ABSTRACT
Currently, there are a number of different environmental labels, declarations, and standards used to manage and relay information about products and services, as shown in Chapter 16. ISO the International Organisation for Standardisation, hosts relevant standards in the 14000 series that separate declarations into three types, which all require the con sideration of life cycle product information, as described in Chapter 18. Type 1 programmes within the ISO 14000 series are voluntary multiple-criteria-based programmes, verified by a third party, that award labels for environmental preferability (ISO 1999a). Type 2 programmes are self-declared environmental claims that take life cycle information into account (ISO 1999b). This chapter focuses on Type 3 programmes, which require third party verification of LCA in accordance with the predetermined parameters of the ISO 14040 standards series, as well as verification of the resulting EPD document (ISO 2006a, 2006b). By offering third-party certification, Type 3 EPDs provide objective, verified, quantified information about a product in a format that is directly comparable with other similar products. Decisions about product use or purchasing can then be made based on the product’s environmental impact compared with that of others.
