ISO Net Zero Standard (ISO 14060), IWA 42 and SBTi V2.0: Guide

What is the ISO net zero standard, ISO 14060, and can you use it yet?

ISO 14060 is ISO’s future standard for net zero aligned organizations. On 11 November 2026 it is only a draft: a company cannot conform to it, claim it, or be certified against it.

This is what its iso.org page showed when we checked it on 11 November 2026:

A published International Standard sits at stage 60.60, as ISO 14068:2026 does. ISO/DIS 14060 is not there yet. The iso.org page for IWA 42 says it is expected to be replaced by ISO/DIS 14060 “within the coming months”, with no date. We therefore do not announce either its final content or its publication date.

What we know about its scope

The abstract published on iso.org describes the purpose of the draft: requirements for how any organization can demonstrate that its net zero strategy, including targets and delivery against them, is compatible with reaching net zero, and that it is making credible and verifiable progress towards global net zero in line with the Paris Agreement. The scope is limited to organizations, not their products, in line with IWA 42.

Two takeaways for a Moroccan manufacturer or exporter:

• The future standard will set requirements, whereas IWA 42 makes recommendations: a conformity assessment becomes possible once the standard is published, on terms nobody can describe yet.
• No product will be “ISO 14060 net zero”. The announced scope covers organizations; for a product, the tools that exist today are the product carbon footprint and ISO 14068:2026.

If a European customer’s questionnaire asks whether you are “aligned with ISO 14060”, the accurate answer is: the standard has not been published; our net zero approach follows IWA 42:2022 and, for targets, the SBTi standard.

What does IWA 42:2022, ISO’s current net zero document, contain?

IWA 42:2022 — Net zero guidelines — is a guidance document published in November 2022 and free to download from iso.org. It defines net zero and related terms and gives principles and recommendations; it contains no certifiable requirements.

What is an IWA?

An International Workshop Agreement (IWA) is prepared outside ISO’s technical committees, through an open workshop, and approved by consensus among participants. According to iso.org, an IWA is reviewed three years after publication and can exist for a maximum of six years, after which it is withdrawn or converted into another ISO document, such as an International Standard. That is what is happening with ISO/DIS 14060; IWA 42 is at stage 90.92 (to be revised).

Launched at COP27, the guidelines drew, according to iso.org, on more than 1,200 experts from over 100 countries.

What IWA 42 covers

According to the abstract on iso.org, IWA 42 gives terms, definitions and recommendations on:

1. net zero guiding principles and how to build net zero into strategies and policies;
2. what net zero means at different levels and for different types of organization;
3. interim and long-term targets, and the actions to meet them, starting with emission reductions in the value chain;
4. nature, avoided emissions and contributions beyond the value chain;
5. removals, offsets, credits and claims;
6. monitoring, indicators, equity, reporting and communication.

For organizations, the document uses a single target: net zero for all greenhouse gases, as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest, consistent with the global effort needed to limit warming to 1.5 °C with no or limited overshoot.

IWA 42 does not cover carbon neutrality, which it leaves to ISO 14068, and sets no numerical pathway: it is meant to be used alongside science-based pathways, such as those of the SBTi.

What changes with the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0?

The SBTi published Version 2.0 of its Corporate Net-Zero Standard on 11 June 2026. It consolidates and replaces both the SBTi Near-Term Criteria and earlier versions of the standard, and shifts the focus from setting targets to delivering them; validation under V2.0 opens in Q1 2027.

The SBTi describes six areas of change. The table shows what each means for a Moroccan supplier.

V1.3.1 or V2.0: what is the timeline?

Existing near-term targets are expected to remain valid until the end of their timeframe. The SBTi points out that V1.3.1 keeps some flexibilities that may suit a company submitting in 2026 or 2027: combined scope 1 and 2 targets, the scope 3 target boundary, and data assurance requirements.

Category A or B: where does a Moroccan company sit?

The category depends on size and on the country of the ultimate parent company. Chapter B of V2.0 sets these thresholds:

The rules around the table:

• Country means where the ultimate parent company is incorporated, classified with the World Bank income categories. In the World Bank classification for fiscal year 2027, checked on 11 November 2026, Morocco is a lower-middle-income economy, not a high-income one.
• Figures are consolidated at group level. A Moroccan subsidiary of a foreign group is classified on its group’s figures and its group’s country, not its own.
• The category is set at registration with the SBTi, reconfirmed at validation, and applies for the whole five-year target cycle.

In practice, an independent Moroccan company is only Category A above EUR 450 million in net turnover or 1,000 employees. In Category B, three Category A requirements become optional: disclosing the transition plan, assurance of target base year data, and setting a scope 3 target. The SBTi strongly encourages Category B companies to go further, and your European customer may ask you to.

How are targets set, scope by scope?

The V2.0 executive summary describes these options:

The second scope 3 option matters directly to Moroccan exporters. A European customer that chooses it measures progress by the share of its tier 1 suppliers setting science-based targets, so it has every reason to ask you to set one.

