The ISO and EN standards behind product environmental claims
Life cycle assessment, environmental product declarations, product carbon footprints and construction EPDs each rest on a different ISO or EN standard — and three of the five covered here changed edition, status or review stage within the last two years. This page states only what each standard's own public record (iso.org, BSI) discloses: clause text is paywalled and is not quoted or inferred anywhere below.
ISO 14040 and 14044 — the LCA pair
Two documents, published together, confirmed together, but not amended at the same rate.
414 415 Life cycle assessment rests on two ISO standards read as a pair. ISO 14040:2006 describes the principles and framework; ISO 14044:2006 specifies the requirements and guidelines for carrying one out. Both were published in July 2006, both were confirmed current in a 2022 review, and both replaced the same four withdrawn 1997-2000 predecessors.
ISO 14040:2006 — Principles and framework
Edition 2, published 2006-07, last reviewed and confirmed in 2022, with exactly one amendment: ISO 14040:2006/Amd 1:2020.
It consolidated and replaced four earlier withdrawn standards (ISO 14040:1997, 14041:1998, 14042:2000, 14043:2000).
Its abstract: it "describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA)" — goal and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment, interpretation, reporting and critical review — but does not itself specify methodologies for the individual phases.
ISO 14044:2006 — Requirements and guidelines
Edition 1, published the same month as 14040 and confirmed in the same 2022 review, but with two amendments rather than one: Amd 1:2017 and Amd 2:2020.
Together, ISO 14040 and 14044 are what other ISO documents themselves call "the ISO 14040 series" — exactly these two documents, not a broader ISO 14000 family claim.
ISO 14025 changed edition and title in 2026
The Type III environmental declaration standard that most existing content still cites is withdrawn.
416 ISO 14025:2006, Environmental labels and declarations — Type III environmental declarations — Principles and procedures, is withdrawn. The current standard is ISO 14025:2026, Edition 2, published 2026-06, with a new title: Environmental statements and programmes for products — Environmental product declarations (EPDs). It specifies principles and requirements for EPD programmes and their associated EPDs, and specifies the use of ISO 14040 and 14044 in developing them.
The scope also widened: the 2026 abstract explicitly contemplates EPDs that "can also include related social and economic aspects in support of sustainable development" — language absent from the 2006 scope. The exact publication day is corroborated at 24 June 2026 by the Irish national standards body's listing; a Dutch national adoption date of 1 July 2026 is a different, later, national-republication date and should not be quoted as ISO's own publication date.
ISO 14067 — current, and already being revised
The product-level carbon footprint standard is stable today, with a successor still at an early drafting stage.
417 ISO 14067:2018 specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for quantifying and reporting the carbon footprint of a product, consistent with the ISO 14040/14044 LCA methodology. It addresses only a single impact category, climate change; carbon offsetting and communication of the result are explicitly outside its scope, as are social or economic impacts.
The standard was last reviewed and confirmed in 2024, but its stage code now reads "to be revised," with a successor — ISO/WD 14067.2 — at Working Draft stage, an early point in ISO's own drafting sequence. The source states no publication date, target date or expected year for that successor.
ISO 14046 — unchanged text, reopened review
The 2014 standard is still in force, but a second review cycle is already running behind its reassuring 2020 confirmation.
429 ISO 14046:2014 specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for water footprint assessment of products, processes and organisations, based on life cycle assessment; communication of results (for example as labels or declarations) is outside its scope. The 2014 edition carries no amendment and its summary banner still states it "was last reviewed and confirmed in 2020."
The standard's own dated stage-history log tells a fuller story: a second systematic review opened on 15 October 2025, with its comment period closing 5 March 2026, and the page's current top-line stage badge reads "Close of review," not the older "confirmed" stage. The text is unchanged and still in force — but the review's outcome (confirm, revise or withdraw) had not been published by ISO as at this canon's most recent check.
EN 15804 — three artefacts share one headline label
Only one of three documents carrying the “EN 15804:2012+A2:2019” label is currently in force, and it needs an extra suffix to name correctly.
430 The current, in-force version of EN 15804 — CEN's core product-category-rules standard for construction-product EPDs — is EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021, a corrigendum that became effective 18 August 2021. It is adopted in the UK as the identical British Standard, BS EN 15804:2012+A2:2019, published by BSI on 30 September 2021 and shown as "Current, Under Review."
