ISO 14046 certification

Water use and management is a key consideration for any organization in light of the growing demand for resources and increasing water scarcity. Water management is required at local, regional, and global levels and this also requires a consistent assessment technique. ISO 14046 is the new standard for water footprinting that will provide this consistency and give water footprint results credibility. A water footprint is a metric that quantifies the potential environmental impacts related to water, accounting for both water consumption and water pollution as well as considering the influence of location, timing, and other relevant information. ISO 14046 is the international standard that will specify the principles, requirements, and guidelines for assessing and reporting water footprints. This will apply to products, processes, and organizations based on life cycle assessments. ISO 14046 provides principles, requirements, and guidelines for conducting and reporting a water footprint assessment as a stand-alone assessment, or as part of a more comprehensive environmental assessment. Only air and soil emissions that impact water quality are included in the assessment, and not all air and soil emissions are included. The result of a water footprint assessment is a single value or a profile of impact indicator results.

• Assess and prepare for the future risks to your water use
• Identify ways to reduce the environmental impacts of your water use
• Improve efficiency at the product, process, and organizational levels
• Share knowledge and best practice with industry and government
• Meet customer expectations of increased environmental responsibility

ISO 14046 certification is expected to benefit organizations, governments, and interested parties worldwide by providing transparency, consistency, and credibility to the task of assessing water footprint and reporting the water footprint results of products, processes, or organizations. The requirements and recommendations given in ISO 14046 provide elements for understanding how water use can be improved by accounting for the volumes used and quantifying scarcity and pollution, as well as other related impacts. When applying ISO 14046 certification, societal, environmental, legal, cultural, political, and organizational diversity should be considered, as well as differences in economic conditions. ISO 14046 is not intended:

• to be adopted or applied in a manner that results in barriers to trade that contradict World Trade Organization requirements;
• to provide a basis for legal actions, complaints, defenses, or other claims in any international, domestic, or other proceedings;
• to be cited as evidence of the evolution of customary international law;
• for regulatory use.