Product Carbon Footprinting: Beer - European Brewery Convention

Product Carbon 

Footprinting: Beer 

Anke Fendler 

Dept. Food Manufacturing 

Technologies, Campden BRI 

EBS, 2628 October 2008 

Campden BRI 

Subjects Covered 

• What is a carbon footprint? 

• Product carbon footprinting and PAS 2050 

• Example: the carbon footprint of a bottle of ale 

• What next? 


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What is a Carbon Footprint? 

‘The total set of greenhouse gases (expressed in CO 2 e) 

entering the atmosphere as the result of a given activity 

or product’ 

May be associated with: 

‣ Activities in a country 

‣ All the activities of a company 

‣ The operation of a site of a business 

‣ The manufacture and use of a product 


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GHG Emissions from Human Activities 

Figure from Office of Climate Change www.occ.gov.uk 

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Business CF vs Product CF 

In the past, companies wanting to measure their carbon footprints 

have focused on their own emissions, but now they are increasingly 

concerned with emissions across their entire supply chain 

Company level 

For example: a brewery 

Account for all activities of the 

company 

ISO 140641:2006 

GHG Protocol 


Product level 

For example: one brand of 

bottled ale 

Account for the whole life cycle 

of the product 

PAS 2050 

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Why PCF? 

Measuring the carbon footprint of products across a full 

product life cycle is a powerful way for companies to collect 

the information needed to: 

‣ Reduce GHG emissions 

‣ Identify cost saving opportunities 

‣ Assist decision making on suppliers, materials, product 

design, manufacturing processes, etc. 

‣ Demonstrate environmental / corporate responsibility 

‣ Meet customer demands for information on product carbon 

footprints 

‣ Meet demands from “green” consumers 


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PAS 2050 

PAS 2050:2008. ‘Specification for the assessment of the life 

cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services’ 

• PAS 2050 explains how to assess GHG emissions of an individual 

product, either a physical good or a service, across its entire life cycle: 

– from raw materials through all stages of production (or service 

provision), distribution, use and disposal 

• Developed in partnership by BSI, The Carbon Trust and Defra in the 

UK, with significant input from other stakeholders 

• The method was tested across a diverse set of sectors and product 

types 

• PAS 2050 final version expected Oct 2008 


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• Setting CF objectives: 

How to start 

‣ Internal hotspot analysis? 

‣ Certification and communication to consumer? 

• Internal engagement: 

‣ Senior management support 

‣ Representatives from all areas of the business should be 

involved 

• Selection of product: 

‣ What brands are most important from a differentiation or 

competitive perspective? 

‣ What products are likely to yield the largest emissions 

reduction opportunities? 

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EBS, 2628 October 2008

• Supply chain engagement: 

How to start 

Suppliers are critical to understanding the 

product’s life cycle and for gathering data 

As part of the initial internal scoping phase, it’s useful to think 

through: 

‣ Who are the key suppliers, retailers, waste management 

companies, etc.? 

‣ What information can they provide? 

‣ How willing and / or able are they to support the project? 

‣ Who will take responsibility for the relationship? 


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Example: 

The carbon 

footprint of a 

bottle of ale 


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Proposed PAS 2050 Methodology 

The assessment should include GHG emissions arising from 

all supply chain steps: 

Raw 

Materials 

Manufacture 

Distribution/ 

Retail 

Consumer 

Use 

Disposal 

Both direct and indirect emissions are included: 

Direct emissions from: 

‣ Process reactions, gas 

leakages 

‣ Burning of fuel 


Indirect emissions from: 

‣ Energy consumption 

‣ Extraction of fuels 

‣ Extraction and manufacturing of 

raw materials and packaging 

‣ Transport and distribution of 

materials 

‣ Waste disposal 

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Steps to calculating a CF 

Process 

map 

Boundaries & 

prioritisation 

Build process map of product’s life cycle, from 

raw materials to disposal 

Confirm boundaries and perform highlevel 

footprint calculation to help prioritise efforts 

Data 

Collect data on material amounts, activities and 

emissions factors across all life cycle stages 

Calculation 

Calculate the product carbon footprint 

Uncertainty 

Assess precision of the footprint analysis 

Adapted from: Guidance to PAS 2050, Draft version, Carbon Trust – Defra BSI 


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The process map 

Consumer Use 

Disposal 

Raw Materials 

Distribution/ 

Retail 

Manufacture 


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Defining the boundaries 

• Once a highlevel process map has been developed, the 

boundaries for the CF calculations are determined 

• The key principle is to include all “material” emissions 

generated as a direct or indirect result of the PU being 

produced 

• Exclusions: 

‣ PAS 2050 allows “immaterial” emissions to 

be excluded – any single source

Types of data 

Two types of data are necessary to calculate a 

carbon footprint: 

• Activity data refers to all the quantities involved in 

the product’s life cycle (material inputs and 

outputs; energy used; transport; etc.) 