Its scope clause states it "provides core product category rules (PCR) for Type III environmental declarations for any construction product and construction service" — defining the indicators to be declared, the life-cycle stages and processes an EPD must cover, the rules for the underlying life cycle inventory and impact assessment, and the conditions under which construction products can be compared using EPD information.
Three artefacts, one headline label — only one current
The base A2:2019 amendment (BSI-published 31 July 2020) is withdrawn as of 15 September 2021.
The AC:2021 corrigendum version — this page's subject — is the one in force, published 30 September 2021.
The original EN 15804:2012 base standard was current only until 28 February 2014.
A citation of bare EN 15804:2012+A2:2019, without the /AC:2021 suffix, names the withdrawn one.
What is ISO 14040?
ISO 14040:2006 is the standard describing the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA): defining the goal and scope, the life cycle inventory analysis phase, the life cycle impact assessment phase, interpretation, reporting and critical review.
It is Edition 2, published 2006-07, last reviewed and confirmed in 2022, and carries one amendment (Amd 1:2020, a 2-page amendment — not a new dated edition, so "ISO 14040:2020" is not a real citation).
What is the difference between ISO 14040 and ISO 14044?
ISO 14040 describes the principles and framework for LCA; ISO 14044 specifies the requirements and guidelines for actually carrying one out, covering the same phases in more operational detail (46 pages against 14040's 20).
Both were published in July 2006 and both were confirmed in the same 2022 review, but they do not carry the same amendment count: 14040 has one amendment, 14044 has two (2017 and 2020).
Together they are what ISO's own documents call "the ISO 14040 series."
Is ISO 14025:2006 still the standard for environmental product declarations?
No.
ISO 14025:2006 is withdrawn.
The current standard is ISO 14025:2026, Edition 2, published 2026-06 — and the title changed along with the number: the withdrawn edition was "Environmental labels and declarations — Type III environmental declarations — Principles and procedures"; the current edition is "Environmental statements and programmes for products — Environmental product declarations (EPDs)." The 2026 abstract also explicitly contemplates related social and economic aspects being reported alongside the EPD, which the 2006 scope did not.
What does ISO 14067 cover, and is a new edition coming?
ISO 14067:2018 specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for quantifying and reporting the carbon footprint of a product, consistent with ISO 14040/14044 LCA methodology.
It addresses only climate change as an impact category; carbon offsetting and communication of the result are explicitly out of scope.
It is currently at stage "to be revised," with a successor, ISO/WD 14067.2, at Working Draft stage — an early stage in ISO's drafting sequence.
No publication date for the successor has been stated by ISO.
It should not be confused with ISO 14068-1, a different standard covering organisational and product carbon-neutrality claims.
Is ISO 14046 (water footprint) still current?
The 2014 text is unchanged and still in force, with no amendment issued.
But the standard is currently mid-review: a second systematic review cycle opened on 15 October 2025, with its comment period closed on 5 March 2026, and the page's own stage badge currently reads "Close of review," not the "confirmed" stage its summary banner describes from 2020.
The outcome of that newer review — confirm, revise or withdraw — has not yet been published.
What is the current version of EN 15804 for construction product EPDs?
EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021 — a corrigendum that became effective 18 August 2021, adopted in the UK as the identical British Standard BS EN 15804:2012+A2:2019.
A bare citation of "EN 15804:2012+A2:2019" without the /AC:2021 suffix names a withdrawn edition (the pre-corrigendum A2:2019 text, withdrawn 15 September 2021).
EN 15804 is a CEN (European) standard, not a UK-authored one; it applies in the UK because BSI remains a full CEN member post-Brexit and republishes the identical text as a British Standard.
Related guides & references
Scope 3 Emissions: Definition, 15 Categories & Examples
Where supplier-specific product carbon footprints — the output of an ISO 14067 study — feed into Scope 3 accounting
UK SRS Scope 3 Reporting
The disclosure duty that data-quality tiers like supplier-specific product footprints feed into
Carbon Accounting
The GHG accounting layer that product-level life cycle assessment sits alongside
The Four ESG Pillars
Where product environmental claims and lifecycle impacts sit inside the wider ESG environmental pillar
Authority Sources
- ISO 14040:2006 — Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework
- ISO 14044:2006 — Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Requirements and guidelines
- ISO 14025:2026 — Environmental statements and programmes for products
- ISO 14067:2018 — Greenhouse gases — Carbon footprint of products
- ISO 14046:2014 — Environmental management — Water footprint
- BS EN 15804:2012+A2:2019 (identical to EN 15804:2012+A2:2019/AC:2021)