Standards Development

Scope

The proposed standard will provide information to support the process of environmental technology verification (ETV) in accordance with ISO 14034:2016 Environmental management – Environmental technology verification (ETV). It will explain each procedure of the ETV process, including: application, pre-verification, verification, reporting and post-verification. It also includes an overview of the roles, responsibilities and qualifications of the entities involved in the verification process (i.e. the applicant for verification, the verifier and the test body).

Purpose

Innovative environmental technologies provide technical solutions to address specific environmental challenges such as: pollution prevention, control and remediation; efficient use of resources, their recovery and recycling; climate change resiliency, adaptation and mitigation; and environmental monitoring and surveillance. Environmental technologies provide solutions to environmental challenges that either result in an environmental added value (i.e. represent a more beneficial or less adverse environmental impact), or help better measure this impact when compared to technologies used in similar situations.

ISO 14034:2016 Environmental management -- Environmental technology verification (ETV) provides a process for verifying the performance of such technologies and charts a path for technology performance assessments where sustainability and innovation are inextricably linked. Use of ISO 14034 helps build credibility, increasing market confidence that environmental technology performance claims are true and supported by high quality, independent test data.

Although the ISO 14034 standard provide some information in the annexes on the application of the standard, it is however limited considering the versatile use of ETV in the market. Indeed, verification of environmental technologies can be applied to diverse fields such as water treatment, energy, air emissions, etc. Considering the multipurpose use of the standard and the varied complexity of the environmental technologies, a detailed guidance and implementation guide would be very valuable for the different stakeholders using ISO 14034.

Therefore, this proposed international standard would provide guidelines for the implementation of ISO 14034, as well as defining the specific roles and responsibilities of the entities involved in the environmental technology verification process in accordance with this standard.

Although this proposed standard would be primarily intended for verifiers, it would also be relevant for test bodies and applicants for verification, as well as other stakeholders interested in understanding the requirements of ISO 14034, such as: organisations managing ETV programmes; accreditation bodies; environmental technology developers, suppliers, manufacturers, users and investors; regulators; and policy makers.

The international working group (TC207/SC4/WG5) which drafted ISO 14034 already developed a very detailed and structured working draft that is attached as an annex to this NWIP. This will provide a strong initial document for the development of this proposed standard. TC207/SC4/WG5 working group members initiated the development of this guidance while drafting ISO 14034 and continued its development after the publication of ISO 14034 in November 2016.

The need for this proposed guidance standard was confirmed by international members and stakeholders through the comments received during the Systematic Review of ISO 14034 in 2021.