Overview

Establishes principles, requirements and guidance for self-declared environmental claims about products, including qualification of terms such as recyclable, recycled content, compostable, degradable, reusable, carbon footprint and carbon neutral.

ISO 14021:2026 is the third edition of the standard on self-declared environmental claims, published in June 2026. It supersedes ISO 14021:2016 and its Amendment 1:2021. The title changed with this edition to Environmental statements and programmes for products — Self-declared environmental claims, aligning it with the reframing of the family introduced by ISO 14020:2022. Self-declared claims are traditionally described as Type II environmental labelling: claims made by the manufacturer, importer, distributor or retailer themselves, without independent third-party certification.

The 2026 edition establishes principles, specifies requirements and gives guidance on self-declared environmental claims about products and their environmental statement programmes, including claims that also cover related social and economic aspects affected by environmental conditions or by a product's environmental performance. It applies to claims that take the form of words but also to symbols and graphics, whether on product or package labels, in product literature and technical bulletins, or in advertising and publicity — explicitly including digital platforms.

Qualified terms. The distinctive contribution of ISO 14021 is that it defines a specific set of commonly used environmental terms and states the conditions under which each may legitimately be used, together with the evaluation and verification methodology behind them. The qualified set includes compostable, degradable, designed for disassembly, recyclable, recycled content, reusable, refillable, waste reduction, and — introduced by the 2021 amendment to the previous edition and carried into the current one — carbon footprint and carbon neutral. Vague or non-specific claims such as "environmentally friendly", "green" or "non-polluting" are precisely the kind of claim the standard is designed to discipline.

Self-declaration and its obligations. Because a Type II claim carries no third-party certification, the standard places the burden of substantiation squarely on the claimant. It requires that the claim be accurate and not misleading, that supporting data and the evaluation methodology be available on request, that the claim be specific about which part of the product or packaging it applies to, and that comparative claims be based on comparable functional units and disclosed methods. It also addresses symbols, including the Möbius loop and the conditions under which it may be used with or without a percentage figure.

Relationship to the family. ISO 14020 sets the overarching principles and general requirements. ISO 14021 covers self-declared, Type II claims. ISO 14024 covers Type I third-party ecolabelling programmes and ISO 14025 covers Type III environmental product declarations based on life cycle assessment. Where a quantified claim rests on life cycle data, ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 supply the methodology.

Certification. By definition, self-declared claims are not certified by ISO or by any third party under this standard — that is what makes them Type II. Organizations may nonetheless obtain independent verification of a claim voluntarily, and many retailers and regulators now expect it for higher-risk claims such as carbon neutrality. There is no organizational certification against ISO 14021.

Purpose

To specify the requirements and evaluation methodology for self-declared environmental claims about products, and to qualify a defined set of commonly used environmental terms so that such claims are accurate, substantiated and not misleading.

Key Benefits

• Current 2026 edition superseding ISO 14021:2016 and its 2021 amendment
• Defines conditions of use for widely used terms such as recyclable and recycled content
• Covers carbon footprint and carbon neutral claims
• Applies to digital advertising as well as labels and printed literature
• Provides an evaluation and verification methodology for substantiating claims
• Widely referenced by retailers, procurement teams and regulators assessing claims
• Helps organizations avoid vague claims that attract greenwashing scrutiny

Key Requirements

• Ensure claims are accurate, verifiable, relevant and not misleading
• Use only qualified terms in the manner the standard defines
• Specify clearly whether a claim applies to the product, the packaging or a component
• Substantiate claims with data and a documented evaluation methodology
• Make supporting information available to interested parties on request
• Base comparative claims on comparable functional units with disclosed methods
• Use symbols, including the Möbius loop, only under the defined conditions
• Avoid vague or non-specific claims such as environmentally friendly or green
• Review and update claims as product composition or methodology changes

Who Needs This Standard?

Product marketing and packaging teams, brand owners and retailers making on-pack or digital environmental claims, sustainability and regulatory affairs functions, advertising compliance teams, and procurement teams evaluating supplier claims.

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