ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3 validation and verification readiness for GHG project claims that stand up to scrutiny.

What it is

What are ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3, and what are they used for?

ISO 14064-2 is the ISO specification for greenhouse gas projects: activities designed to cut emissions or to increase removals, such as a fuel switch, a methane capture unit or a planting scheme. It sets how to describe the project, determine a baseline, quantify and monitor the reductions or removal enhancements, and report them.

ISO 14064-3 is the companion specification for the other side of the table. It sets the principles, requirements and guidance that validation and verification bodies follow when they examine a GHG statement, whether that statement concerns an organisation's inventory, a project or a product. Knowing what Part 3 expects is the surest preparation for review.

Both standards belong to the ISO 14060 family, which is deliberately neutral about GHG programmes. Where a crediting or reporting programme applies, its rules sit on top of the ISO requirements rather than replacing them. Organisation-wide inventories belong to ISO 14064-1, covered on its own page.

Current editions. ISO 14064-2:2019 (second edition, April 2019) and ISO 14064-3:2019 (second edition, April 2019). ISO reviewed and confirmed both in 2024, so both remain current. ISO lists Part 2 as due for revision, with a working draft under development; no publication date has been announced, and projects today are designed to the 2019 edition.

Who it is for

Who needs ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3?

Neither standard leads to a certificate. They matter when someone else will rely on your reduction or removal claim and it must survive independent review. Clients come to Sterling from four starting points:

• A customer or offtaker wants reductions it can rely on. A credit buyer or supply-chain partner wants an independently reviewed claim before it signs.
• A funder or tender asks for a validated project. Lenders and climate finance providers want the baseline and monitoring plan examined by an accredited body before money moves.
• A GHG programme or regulator sets the rules. Crediting programmes and compliance schemes, such as CORSIA, Verra's Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard, rely on accredited validation and verification, and add their own requirements.
• A parent company or group sets the reporting standard. Group sustainability teams want every subsidiary's project claims prepared the same way.

The value lies in a defensible number, earned by sound design and monitoring.

Requirements

What are the main ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3 requirements?

ISO 14064-2 opens with six principles and an introduction to GHG projects, then sets its requirements in clause 6. ISO 14064-3 sets the principles and the steps a validation or verification body follows. The map below is at title level; the engagement checks your project against both standards in full and any programme rules.

• ISO 14064-2, clause 4 Principles: relevance, completeness, consistency, accuracy, transparency and conservativeness guide every quantification choice.
• ISO 14064-2, 6.1 and 6.2 General requirements and describing the project: set out what the project is, where it operates and who is responsible.
• ISO 14064-2, 6.3 to 6.6 Sources, sinks and reservoirs (SSRs) and the baseline: identify the SSRs for the project, determine the baseline scenario and its SSRs, and select which to monitor or estimate.
• ISO 14064-2, 6.7 and 6.8 Quantification: quantify emissions and removals, then the emission reductions and removal enhancements against the baseline.
• ISO 14064-2, 6.9 and 6.10 Data quality and monitoring: manage data quality and monitor the project as planned.
• ISO 14064-2, 6.11 to 6.13 Documentation, validation or verification, and reporting: document the project, arrange its validation and/or verification, and report it.
• ISO 14064-3, clauses 4 and 5 Principles and general requirements: impartiality, an evidence-based approach, fair presentation, documentation and conservativeness, plus pre-engagement and team requirements.
• ISO 14064-3, clauses 6 to 10 The engagement: verification (planning, execution, completion), validation, independent review, issuance of the opinion, and facts discovered afterwards.

Validation and verification

How do you get an ISO 14064-2 project validated and verified?

Validation and verification are separate steps with different targets. Projected or forecast information, such as the reductions a project plan expects, is validated; historical information, such as reductions achieved over a monitoring period, is verified. Verification gives reasonable or limited assurance; validation gives limited assurance. Sterling prepares the project and the evidence; the accredited body reviews them and issues the opinion.

1. 01
   Define the claim and the programme.Agree what will be claimed, for whom, under which GHG programme if any, and whether validation, verification or both are needed.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: test the project design against ISO 14064-2.Review the description, baseline, SSRs, quantification approach and data sources against the standard and the programme rules, and agree actions and owners.
3. 03
   Build the project documentation and start monitoring.Finalise the project description, calculations and monitoring plan; put data controls in place and collect records from the first day.
4. 04
   Review the GHG statement as a verifier would.We examine the statement and its evidence against ISO 14064-3 expectations and close findings before the body arrives.
5. 05
   Complete independent validation or verification.The accredited body plans and carries out its work, an independent reviewer checks it, and the body issues its opinion; respond to any findings along the way.

Check the route before you sign. Ask which body will validate or verify, confirm that it is accredited to ISO/IEC 17029 with ISO 14065 by an accreditation body in the Global ACI arrangement, and check with the GHG programme that it recognises that body. Verify each point in the accreditation body's and the programme's own directories. The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does ISO 14064-2 validation and verification cost?

Costs vary because projects do: a metered single-site efficiency project differs greatly from a land-based removal project with a complex baseline. We quote an all-inclusive proposal once the scope is clear.

Timeline

How long does ISO 14064-2 validation and verification take?

As an estimate, reaching a first validation opinion typically takes 3 to 9 months, depending on the project's design maturity, the baseline work, data availability and the body's schedule. Verification comes later: it can only examine reductions once a monitoring period has produced data. How often verification recurs is set by the GHG programme or by the people relying on the statement.

Share any programme submission or funding deadline at the start. We will say what is realistic and which decisions must come early.

Your engagement

What your ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3 engagement includes

Your engagement follows Sterling OS™. You choose Design™, where we guide and your team does the work, or Drive™, where we manage and deliver it with you; they are alternatives, not stages. Sustain™ keeps monitoring and each further verification on track, and Automate™ is Effivity. Sterling does not validate or verify; that belongs to the accredited body.

• Claim definition, gap analysis and plan

  Scope, programme, owners and dates agreed before work starts.

• Project documentation

  Project description, baseline scenario, SSR selection, calculations and monitoring plan, built with your team.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Records, documents and actions in one place, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training for your review team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Internal review of the GHG statement

  Evidence tested against ISO 14064-3 expectations, with findings closed before the body's review.

• Validation and verification readiness

  Support through the body's planning, site visits and findings until its opinion is issued.

Validation and verification opinions remain with the independent, accredited body.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with ISO 14064-2 and ISO 14064-3

• 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.