ISO 14045:2012 describes the principles, requirements and guidelines for eco-efficiency assessment for product systems including:
- the goal and scope definition of the eco-efficiency assessment;
- the environmental assessment;
- the product-system-value assessment;
- the quantification of eco-efficiency;
- interpretation (including quality assurance);
- reporting;
- critical review of the eco-efficiency assessment.
Requirements, recommendations and guidelines for specific choices of categories of environmental impact and values are not included. The intended application of the eco-efficiency assessment is considered during the goal and scope definition phase, but the actual use of the results is outside the scope of ISO 14045:2012.