ISO Descriptions of Environmental Labels and Declarations

In a previous post, we introduced environmental product declarations (EPDs) and eco-labels, and gave some examples of them in the garment and textile industries. Both EPDs and eco-labels are environmental declarations, and the International Standards Organization (ISO) has provided useful descriptions and guidance on 3 different categories of environmental declarations.

According to ISO 14020, an environmental declaration is a “claim which indicates the environmental aspects of a product or service.” The ISO separates environmental declarations into 3 categories – Type 1 environmental labels, Type II environmental labels, and Type III environmental declarations.

Type 1 Environmental Labels

According to ISO 14024, a Type 1 environmental label is a “voluntary, multiple-criteria-based third party programme that awards a licence which authorizes the use of environmental labels on products indicating overall environmental preferability of a product within a particular product category based on life cycle considerations.” Type 1 environmental labels cover the eco-labels described in the previous post on the garment industry – both Bluesign and OEKO-TEX Standard 100 would be examples of Type I environmental labels. Although the ISO definition states that the overall environmental preferability is based on life cycle considerations, this does not mean that it must be based on a life cycle assessment. Instead, the eco-label should develop product environmental criteria that take into account impacts during each production stage – extraction of resources, manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal. Type I environmental labels must be run by a third party; labels produced by the manufacturer are not eco-labels.

Type II Environmental Labels

A Type II environmental label, according to ISO 14021, is a self-declared environmental claim. A manufacturer stating the recycled content of its own product would be an example of a Type II environmental label. For these labels, the manufacturer, or claimant, is responsible for evaluation and provision of data necessary for verification of the environmental claims, not a third-party organization. ISO 14021 standard provided requirements for claims about a product being compostable, degradable, recyclable, recycled content, reduced energy consumption, and reduced water consumption, amongst others.

Type III Environmental Declarations

According to ISO 14025 standard, an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), or a Type III environmental declaration provides “quantified environmental data using predetermined parameters and, where relevant, additional environmental information.” The quantified environmental data are based on a life cycle assessment that conforms to ISO standards 14040 and 14044. As described in the previous post, an EPD can be thought of as a summary of an LCA. But the LCA and EPD must follow a set of technical directions on how each will be developed called Product Category Rules (PCR). The PCR is developed by a program operator (generally an entity separate from the manufacturer of the product) in a process open to the input of interested parties, and the PCR is reviewed by a third-party panel. The EPD is also independently verified.

EPDs are designed to assist in the comparison of similar products on environmental performance. However, care must be taken in making comparisons between EPDs – each EPD compared must have followed the same PCR, have the same functional unit, and should have used similar assumptions and methods in generating the LCA. Here is an example of an EPD for North American softwood lumber, which used this PCR to develop the EPD.

In future posts, we will delve into the details of EPDs and how to interpret them.

Posted in EPDs and Eco-labels