Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) percieve, communicate, and reduce the carbon footprint of your products
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What is a Product Carbon Footprint?
The product carbon footprint also known as the CO2 footprint of a product which quantifies all direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product. The result is expressed in kilograms of CO2 equivalents.
The PCF captures emissions from:
- Raw material extraction: Mining, processing of raw materials
- Production: Manufacturing, energy consumption in the factory
- Transport: Supply chain, distribution
- Use phase: Energy consumption during use (if relevant)
- End of life: Disposal, recycling
System boundaries depending on the objective:
- Cradle to Gate: Up to the factory gate (most common variant for B2B)
- Cradle to Grave: Up to disposal
- Cradle to Cradle: Complete cycle
Scope 1, 2, and 3 explained
In the calculation, emissions are divided into three categories according to the GHG Protocol.
Important: Scope 3 often accounts for 70 to 90 percent of a product's total emissions. Recording these emissions is crucial for a meaningful PCF.
Scope 1
Direct combustion from own sources
Example: Combustion in own facilities
Scope 2
Indirect emissions from purchased energy
Example: Electricity, heat, steam
Scope 3
All other indirect emissions
Example: Supply chain, transportation, use, disposal
Standards & framework conditions
ISO 14067 is the authoritative standard for calculating the product carbon footprint.
Key requirements:
- Compliance with life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040/14044
- Definition of system boundaries and functional unit
- Transparent documentation of all assumptions
- Consideration of all relevant greenhouse gases (not just CO2)
- Possibility of external verification
Differences from other standards:
- ISO 14067: Focus: Product carbon footprint | Application: Individual products
- ISO 14064: Focus: Corporate carbon footprint | Application: Companies/locations
- GHG Protocol: Focus: PCF (US approach) | Application: Internationally compatible
Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF)
Understanding your organization's carbon footprint is the first step towards meaningful change. At Kiwa, we show you how your company will reduce and avoid greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective way for the long term. We support you from the calculation to verification to reporting and enable transparent, accurate, scientifically sound communication of your environmental performance - without greenwashing!
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
A Life Cycle Assessment is used to quantify the environmental impacts of processes, products, services or organisations, usually as a basis for other sustainability applications such as Environmental Product Declarations, Product Environmental Footprints and CO2 footprints.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) according to EN 15804 / EN 50693
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a Type III Environmental Declaration and is regulated by ISO 14025 and EN 15804. It contains quantifiable environmental information on a European harmonized, scientific basis. An EPD is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data.
Create your life cycle assessment and EPD with R<THINK
R<THINK is a software application that enables companies to create Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), and Carbon Footprints of Products (CFP), efficiently and according to international and European standards. With R<THINK you can carry out project-specific calculations as well as calculate the environmental impact of your entire product portfolio.
SEE-Standard – The Sustainability Standard for the mineral and metal sector
The increasing sustainability requirements for companies demand new ways to objectify, validate or confirm the sustainability performances of globally active companies. Supply chain due diligence in the mineral and metal sector is a key element regarding the envisaged sustainability transition.