For scope 2 in Morocco, our decarbonisation strategy page explains what self-generation (Law No. 82-21) and buying from a private renewable producer (Law No. 13-09) allow.

And carbon credits?

V2.0 creates a voluntary “ongoing emissions responsibility” programme. A company can be recognized for taking responsibility for 1% to 100% of its ongoing emissions, through reductions or removals outside its value chain or other climate contributions. The SBTi treats this as a complement to, never a substitute for, reducing the company’s own emissions. It states its intention to make this responsibility mandatory from 2035 and to require residual emissions to be neutralized at net zero.

IWA 42, ISO/DIS 14060, SBTi, ISO 14068: which document for which need?

Each one answers a different question: IWA 42 says what net zero is, the SBTi validates reduction targets, ISO 14068 governs a carbon neutrality declaration, and ISO/DIS 14060 cannot be used yet. Measurement starts with the emissions inventory.

ISO 14064-1:2018 — Greenhouse gases — Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals — is under revision (draft ISO/WD 14064-1.2 at stage 20.60 on iso.org on 11 November 2026); the 2018 edition remains in force. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (revised edition, 2004) is also under revision, with a consolidated GHG Protocol–ISO standard expected to be published in Q4 2028. See our ISO 14064-1 requirements guide.

Why ISO 14068-1:2023 is often mistaken for the net zero standard

Its title invited the confusion: “Climate change management — Transition to net zero — Part 1: Carbon neutrality”. It actually dealt with carbon neutrality, which allows the residual footprint to be offset. It has been withdrawn and replaced by ISO 14068:2026, “Climate change management — Carbon neutrality”; according to iso.org, only the number and title changed. Our ISO 14068 guide explains the neutrality approach and how it differs from net zero.

How can a company in Morocco prepare a credible net zero commitment?

Start from the inventory, then set near-term targets tied to actions, a transition plan and governance. The long-term net zero target comes last: it is only worth the reductions the plan can deliver.

1. Measure. A recalculable scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory, with the source and year of every emission factor. V2.0 uses a recent target base year rather than a historical one and requires at least limited assurance of that data in Category A; see our guide to ISO 14064-3 verification.
2. Classify. Category A or B, ultimate parent, consolidated figures: settle this before registering with the SBTi.
3. List the levers. By site and by scope, with tonnes of CO2e avoided and input data. Our guide to industrial decarbonisation in Morocco sets them out by sector.
4. Choose the target options. For each scope, the option that fits your profile: absolute reduction, sector pathway or asset transition for scope 1, for example.
5. Write the transition plan. V2.0 requires one from every company: key actions, dependencies, a high-level path to net zero.
6. Get board sign-off. V2.0 requires the highest level of governance to sign off targets, with oversight of their implementation.
7. Report every year on progress, gaps and barriers.

Checklist before announcing a net zero target

• The baseline inventory covers scopes 1, 2 and 3, with the source and year of every emission factor.
  
• The SBTi category (A or B) is established from the ultimate parent and consolidated figures.
  
• The SBTi version you are targeting (V1.3.1 or V2.0) is chosen and recorded, with the planned submission date.
  
• Every near-term target is tied to dated actions with an owner.
  
• A transition plan exists, even if disclosing it is optional for you.
  
• Internal documents cite IWA 42:2022, never “ISO 14060 conformity”.
  
• No document cites ISO 14068-1:2023 as the current standard, or as a net zero standard.
  
• Any promise aimed at EU consumers rests on a plan regularly verified by an independent third-party expert.
  

What can you say publicly about your net zero target?

What you can prove. Since 27 September 2026, Directive (EU) 2024/825 governs future climate promises and bans offset-based product claims aimed at EU consumers, including claims made through your customer’s product or marketing.

Directive (EU) 2024/825 of 28 February 2024 amends Directives 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU; under its Article 4, its provisions apply from 27 September 2026. Three rules bear on a net zero commitment (text read on EUR-Lex on 11 November 2026):

• Future performance. A claim about future environmental performance is misleading unless it rests on clear, objective, publicly available and verifiable commitments set out in a detailed and realistic implementation plan, with measurable, time-bound targets and allocated resources, regularly verified by an independent third-party expert whose findings are made available to consumers (Article 6(2)(d) of Directive 2005/29/EC).
• Offsetting. Claiming, based on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions is banned in all circumstances (Annex I, point 4c).
• Examples. Recital 12 lists, among others, “climate neutral”, “climate net zero” and “climate compensated” as claims that should only be allowed when based on the actual life-cycle impact of the product.

A “net zero by 2040” on packaging sold to EU consumers therefore needs that plan and that verification. A target “validated by the SBTi” can only be mentioned after validation, with the version of the standard; V2.0 also has a section on how companies communicate about their targets. Our article on Directive (EU) 2024/825 covers the rules and the position of non-EU suppliers. Our position: reductions first, claims second, and only when they can be proven.