The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced that it has commenced work on the development of a new international standard on net zero, aimed at providing clarity and credibility to organizations’ net zero targets and strategies, and to guard against greenwashing.

The process to develop the standard follows the launch in 2022 at the COP27 climate conference of the ISO Net Zero Guidelines, providing a best-practices tool for organizations to use for the creation of comprehensive net zero strategies.

According to ISO, the new process will evolve the guidelines into an independently verifiable international net zero standard, which is expected to launch at the COP30 conference in November 2025.

Noelia Garcia Nebra, Head of Sustainability at ISO said:

“ISO takes our role in supporting a net zero transition seriously. As part of our Climate Commitment, we look forward to delivering an international standard the market has been asking for, and importantly, suitable for organizations of all sizes, sectors and geographies.”

The process to develop the new net zero standard is being convened by UK national standards body the British Standards Institution (BSI), in collaboration with Colombia’s national standards body ICONTEC, with expected participation of thousands of experts through national standards bodies across more than 170 countries, through national standards bodies across more than 170 countries, and a public consultation anticipated to open later in 2025.

According to BSI Chief Executive Susan Taylor Martin, the new process aims to address the complexity of the net zero landscape, with industries making progress on decarbonization, but while a “lack of clarity risks slowing down efforts to turn ambition into action.”

Taylor Martin added:

“This important collaboration, with BSI bringing together national standards bodies and their experts from around the world, represents a landmark opportunity to bring clarity, credibility and trust to the net zero transition process, and ultimately to help accelerate our common progress towards a sustainable world.”