• Emission factors provide the link that converts 

these quantities into the resulting GHG emissions: 

‣ For electricity: e.g. in CO 2 e per kWh 

‣ For fuel: e.g. in CO 2 e per litre of fuel used 

‣ ... 


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Data sources 

Data can come from either primary or secondary sources: 

• Primary activity data refers to data measured 

internally or by someone else in the supply chain 

‣ PAS 2050 states that primary activity data must be 

used for all processes and materials which your 

organisation owns, operates or controls 

• Secondary data comes from sources other than direct 

measurement (LCA databases, industry reports, etc.) 

‣ Where primary data is not available (e.g. for some 

raw materials), secondary data may be used 


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Calculation 

The basic equation for product carbon footprinting is the sum 

of all material inputs and outputs multiplied by their emission 

factors, across all activities in the product’s life cycle: 

Lifecycle step 1: AD 1 x EF 1 = CF 1 

Lifecycle step 2: AD 2 x EF 1 = CF 1 

... 

Overall product life cycle carbon footprint: 

CF 

AD: activity data, measured in mass, volume, energy, etc. 

EF: emission factor, measured in CO 2 e per unit of mass, volume, ... 

CF: carbon footprint, measured in CO 2 e per product unit 

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Uncertainty 

• Sources of uncertainty: 

‣ Missing data for parts of the supply chain 

‣ Data of questionable quality: not specific, not reliable, ... 

If the goal is to certify and communicate the product footprint to 

customers, then it will require more precise calculations than 

simply using the footprint data internally to improve processes. 

• Reducing uncertainty: 

‣ Replace secondary/reference data with good quality 

primary activity data 

‣ Improve the model used to calculate the carbon footprint to 

make it more representative of reality 

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EBS, 2628 October 2008

Summary & Hotspots 


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Summary & Hotspots 


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Reducing carbon emissions... 

• Use the carbon footprint as a starting point to 

reduce GHG emissions 

‣ provides a baseline against which to measure future 

reductions 

‣ helps identify opportunities to reduce emissions across 

all phases of the product’s life cycle 

The analysis offers a way to engage with 

suppliers, distributors, retailers and 

consumers on how to reduce emissions 


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Opportunities for Improvement 

• Glass Packaging: 

‣ virgin inputs 0.6 t CO 2 e per ton of glass produced 

recycled inputs 0.3 t CO 2 e per ton of glass produced 

‣ Light weight bottles: “narrow neck press & blow” 

• In store and home refrigeration: 

‣ More efficient refrigeration technologies 

‣ Pasteurise beer to make it ambient stable? 


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Opportunities for Improvement 

• Barley (Agriculture): 

‣ Switch to suppliers using more sustainable 

agricultural techniques: 

There is a potential for agricultural lands to reduce carbon emissions 

and even sequester atmospheric carbon as organic carbon in the soil 

by adopting notill techniques, integrating fertilizer and pest control 

practices, and increasing the efficiency of irrigation systems 

• Brewing operations: 

‣ Include energy/carbon criteria in 

purchasing/supplier choices 

‣ Technology choice (e.g. upgrading 

equipment to be more energy efficient) 

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What Next? 


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References 

‣ PAS 2050:2008. http://www.bsiglobal.com/en/Standardsand 

Publications/IndustrySectors/Energy/PAS2050/ 

‣ Garnett, T., 2007, The alcohol we drink and its contribution to 

the UK's greenhouse gas emissions: A discussion paper. Food 

Climate Research Network. 

‣ Talve, S., 2001, Life cycle assessment of a basic lager beer. 

International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, V. 6, No. 5, p. 

293298. 

‣ , 2008, The Carbon Footprint of Fat Tire Amber Ale. The 

Climate Conservancy: http://news.newbelgium.com/wpcontent/thecarbonfootprintoffattireamberale2008 

redactedrfs.pdf 

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Ongoing work at Campden BRI 

ü 

ü 

ü 

ü 

ü 

Several Defra and Carbon Trust funded projects are ongoing 

in order to test the draft method 

Campden BRI is involved in two projects (FO0404 and 

FO0406/9) looking at food processing and consumer use 

GHG emissions 

4 staff in the Food Manufacturing Technologies Department 

involved with carbon footprinting, joint carbon footprinting 

service set up with ADAS 

Help now available for food companies in carbon footprinting; 

training courses and consultancy 

The aim is to identify areas to reduce footprints and cost 


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Important dates 

29 Oct 2008 Official Defra PAS 2050 launch. 

6 Nov 2008 ADAS. Carbon Solutions. Peterborough. 

9 Dec 2008 Training course: Introduction to carbon footprinting 

24 Feb 2009 Focus on carbon footprinting in the food industry 

Further courses and seminars in our training brochure 


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CONTACT DETAILS: 

Anke Fendler 

Tel.: 01386 842079 

a.fendler@campden.co.uk 


Campden BRI

Product Carbon Footprinting: Beer - European Brewery Convention

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