What ISO 14025 establishes
ISO 14025 defines the principles and procedures for Type III environmental declarations — quantified environmental information about a product's life cycle, based on Life Cycle Assessment, verified by an independent third party, and built against a Product Category Rule (PCR). An EPD is, by definition, a Type III declaration under this standard. It doesn't specify what any particular product must disclose — that's the job of a PCR, layered underneath it — but it sets the ground rules every Type III declaration and every PCR has to follow.
The three types of environmental declarations
ISO's broader ecolabeling framework (ISO 14020 series) defines three types:
- Type I (ISO 14024) — third-party-certified ecolabels awarded against a fixed set of criteria, like a pass/fail seal.
- Type II (ISO 14021) — self-declared environmental claims made by the manufacturer, without mandatory third-party verification.
- Type III (ISO 14025) — quantified, LCA-based, third-party-verified declarations. EPDs are Type III.
The distinction matters because it's what separates an EPD from marketing language: a Type III declaration reports numbers against a defined methodology and has been checked by someone independent of the manufacturer, where a Type II claim hasn't.
Verification requirements
ISO 14025 requires independent, third-party verification of both the underlying LCA and the finished declaration before publication. The standard doesn't mandate a single global verifier body — individual program operators maintain their own accredited verifier networks, but all of them have to meet the independence requirements ISO 14025 sets out.
Who this applies to
Any manufacturer publishing an EPD, any program operator running an EPD program, and any PCR author writing category-specific rules are all working within ISO 14025's framework. It's the reference point every other EPD-related standard on this site — EN 15804, ISO 21930, and individual PCRs — ultimately sits underneath.
Frequently asked questions
Does ISO 14025 apply to all products, or just construction?
All products and services — it's a general-purpose standard for Type III declarations, not construction-specific. Construction products additionally follow EN 15804 or ISO 21930, which sit below ISO 14025 as construction-specific core rules.
How does ISO 14025 relate to EN 15804 and ISO 21930?
ISO 14025 is the umbrella standard defining what a Type III declaration is in general. EN 15804 and ISO 21930 are construction-specific core rules that sit one level below it, adding requirements specific to construction products while still satisfying ISO 14025's general framework.
Is ISO 14025 legally required?
ISO 14025 itself isn't a law — it's a voluntary international standard. It becomes effectively mandatory when a green building certification, procurement policy, or regulation requires an EPD, since any valid EPD has to comply with it.
Sources
- ISO 14025:2006, Environmental labels and declarations — Type III environmental declarations — Principles and procedures
- ISO 14020:2000, Environmental labels and declarations — General principles