ISO 14064-1:2018, the organization-level inventory (parts 2 and 3 held beside it)

The five principles guide the application of every requirement so that GHG information is a true and fair account: relevance (select the sources, sinks, reservoirs, data and methodologies appropriate to the intended user's needs), completeness (include all relevant emissions and removals), consistency (enable meaningful comparisons), accuracy (reduce bias and uncertainty as far as practical) and transparency (disclose sufficient and appropriate information for intended users to decide with reasonable confidence).

The organization shall define its organizational boundaries and consolidate facility-level emissions and removals by the control approach (all emissions from facilities under its financial or operational control) or the equity share approach (its portion from each facility), consistent with the intended use of the inventory; different approaches may serve different reporting goals; co-owners of a facility should adopt the same approach; the approach applied shall be documented and reported (Annex A gives guidance).

The organization shall establish and document its reporting boundaries, identifying the direct and indirect emissions and removals associated with its operations.

The organization shall quantify direct emissions separately for CO2, CH4, N2O, NF3, SF6 and other appropriate GHG groups (HFCs, PFCs) in tonnes of CO2e, and should quantify removals.

The organization shall apply and document a process to determine which indirect emissions to include, defining and explaining its own predetermined significance criteria in the light of the intended use (magnitude, influence, access to information, data accuracy; a risk assessment may be used), which should not be used to exclude substantial quantities or evade obligations; it shall identify and evaluate its indirect emissions against those criteria, quantify and report the significant ones, and justify any exclusion of significant indirect emissions; the criteria may be revised periodically with the revisions documented (Annex H).

Emissions shall be aggregated at organization level into six categories: direct emissions and removals; indirect emissions from imported energy; from transportation; from products used by the organization; associated with the use of the organization's products; and from other sources; in each category non-biogenic, biogenic anthropogenic and, if quantified, biogenic non-anthropogenic emissions shall be separated (Annex D); categories should be documented at facility level and subdivided (Annex B).

The organization shall identify and document all relevant sources and sinks within its reporting boundaries, including all relevant GHGs, in the categories of 5.2.4, at a level of detail consistent with the quantification approach; sinks shall be identified where removals are quantified; sources or sinks whose contribution is not relevant may be excluded, with the exclusion identified and explained by category.

The organization shall identify and document its data for each source or sink classified as direct or indirect, and determine and document the characteristics of each relevant data set used for quantification (primary, site-specific, secondary; Annex C gives guidance).

The organization shall calculate emissions and removals per the selected approach, report the period covered, convert each GHG to tonnes of CO2e with appropriate GWPs (the latest IPCC values should be used, otherwise justified) on a 100-year horizon (other horizons reported separately), quantify biogenic emissions and removals per Annex D, and quantify imported electricity consumed and exported electricity generated per Annex E.

The organization shall establish a historical base year for comparison or programme purposes (a period or an average of periods; the first inventory period if history is lacking), quantifying base-year emissions with data representative of the current reporting boundary, selecting a year with verifiable data, explaining the selection and developing the base-year inventory per this document; any change of base year shall be justified.

The organization shall develop, document and apply a base-year review and recalculation procedure for substantial cumulative changes from structural changes in boundaries (merger, acquisition, divestiture), changes in methodologies or emission factors, or the discovery of substantial errors; it shall not recalculate for changes in production levels including facility openings or closures, and shall document recalculations in subsequent inventories.

If the organization reports a target it shall specify the period including reference and completion years, the type (intensity or absolute), the categories included and the amount of reduction with its unit; climate science, reduction potential and the national and sectorial context should inform the target.

The organization shall establish and maintain information management procedures that ensure conformity with the principles and consistency with the intended use, provide routine checks for accuracy and completeness, identify and address errors and omissions, and document and archive records including GWPs; the procedures shall document their consideration of responsibilities and authority, training, review of organizational boundaries and of sources and sinks, selection and review of quantification approaches and their consistent application across facilities, measurement equipment use and calibration, a robust data collection system, regular accuracy checks, periodic internal audits and technical reviews, and periodic review of improvement opportunities.

The organization shall establish and maintain procedures for document retention and record keeping, and retain the documentation supporting the design, development and maintenance of the inventory so that it can be verified, handled per its information management procedures.

The organization shall assess the uncertainty associated with its quantification approaches (data and models) and determine uncertainty at the inventory category level; where quantitative estimation is not possible or cost effective, this shall be justified and a qualitative assessment conducted (ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 may be applied).

The report shall include the organization description, the person responsible, the period, the organizational and reporting boundaries with the significance criteria, direct emissions by gas, the treatment and separate quantity of biogenic CO2, direct removals if quantified, explanation of excluded significant sources or sinks, indirect emissions by category, the base year and base-year inventory with any changes and recalculations and their comparability limits, the quantification approaches with reasons and changes, the emission factors used, the impact and results of the uncertainty assessment, a statement of preparation in accordance with this document, a disclosure of verification with type and level of assurance, and the GWP values with their source.

Emissions from imported electricity consumed shall be quantified by the location-based approach using the emission factor that best characterises the pertinent grid (dedicated line, local, regional or national average consumption mix), preferably for the reporting year; indirect emissions such as transmission losses and upstream processes should be quantified and reported separately; a market-based approach may be used where contractual instruments meet the quality criteria (convey the generation attributes, unique claim, tracked and retired, matching period, produced within the country or interconnected market; SIDS exempted from the interconnection test), and such transactions shall be documented and reported separately; the same applies to imported heating, steam, cooling and compressed air.

Direct emissions from electricity generated and exported or distributed by the organization may be reported separately but shall not be deducted from the organization's total direct emissions.