Requirements on Consumer Information about Product ... - ANEC

Consumer Information about PCF
3 Definition of Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)
3.1 Targets, usage and fields of application of PCF
The definitions and uses of the term “product carbon footprint” differ internationally. For the
herewith presented study the following definition, that was also agreed upon within the scope
of the PCF Pilot Project Germany (PCF-Pilote 2009), seems most appropriate:
“Product carbon footprint describes the sum of greenhouse gas emissions accumulated
during the full life cycle of a product (good or service) 2 in a specified application.”
In this context, greenhouse gas emissions are understood as all gaseous materials for which
a Global Warming Potential coefficient was defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). The life cycle of a product encompasses the whole value chain –
from the acquisition and transportation of raw materials and primary products over production
and distribution to the use, recycling and disposal of the product. The term “product” is used
as a generic term for goods and services. The term Product Carbon Footprinting encompasses
the determination and assessment of one PCF.
At the moment, the standardisation process for the determination of one PCF is still ongoing
(ISO 14067 „Carbon Footprint of Products“, quantification and communication). Therefore
most available resp. currently performed PCFs are done on the basis of PAS 2050:2008
(Public Available Specification „Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse
gas emissions of goods and services“, a guideline below a British Standard) or resp. in
combination with ISO 14040 / 14044 (LCA) and taking into consideration the Greenhouse
Gas Protocol Product / Supply Chain Initiative of World Resources Institute (WRI) and World
Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
As a consequence, the available studies and PCFs are far from being comparable at the
moment. And there is still some dynamic concerning methodological aspects to be expected
in the future. In the PCF-Pilote Project (PCF-Pilote 2009) several PCFs of different products
were calculated in parallel in order to identify work steps that should be done in the same
way and others that have to be specific for a specific product group. It seems to be highly
necessary to define Product Category Rules for specific product groups (comparable to
PCRs as defined in ISO 14025 for EPDs).
In the international debate different targets are discussed concerning the calculation of
PCFs: the quantification of CO2e for a CO2e-Label, the optimisation of processes within
companies, the comparison of a broad variety of products in a retailer chain. In order to
reach these targets, a number of methodological requirements concerning scope as well as
data gathering and data processing have to be fulfilled.
2
In the following the term “product” always includes goods and services even if this is not explicitly written.
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