The news that ISO16759 (calculating the carbon footprint of print media) is
galloping towards its final furlong prior to publication has caused a flurry of
interest.
We have recently been contacted by a number of European companies
interested to be certified for compliance to this standard.
Certification is at once a good and a bad thing because the value of a
certificate lies with the issuing authority and the ease with which it is
achieved. An accredited body’s certification which is rigorous and difficult is
far more credible that a certificate confirming competence in a particular
vendor’s offerings. When it comes to certifications to the ISO 16759 standard,
there are several options companies can consider.
The first is to demonstrate that your carbon calculator meets the
requirements of the standard. This is likely to be one of the most common
implementations of ISO 16759, and indeed is part of the purpose for which it has
been written. ISO 16759 is not a carbon calculator. Rather, it states
requirements for a carbon calculator used to work out the carbon footprint of
printed products. This way carbon calculators certified to meet the requirements
of ISO 16759 can be used to build data sets created within a common framework.
This will hopefully encourage print buyers to make their media investment
decisions based on sound facts and for the printing industry to measure its
impact reductions over time.
Printers and print buyers can also get certifications for their own
implementations of ISO 16759. They can follow the directions in the standard to
do their own carbon footprinting studies and calculations. Such certifications
can apply to individual print media products or the process that a printer or
print buyer has set up.
We have already seen considerable interest in ISO 16759 but want to urge
people interested in certification to be very careful who they work with. There
are plenty of companies selling certificates for compliance to one standard or
another. However only a few of these organisations are fully endorsed by a
recognised authority, such as a national standards body or a government endorsed
certifications body. Caveat emptor!
Best Regard
Tienfa Thomas Wang C:886932703531
T:88662502638 F:88662589230 Cn:8613539785111