New ISO 14045 on Environmental management — Eco-efficiency assessment of product systems — Principles, requirements and guidelines

ISO has just released a new standard in the 14000 series: ISO 14045, “Environmental management — Eco-efficiency assessment of product systems — Principles, requirements and guidelines.”  Eco-efficiency assessment is a quantitative management tool which enables the study of life-cycle environmental impacts of a product system along with its product system value for a stakeholder.

The document has already been adopted by the European Union, with the official English language edition (BS EN ISO 14045) in print as well.  The standard is available in either the ISO or EN editions  from Document Center Inc. now.

Within eco-efficiency assessment, environmental impacts are evaluated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as prescribed by other International Standards (ISO 14040, ISO 14044). Consequently, eco-efficiency assessment shares with LCA many important principles such as life cycle perspective, comprehensiveness, functional unit approach, iterative nature, transparency and priority of a scientific approach.

The value of the product system may be chosen to reflect, for example, its resource, production, delivery or use efficiency, or a combination of these. The value may be expressed in monetary terms or other value aspects.

The key objectives of ISO 14045:2012 are to:
— establish clear terminology and a common methodological framework for eco-efficiency assessment;
— enable the practical use of eco-efficiency assessment for a wide range of product (including service) systems;
— provide clear guidance on the interpretation of eco-efficiency assessment results;
— encourage the transparent, accurate and informative reporting of eco-efficiency assessment results.

This new standard, and all ISO standards, are available from Document Center Inc. at our website, www.document-center.com.  Or contact us by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com).  Our expert staff is here to assist you with your standards requirements and questions.