Trend watch: Standards & certifications in 2026 — signals, winners, and red flags

ISO 14001 environmental management certifications increased 124% from 2023 to 2024, reaching 651,851 certificates worldwide—though this dramatic jump partly reflects China resuming certification data reporting after a one-year gap. More tellingly, the ISO certification market itself has grown to $10.26 billion in 2024, projected to expand at a 15% CAGR through 2031. For product and design teams, these figures underscore a new reality: sustainability standards are no longer optional differentiators but baseline requirements for market access.

Why It Matters

The standards and certification landscape has entered a period of accelerated consolidation and enforcement. The EU Taxonomy, now operationalized through CSRD reporting requirements, establishes definitive criteria for what qualifies as "sustainable"—creating clear winners and losers among product categories and manufacturing approaches. Meanwhile, the ISO 14001:2025 revision, expected for official publication in 2026, introduces explicit climate change requirements into the world's most widely adopted environmental management standard.

For product and design teams, these developments translate into concrete constraints and opportunities. The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) mandates performance requirements, repairability standards, and digital product passports across multiple product categories. Products failing to meet these standards will lose EU market access—a $16 trillion consumer economy.

The stakes extend beyond compliance. ISO-certified businesses are 50% more likely to win international contracts, while 95% of multinationals now require supplier certifications related to sustainability (Burraq Consulting, 2024). In this environment, certification strategy becomes a competitive weapon: early movers capture market share while laggards face exclusion.

Certification	Global Certificates (2024)	Year-over-Year Change	Market Driver
ISO 14001	651,851	+124% (adjusted +29%)	Climate mandates, supply chain requirements
ISO 9001	1.2M+	+4%	Quality baseline, procurement prerequisites
ISO 45001	400,000+	+15%	Worker safety, ESG integration
B Corp	8,500+	+22%	Consumer trust, impact investing

Key Concepts

The ISO 14001:2025 Revision represents the most significant update to environmental management standards in a decade. Key changes include explicit climate change requirements (added to Clause 4 in February 2024), enhanced lifecycle assessment mandates, and stronger stakeholder engagement provisions. The harmonized structure replacement improves integration with quality (ISO 9001) and safety (ISO 45001) systems, enabling unified management approaches.

Double Materiality in Standards Contexts reflects the EU's approach to sustainability assessment. Standards bodies are increasingly requiring organizations to demonstrate not just how environmental issues affect their operations (financial materiality) but how their operations affect the environment (impact materiality). This bidirectional assessment fundamentally changes certification scope.

Additionality Requirements have become central to carbon-related certifications. Standards like Verra's VCS and Gold Standard now require rigorous demonstration that certified emissions reductions would not have occurred without the project—responding to criticism that many offset projects lack genuine climate impact. Product teams claiming carbon neutrality must navigate these stricter verification requirements.

Digital Verification Infrastructure is transforming how certifications are managed and verified. The International Accreditation Forum's CertSearch database provides real-time verification of accredited certifications, while blockchain-based systems like Circularise enable automated compliance tracking across supply chains. Product teams must design for traceability from the outset.

What's Working and What Isn't

What's Working

Integrated Management Systems (IMS): Organizations combining ISO 14001, ISO 9001, and ISO 45001 into unified management systems report 35% reductions in audit costs and improved cross-functional coordination. Siemens' integrated approach, for example, enabled streamlined compliance across 300+ global sites while improving data consistency for sustainability reporting (Siemens, 2024).

Technology-Enabled Compliance: Automated compliance platforms have matured significantly. Solutions from Enhesa, Intelex, and SAP enable continuous monitoring against regulatory requirements, automated gap analysis, and integrated audit management. Early adopters report 40% reductions in compliance management effort and improved audit outcomes.

Industry-Specific Certification Acceleration: Sector-focused standards are gaining traction where broad frameworks prove unwieldy. The Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) for electronics, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for climate commitments, and LEED for buildings provide tailored pathways that product teams find more actionable than generic frameworks.

What Isn't Working

Certification Fragmentation: Despite harmonization efforts, product teams face overlapping requirements from multiple standards bodies, regional regulations, and customer-specific demands. A 2024 survey by BSI found that 45% of manufacturing firms track compliance against 10+ distinct frameworks, with significant duplication in documentation and assessment requirements.

Audit Capacity Constraints: The rapid expansion of mandatory certifications has strained audit and assurance capacity. Average certification timelines have extended from 3-4 months to 6-8 months for ISO 14001, while qualified lead auditor availability has decreased 20% relative to demand. Product launch timelines must account for these delays.

Greenwashing Enforcement Gaps: While certification bodies maintain formal integrity processes, enforcement remains inconsistent. High-profile certification withdrawals—such as Volkswagen's temporary ISO 14001 suspensions following emissions scandals—demonstrate that standards can be circumvented. Product teams should view certification as a foundation for genuine practice, not a shield against scrutiny.

Cost Barriers for SMEs: Certification costs remain prohibitive for smaller organizations. Average ISO 14001 certification costs range from €15,000-50,000 depending on organizational complexity, with annual maintenance fees of €5,000-15,000. This creates competitive disadvantages for smaller suppliers and limits supply chain sustainability improvements.

