James Hutton Limited is about to become one of a very few UK based organisations to be able to offer ETV reports on environmental technologies in the United Kingdom and the only partner within WTN. For the technology producers ETV provides credibility and assurance on their products and claims while for the purchasers it guarantees the selection of the best fitted eco-technology and it helps determine the performance of the eco-technology for implementing policies and regulations.
Environmental Technology Verification is an International standard (BS EN ISO 14034) with the objective of providing credible, reliable and independent verification of environmental technologies which has an impact or added value for the environment. It is increasingly important to address such issues and challenges for achieving sustainable development.
Why would an SME want to verify to an international standard?
Verifying to an international standard will enable increased trade in the international market, reduce the duplication of testing data, enhance the usage of innovations to respond to climate change and global environmental challenges and ensure the continued collaboration on the development of future international technologies. New environmental technologies often meet with the mistrust of regulators, clients and investors and technology developers spend a lot of time and money on test, demonstrations and certifications. Proving the performance of new technologies is challenging for small and medium sized enterprises and ETV can provide a solution to these problems.
Context of ISO 14034
Climate change and environmental issues are now more than ever a global problem. Standards, regulations, guidelines and tools such as this are part of potential solutions. ISO 14034 works in parallel with other 14000 series standards and will ensure environmental issues are handled proactively by steak holders and is a technical standard with a conformity assessment.
Key principles of ISO 14034
- It is a factual approach with verification based on factual and relevant evidence confirming objectively the performance of environmental technologies
- It is a tool that supports sustainability by providing credible information on the performance of environmental technologies
- It is achieved through a dialogue between the applicant, verifier and interested parties
- It is transparent and credible as it is based on reliable test results and robust procedures