Overview
EN ISO 14024:2026 - Environmental Statements and Programmes for Products – Ecolabels is an international standard developed by CEN and ISO. It establishes clear principles, requirements, and guidance for developing and managing ecolabelling programmes and issuing ecolabels for products and services. Ecolabels are valuable tools for communicating verified environmental information to consumers, supporting environmentally sound choices, and promoting sustainable product development.
The standard comprehensively addresses the lifecycle-based assessment of products, criteria for product performance and function, certification processes, and procedures to ensure transparency, impartiality, and credibility. EN ISO 14024:2026 helps differentiate certified ecolabels from other environmental statements in the marketplace, supporting fair competition, consumer trust, and international trade.
Key Topics
EN ISO 14024:2026 covers the following essential aspects of ecolabels and ecolabelling programmes:
- Principles: Grounded in transparency, scientific evidence, life cycle perspective, impartiality, stakeholder involvement, and voluntary participation.
- Ecolabelling Programme Development: Guidance on establishing rules and management systems for ecolabel schemes, including conflict of interest prevention, consultation with stakeholders, and open access to information.
- Selection of Product Categories: Procedures for feasibility studies, defining product groups, environmental impacts analysis, and involving interested parties in category selection.
- Product Criteria Development:
- Product Environmental Criteria: Requirements focusing on minimizing environmental impacts across a product’s life cycle.
- Product Function Criteria: Standards to ensure that products awarded an ecolabel meet consumer expectations and intended use.
- Assessment and Certification Process: Framework for third-party assessment, conformity assessment, licensing, monitoring, and the use of relevant testing or evaluation methods to verify compliance.
- Differentiation from Other Environmental Statements: Guidance on distinguishing credible, certified ecolabels complying with ISO 14024 from self-declared claims or other types of environmental labels, minimizing risks of greenwashing.
Applications
The practical value of EN ISO 14024:2026 is evident across diverse sectors and applications:
- Market Differentiation: Manufacturers and service providers can obtain independent verification of their environmental efforts, gaining a recognized ecolabel to support marketing claims and customer trust.
- Public and Private Procurement: Purchasing organizations can use ISO 14024-compliant ecolabels as reliable criteria to select sustainable and environmentally preferable products.
- Product Development: Companies can use the standardized criteria to benchmark and improve product design, materials selection, and manufacturing processes, continually advancing sustainability goals.
- Consumer Choice: Ecolabels foster informed decision-making, enabling individuals and businesses to identify products that meet high environmental standards.
- Support for Regulation and Policy: Governments and regulatory bodies can use ecolabelling programmes as voluntary market mechanisms to complement or inform regulatory measures.
EN ISO 14024 supports international harmonization, facilitating mutual recognition of ecolabels and ensuring consistent approaches to environmental statements and declarations across markets.
Related Standards
EN ISO 14024:2026 is part of the broader ISO 14020 family of standards on environmental labels and declarations, which includes:
- ISO 14020: Environmental statements and programmes for products – Principles and general requirements
- ISO 14021: Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labelling)
- ISO 14025: Environmental product declarations (EPDs)
- ISO 14026: Footprint communications
- ISO/TS 14027: Product Category Rules (PCR) for EPDs
- ISO/TS 14029: Mutual recognition of EPDs and related programmes
Organizations looking to implement or expand ecolabelling initiatives should familiarize themselves with these related standards to ensure a holistic approach to environmental communication and product certification.
Keywords: EN ISO 14024, ISO 14024:2026, ecolabelling, ecolabels, environmental statements, product certification, sustainable products, environmental criteria, life cycle assessment, green procurement, ISO 14020 family
