submission date, a reporting deadline or a customer timetable to plan around?
Use the answers to scope the work and to prepare a realistic proposal. This is preparation for a conversation, not a scored assessment and not a verification opinion.
Don’t be fooled by "ISO 14064-1 certified" badges
If it takes ten days, it is not ISO 14064-1 verification.
A verification statement is worth having when its level of assurance, reporting period and accreditation match what the buyer, the lender or the scheme asked for, and when the inventory behind it would survive a second look. The market is full of the other kind: "carbon certificates" from bodies nobody accredits, calculators that turn a spend figure into a badge, and consultants who calculate, verify and certify in one invoice. They cost less, until a buyer checks.
How to choose a credible ISO 14064-1 provider
- Ask who will issue the verification statement and how to confirm its accreditation for greenhouse gas verification with the accreditation body itself.
- Confirm the level of assurance and the materiality the statement will carry, and check them against what your customer, lender or scheme requires before work starts.
- Ask how the programme will set your boundaries, assess significance and source your factors. A source list copied from another company's inventory is the surest sign of a template sale.
- Identify who carries each task, which costs are separate, and what happens when the verifier finds a discrepancy.
- Ask what your data owners will be taught and where the inventory will live. Without training and software, the calculation dies the day the consultant leaves.
- Walk away from "certified in 7 to 10 days", "we calculate and verify" and one invoice covering consulting and statement. An inventory has to be built from a year's data and tested by an independent body before anyone can accurately call it verified.
Keep exploring
More on ISO 14064-1 and related standards
Every ISO 14064-1 guide
More in Environment, energy & climate
Talk to a consultant
Plan your ISO 14064-1 verification with confidence.
Tell us your goals, locations and target date. We’ll help you define the scope, timeline and next steps.
hello@sterling-grc.com+1 201 263 4443 (global headquarters) · your nearest office and its number are at the top of this page
What would you like to achieve?
Choose a starting point. The enquiry form takes about a minute.
Book my free discovery callContinue to the enquiry form to share your details. Please do not include passwords, sensitive personal information or confidential files. A Sterling consultant replies within one working day. Privacy notice