PAS 2060 is a specification detailing how to demonstrate

carbon neutrality Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

produced and published by the

British Standards Institution The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the Standards organization, national standards body of the United Kingdom. BSI produces technical standards on a wide range of products and services and also supplies standards certification services ...

History

The

announced the development of the PAS 2060 Standard for Carbon Neutrality in October 2009 with the objective of increasing transparency of carbon neutrality claims by providing a common definition and recognized method of achieving carbon neutral status. The steering group was made up of a number of public and private organisations and associations, including the Association of British Certification Bodies,

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 19 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

, BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method), Carbon Clear,

The Carbon Neutral Company ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, EcoAct,

The Carbon Trust The Carbon Trust is a consultancy established in March 2001, with offices across the world. Its aim is to accelerate the pace of private and public sectors decarbonisation and increase energy efficiency in organisations worldwide. The Carbon ...

The Co-operative Group The Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, leg ...

Department of Energy and Climate Change The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the ...

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...

, Future Conversations (Concrete Centre),

Good Energy ' Good Energy Group PLC is a British energy company based in Chippenham, Wiltshire that provides services in the electrification of transport and decentralised renewable energy generation such as domestic solar panels. The company is also an e ...

Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) is the largest professional body for environmental practitioners in the United Kingdom and worldwide, with nearly 20,000 members. Members receive updates on current environmental law ...

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

and UPM-Kymmene. PAS 2060 Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality was launched in June 2010. Am updated version of the specification was published in 2014. On 30 November 2023 BSI published BS ISO 14068-1:2023 "Climate change management. Transition to net zero - Carbon neutrality" PAS 2060 will be withdrawn from use on 30 November 2025.

Compliance with PAS 2060

The specification defines a consistent set of measures and requirements for entities (e.g. organisations, governments, communities, families, individuals) to demonstrate carbon neutrality for a product, service, organisation, community, event or building.BSi. ''PAS 2060:2010 Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality''. , April 2010 The

carbon footprint A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country Greenhouse gas emissions, adds to the atmospher ...

measurements should include 100% of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, plus all Scope 3 emissions that contribute more than 1% of the total footprint. The entity must develop a Carbon Management Plan which contains a public commitment to

and outlines the following major aspects of the reduction strategy: a time scale, specific targets for reductions, the planned means of achieving reductions and how residual emissions will be offset. PAS 2060 requires that the total amount of

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

at the end of a reduction period be

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by high-quality, certified carbon credits which meet the following criteria: • From one of the PAS 2060 approved schemes (for example the

Clean Development Mechanism The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a United Nations-run carbon offset scheme allowing countries to fund greenhouse gas emissions-reducing projects in other countries and claim the saved emissions as part of their own efforts to meet internat ...

Joint Implementation Joint Implementation (JI) is one of three flexibility mechanisms set out in the Kyoto Protocol to help countries with binding greenhouse gas emissions targets (the Annex I countries) meet their treaty obligations. Under Article 6, any Annex I cou ...

Verified Carbon Standard The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), formerly the Voluntary Carbon Standard, is a standard for certifying carbon credits to offset emissions. VCS is administered by Verra, a 501(c)(3) organization. Verra is a certifier of voluntary carbon offsets. ...

) • Genuinely additional (i.e. reductions that would not have happened anyway) • Verified by an independent third party to ensure that emission reductions are permanent, avoid leakage (so that emissions are not increased in another area as a result of the project reductions) and are not double counted • Retired after a maximum of 12 months to a credible registry.

Documentation and verification

PAS 2060 requires a standard-compliant declaration of achievement of neutrality through a set of Qualifying Explanatory Statements and public disclosure of all the documentation that supports the carbon neutrality claim. The standard stipulates three types of validation of the achievement of neutrality: self validation, other party validation and third party independent validation. Other party validation occurs when the methodology and data has been audited and verified by an external organisation; third party independent validation occurs when it is verification is by an agent registered with

UKAS The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. It ...

References

{{reflist

External links

PAS 2060 comparison chart

PAS 2060 White Paper
Carbon finance 02060