PRODUCT CARBON FOOTPRINT STANDARDS: WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE?

Why and how would you calculate a carbon footprint?

A product carbon footprint (PCF) is a means for measuring, managing and communicating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to goods and services. A carbon footprint is based on life cycle assessment (LCA) but focuses on the single issue of global warming.

An increasing number of companies quantify the carbon footprint of their products, and for multiple reasons: enhancing market reputation, engaging with suppliers, clients and other stakeholders, complying with (upcoming) regulatory obligations or taking the first step toward a more comprehensive environmental footprint.

The various PCF standards give companies guidance and support the credibility of carbon footprint metrics in the marketplace, which makes them highly beneficial.

A range of product carbon footprint standards

In response to the need for transparency about the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of products, several methodologies were developed at different points in time and by different organizations.

Current methodologies may be grouped into two families:

• Group 1: Single-issue methodologies, covering only emissions and impacts related to climate change.
• Group 2: Methodologies that have a broader scope, covering environmental issues beyond climate change. You can use the indicator for climate change from these methodologies to determine the PCF.

Methodologies belonging to group 1 are:

• The ISO 14067 standard. It builds largely on other existing ISO standards for LCA and was published in 2018. It can be considered the international reference standard for conducting PCF.
• National standards such as PAS 2050, which was developed by the British Standards Institute (BSI). PAS 2050 came into effect in October 2008 and was revised in 2011. PAS 2050 is widely used and is considered the first carbon footprint standard used internationally.
• The GHG Protocol Product Standard. This standard was created by the WRI/WBCSD and published in October 2011. It was developed to be consistent with the first version of PAS 2050, with the difference that the GHG Protocol Product Standard includes requirements for public reporting. The GHG Protocol also provides additional standards for corporate assessments and project-related calculations.

Methodologies belonging to group 2 are:

• The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). This EU-recommended method to perform LCA studies aims to harmonize existing LCA standards. It requires 16 impact categories to be calculated, but some current legislative proposals recommend the method with climate change as sole indicator to report the PCF.
• National standards such as BP X30-323-0. This standard was developed by the French government (AFNOR), tested in 2011 and finalized in 2015. Similar to the PEF, it covers a number of impact categories. The climate change indicator can be reported separately if needed.
• EN 15804. This is the European standard providing core product category rules for all construction products and services. Like other multi-criteria methods, it covers a set of mandatory environmental impact indicators, including climate change. While all environmental indicators need to be calculated and reported, the climate change indicator can be used to quantify the carbon footprint of the product in scope.

All standards mentioned above are built on the principles established in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. They also seek alignment with the latest reports of the IPCC. Although the methodologies aren’t identical, their developers (BSI, WRI/WBCSD, ISO, AFNOR and the EC) aimed to increase alignment across their methodologies.

All methodologies provide requirements for dealing with specific issues relevant for carbon footprints, including land-use change, (biogenic) carbon uptake and emissions, offsetting, soil carbon stock, green electricity and characterization factors to be used for biogenic carbon.

Source: Product Carbon Footprint standards: which one to choose? – PRé Sustainability (pre-sustainability.com)