Key Players

Established Leaders

BSI Group (British Standards Institution) operates as both a standards development organization and a leading certification body, with particular strength in integrated management systems and emerging frameworks like ESG assurance.

Bureau Veritas provides testing, inspection, and certification services globally, with extensive capabilities in sustainability verification and supply chain auditing across 140 countries.

SGS SA (Société Générale de Surveillance) is the world's largest testing, inspection, and certification company, processing over 2 million certifications annually with particular depth in consumer product safety and environmental management.

Emerging Startups

Normative (Sweden) offers automated carbon accounting with built-in alignment to major reporting frameworks, simplifying the data foundation required for environmental certifications.

Ecovadis has established itself as the leading sustainability rating platform for supply chains, with assessments covering 100,000+ companies and integration with major procurement systems.

Circularise provides blockchain-based digital product passport infrastructure, enabling automated verification of material composition and supply chain claims required by emerging standards.

Key Investors & Funders

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF) provides governance for the global accreditation system, ensuring certification body competence and mutual recognition agreements that enable certificates to be recognized across borders.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) develops and publishes international standards through 167 national standards bodies, with technical committees driving continuous evolution of environmental, quality, and sustainability standards.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation funds circular economy standard development and implementation support, particularly influencing design-stage requirements in product standards.

Examples

1. Interface's Climate Take Back Initiative: The modular flooring manufacturer achieved multiple certifications—ISO 14001, Cradle to Cradle, and carbon negative verification—through integrated product development. Their design team embedded certification requirements into the product development process from concept stage, reducing certification timelines by 50% compared to retrofit approaches. The company's Factory as a Forest initiative demonstrates how ambitious sustainability goals can drive innovation rather than constraint (Interface Sustainability Report, 2024).

2. Patagonia's Traceable Down Standard: Facing limitations of existing certifications for animal welfare in supply chains, Patagonia developed and published its own standard—now adopted by other brands. The Traceable Down Standard requires farm-level auditing and prohibits live-plucking and force-feeding, going beyond industry certifications. This example illustrates how product teams can lead standard development when existing frameworks prove inadequate (Patagonia Materials, 2024).

3. Philips' Circular Economy Certification Strategy: Philips achieved ISO 14001 across all major manufacturing sites while developing sector-specific circular certifications for healthcare equipment. Their EcoDesign process integrates certification requirements at design stage, while Diamond Select refurbishment program created new certification pathways for remanufactured medical devices. The approach demonstrates integration of certification strategy with business model innovation (Philips Integrated Annual Report, 2024).

Action Checklist

• Conduct certification gap analysis comparing current credentials against customer requirements, regulatory mandates, and competitive positioning
• Develop integrated certification roadmap addressing ISO 14001:2025 transition, ESPR compliance, and customer-specific requirements
• Embed certification requirements into product development gates, ensuring compliance considerations inform design decisions from concept stage
• Implement digital traceability infrastructure enabling automated compliance verification and digital product passport generation
• Establish supplier certification requirements with clear timelines, support resources, and consequences for non-compliance
• Monitor emerging standards development through participation in technical committees or industry association engagement

FAQ

Q: How should product teams prioritize among multiple overlapping certifications? A: Start with market access requirements—certifications mandated by regulation or key customers. Layer competitive differentiators based on target market preferences. Implement integrated management systems to reduce duplicative effort. Consider customer segmentation: different markets may value different certifications.

Q: What is the timeline for ISO 14001:2025 implementation? A: Draft International Standard (DIS) was released in June 2025, with Final Draft (FDIS) expected December 2025 and official publication in 2026. Organizations typically have 3 years post-publication to transition existing certifications. Planning should begin now to align recertification cycles with new requirements.

Q: How do digital product passports affect certification requirements? A: EU ESPR mandates digital product passports for multiple product categories, requiring standardized digital identifiers, material composition data, and compliance documentation. Certifications will increasingly require digital verification infrastructure. Product teams should implement traceability systems capable of generating required passport data.

Q: What are the red flags indicating certification quality issues? A: Watch for: certification bodies not accredited by IAF-member accreditation bodies; unusually fast certification timelines (<2 months for initial ISO certification); certificates not verifiable in official databases (IAF CertSearch); certifications from bodies facing suspension or withdrawal actions. Procurement teams should verify all supplier certifications through official channels.

Q: How should teams evaluate the ROI of certification investments? A: Quantify: customer access/retention (contracts requiring certification), price premiums (certified products often command 5-15% premiums), risk reduction (insurance, liability, regulatory penalties), and operational improvements (many certification requirements drive genuine efficiency gains). Track certification mentions in RFP wins and customer feedback.

Sources

• ISO. (2024). The ISO Survey of Management System Standard Certifications 2024.
• Burraq Business Consulting. (2024). Global ISO Certification Trends: Insights from IAF's ISO Survey.
• Cognitive Market Research. (2024). ISO Certification Market Report.
• DQS Global. (2024). ISO 14001 Revision 2025: What You Should Know Now.
• European Commission. (2024). Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation Implementation Guidelines.
• Smithers. (2025). The Future of ISO Standards: Trends and Updates.