Environmental Standards and Scales
TL;DR: WoT hosts ~30 environmental classification systems across four families: green-building rating schemes (BREEAM, LEED), biodiversity and conservation taxonomies (IUCN Red List, CITES, Ramsar, CBD targets, UNEP Chemicals), waste and chemicals codes (EPA RCRA, EU Waste Catalogue, Stockholm/Rotterdam/Minamata Conventions), climate and energy data taxonomies (GHG Protocol, IEA Energy Balance, IRENA, FAO AQUASTAT, FAOSTAT, ISO 14001/14040/14064/50001), and natural-science scales (Beaufort, Saffir-Simpson, Fujita, UV Index, Köppen Climate, Geological Timescale, Periodic Table). Plus the SDG 2030 framework and the TNFD nature-related disclosure standard.
Green building and infrastructure
| System |
Codes |
Authority |
Scope |
breeam |
17 |
BRE |
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method |
leed_v4_1 |
14 |
USGBC |
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design v4.1 |
reg_iso_14001 |
29 |
ISO |
Environmental management system standard |
reg_iso_50001 |
26 |
ISO |
Energy management system standard |
Biodiversity and conservation
| System |
Codes |
Authority |
Scope |
iucn_red_list |
15 |
IUCN |
Red List of Threatened Species categories |
cites |
16 |
CITES Secretariat |
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Appendix I/II/III) |
ramsar |
21 |
Ramsar Convention |
Ramsar wetland classification |
cbd_targets |
24 |
CBD Secretariat |
Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework targets |
cbd_aichi |
21 |
CBD Secretariat |
Aichi Biodiversity Targets (legacy 2011-2020 framework, still cited) |
Waste, chemicals, and pollution
| System |
Codes |
Authority |
Scope |
epa_rcra_waste |
15 |
US EPA |
Hazardous waste codes under RCRA |
eu_waste_cat |
21 |
European Commission |
EU Waste Catalogue (2014/955/EU) |
stockholm_pops |
19 |
Stockholm Convention |
Persistent Organic Pollutants Annex A/B/C |
rotterdam_pic |
17 |
Rotterdam Convention |
Prior Informed Consent procedure for hazardous chemicals |
minamata |
15 |
Minamata Convention |
Mercury phase-out provisions |
unep_chemicals |
15 |
UNEP |
UNEP chemicals categories |
Climate, energy, and natural resources
| System |
Codes |
Authority |
Scope |
ghg_protocol |
20 |
WRI / WBCSD |
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (Scope 1/2/3 categories) |
reg_iso_14064 |
20 |
ISO |
GHG quantification, monitoring, verification |
reg_iso_14040 |
25 |
ISO |
Life-cycle assessment principles and framework |
iea_energy_bal |
19 |
IEA |
International Energy Agency energy balance categories |
irena_re |
17 |
IRENA |
International Renewable Energy Agency RE technology types |
fao_aquastat |
14 |
FAO |
Global water and agriculture statistics taxonomy |
fao_stat_domain |
17 |
FAO |
FAOSTAT data domains (Production, Trade, Inputs, etc.) |
Sustainability disclosure (overlap with regulatory and financial layers)
| System |
Codes |
Authority |
Scope |
sdg |
82 |
United Nations |
Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (17 goals + 169 targets, here ~82 nodes) |
un_sdg_indicators |
20 |
United Nations |
SDG indicator framework |
tnfd |
34 |
TNFD |
Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures |
See Regulatory Standards for the broader sustainability-disclosure regulation set (CSRD, EU Taxonomy, SFDR, SBTi, ISSB S1/S2, etc.).
Natural-science scales (small bounded enumerations)
These are short, stable, universal scales used as reference data across many domains.
| System |
Codes |
Authority |
Scope |
beaufort_scale |
14 |
WMO |
Beaufort Wind Force Scale (0-12 + extensions) |
saffir_simpson |
12 |
NHC / NOAA |
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (Cat 1-5 + extensions) |
fujita_tornado |
10 |
NWS |
Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF0-EF5) |
uv_index |
11 |
WHO / WMO |
Ultraviolet Index |
koppen_climate |
17 |
Köppen-Geiger |
Köppen climate classification |
geological_time |
20 |
ICS |
International Commission on Stratigraphy geologic time scale |
periodic_table |
18 |
IUPAC |
Periodic table groupings (s/p/d/f-blocks, lanthanides, actinides, etc.) |
Decision tree
| What you are doing |
Use |
| Building energy / sustainability rating |
breeam (UK/EU) or leed_v4_1 (US/global) |
| Corporate GHG inventory |
ghg_protocol + reg_iso_14064 |
| Life-cycle environmental assessment |
reg_iso_14040 |
| Endangered-species trade compliance |
cites |
| Wetland project classification |
ramsar |
| Hazardous waste manifest |
epa_rcra_waste (US) or eu_waste_cat (EU) |
| POPs / chemicals reporting |
stockholm_pops, rotterdam_pic, minamata |
| Renewable-energy capacity reporting |
irena_re |
| Tagging a research outcome to an SDG |
sdg + un_sdg_indicators |
| Nature-related financial disclosure |
tnfd |
| Categorizing a weather/climate observation |
beaufort_scale, saffir_simpson, fujita_tornado, koppen_climate |
Related reading
