PAS 2060 and ISO 14068: carbon neutral certification after the switch

PAS 2060 was BSI's Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality. The 2014 edition, PAS 2060:2014, was published on 30 April 2014. It set out what an entity had to do to claim that a product, organisation, event or building was carbon neutral: quantify the footprint, reduce it, offset the rest and publish a declaration.

For years it was the reference point for UK carbon neutral claims. It sat on top of an emissions inventory, usually built on the scope 1, 2 and 3 split, and was verified by a third party.

It no longer exists as a live credential. The phrase “PAS 2060 certified” still appears on many UK websites and in tender documents, and some providers' pages still advertise PAS 2060 verification. Treat any present-tense PAS 2060 claim as out of date.

Three dates are routinely mixed up. BSI's product record for BS ISO 14068-1:2023set the rule: “There will be a period of 24 months from the date of publication of ISO 14068-1:2023 before the PAS 2060:2014 document will be withdrawn.” The verification scheme and accreditation ran to their own deadlines.

The accreditation side is in the UKAS technical bulletin on migrating from PAS 2060, which set 31 December 2025 as the migration deadline, with PAS 2060 “to be removed from current schedule”.

The safe wording is “withdrawn by BSI at the end of 2025”. It is true against all three dates. Do not write that old opinions were invalidated: they were not.

ISO 14068-1:2023, Climate change management — Transition to net zero — Part 1: Carbon neutrality, was published in November 2023. BSI's carbon neutrality verification page describes it as built from the principles of PAS 2060.

It is no longer current. The ISO catalogue record for ISO 14068-1:2023 shows the standard withdrawn on 11 September 2026 (stage 95.99) and revised by ISO 14068:2026, Climate change management — Carbon neutrality. The two ISO records do not yet agree: the record for the new edition still showed it as under publication on 28 September 2026, with a publication date of September 2026 and no day given. We say the 2023 edition was withdrawn and is being replaced, and we do not print a publication day.

On ISO's own account, then, the changes are the title and the part number, not the requirements. The designation still matters for accuracy: cite the edition year, and expect verifiers and their documents to move to the new number. The ISO 14068:2026 foreword and contents are publicly available as a sample.

The standard applies to organisations and to products, including buildings and events. It does not apply to territories. Its core is a hierarchy: reduce emissions and enhance removals within the value chain first, then offset what remains.

UKAS summarised what changed from PAS 2060. The list matters because it is exactly where old PAS 2060 habits fail.

The quantification layer is ISO 14064-1. Its ISO catalogue recordshows the 2018 edition as current but flagged “to be revised”. Our guide to GHG verification standards covers ISO 14064-3 and ISO 14065.

ISO 14068 is a voluntary standard. It does not make a claim lawful. What governs a UK carbon neutral claim sits in three tiers: law, regulator guidance and advertising self-regulation.

The consumer protection provisions in Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 apply to practices from 6 April 2025. Its Schedule 20 blacklist contains nothing about carbon or offsetting, so no offset-based claim is banned outright. A claim is unlawful when it misleads.

The bite is enforcement. The CMA can now decide for itself that consumer law has been broken, and its summary of those direct enforcement powerssays a penalty “can be up to 10% of your business' global turnover or £300,000 (whichever is greater)”.

The CMA's Green Claims Code was published on 20 September 2021 and has not been updated since. It still cites the repealed 2008 regulations, but the CMA says its guidance continues to apply in substance. Its January 2026 note, Making green claims across the supply chain, adds that a business repeating a supplier's claim is responsible for it too.

"CAP Guidance sets out that marketers should avoid using unqualified 'carbon neutral' or 'net zero' claims."CAP AdviceOnline, 17 June 2026

That line comes from CAP's advice on carbon offsetting and carbon neutral claims. It builds on CAP Code rule 11.1: “The basis of environmental claims must be clear. Unqualified claims could mislead if they omit material information.” The ASA upheld complaints against Charles Tyrwhitt's “Carbon Neutral business” and BrewDog's “carbon negative” claims on 20 December 2023. In BrewDog's case a link to offsetting detail on its website was not enough; the basis had to be in the ad itself.

Financial firms carry one more layer. The FCA's anti-greenwashing rule, ESG 4.3.1R, has applied to all authorised firms since 31 May 2024 for references to products and services. The Handbook section it sits in, ESG 4.3, now shows a last-updated date of 25 September 2026, because ESG 4.3.2R and ESG 4.3.3G changed; the rule itself still carries its 28 February 2025 text. The FCA's guidance, FG24/3, reminds firms that claims about themselves are caught by the CMA and ASA guidance and the FCA Principles instead. Our anti-greenwashing rule guide covers the detail.

The EU has gone further. Directive (EU) 2024/825 blacklists any claim, based on offsetting, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive greenhouse gas impact. Member States apply it from 27 September 2026. The UK has no equivalent rule.

A carbon neutral claim that is likely to survive a complaint answers, in the claim itself, the questions a reader would ask. CAP's advice lists them: set out the basis, say whether the claim rests on offsetting or on reducing emissions and to what extent, and give information about any offsetting scheme used. ISO 14068 adds the structure behind it: a defined subject, a boundary, a period, a management plan and a report.

Weak and stronger wording

Carbon neutral and net zero are different claims, and the ASA has found consumers use them interchangeably. The table sets out how the three frameworks relate.

The two are not alternatives. A company can hold science-based targets and make a verified carbon neutral claim, provided the claim does not suggest the targets have been met through offsets. The SBTi's page on Version 2.0 sets out the new implementation hierarchy. Companies submitting targets in 2026 should still use V1.3.1, which remains open until 31 January 2028; our guide to Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 explains the transition.

There is no grace period to wait out. BSI stopped delivering the PAS 2060 scheme on 1 January 2025 and the last opinions closed on 31 December 2025, so a carbon neutral claim for any later period needs ISO 14068. An old opinion is not wasted: the footprint, reduction evidence and offset records behind it are most of what an ISO 14068 verifier will ask for. These are the steps, in order.

A group that also reports under SECR or plans for UK SRS S2 should build the ISO 14068 footprint from the same inventory, so one set of numbers supports every statement. Our guide to the Carbon Trust Standard covers a different label, with its own rules on what a holder may say publicly.

Other labels sit alongside ISO 14068 and do different jobs. See our guide to Planet Mark before choosing one, and check what each will let you say publicly.

The same two words carry different risks depending on who says them and to whom. Pick the description that fits; each tab says what applies, what to do next and by when.

The timeline marks what has passed and what comes next as of the day you read it. ISO gives the new edition's publication only as September 2026, so it is marked by the withdrawal of the old one.

Carbon neutralityISO 14068

A state in which a subject’s carbon footprint for a period has been reduced and the remainder offset.

Carbon footprintISO 14068

The GHG emissions and removals of the subject, quantified for the period of the claim.

OffsettingClause 11

Counterbalancing the remaining footprint with carbon credits that meet the standard’s criteria.

Carbon creditClause 11

A tradable unit representing a GHG reduction or removal, issued under a crediting programme.

Removal enhancementClause 10

Action that increases GHG removals within the value chain; ranks with reductions, ahead of offsetting.

Carbon neutrality management planClause 9

The plan setting out how carbon neutrality will be achieved and kept, with ambition, evaluation and revision.

Verification opinionPAS 2060

A verifier’s statement about a claim for a stated period. Valid for that period only.

Unqualified claimCAP 11.1

A claim stated without its basis. The ASA treats an unqualified carbon neutral claim as misleading.

Misleading omissionDMCC s.227

Leaving out information the average consumer needs, so that a claim misleads.

Schedule 20DMCC Act

The list of practices banned outright. It contains nothing about carbon or offsetting.

Anti-greenwashing ruleESG 4.3.1R

The FCA rule that product and service sustainability references be fair, clear and not misleading.

Net zeroSBTi

A target built on deep reductions in the physical inventory; credits complement, not substitute.