ISO 14067 GREENHOUSE GASES — CARBON FOOTPRINT OF PRODUCTS

 Climate change arising from anthropogenic activity has been identified as one of the greatest challenges facing the world and will continue to affect business and citizens over future decades.

 

Climate change has implications for both human and natural systems and could lead to significant impacts on resource availability, economic activity, and human wellbeing. In response, international, regional, national, and local initiatives are being developed and implemented by public and private sectors to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere as well as to facilitate adaptation to climate change.

 

There is a need for an effective and progressive response to the urgent threat of climate change on the basis of the best available scientific knowledge. ISO produces documents that support the transformation of scientific knowledge into tools that will help address climate change.

 

GHG initiatives on mitigation rely on the quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification of GHG emissions and/or removals.

 

This document specifies principles, requirements and guidelines for the quantification and reporting of the carbon footprint of a product (CFP), in a manner consistent with International Standards on life cycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044).

This document addresses only a single impact category: climate change. Carbon offsetting and communication of CFP or partial CFP information are outside the scope of this document.

 

This document does not assess any social or economic aspects or impacts, or any other environmental aspects and related impacts potentially arising from the life cycle of a product.

REDUCING CARBON FOOTPRINT MADE EASIER WITH NEW INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

We are all suffocating in the heat of global warming, as the recent European heatwave lays testament to – and it may soon become the norm. A study showed that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise as they do, by 2100 74 % of the world’s population will be exposed to deadly heatwaves.1) The only solution is to reduce our carbon footprint, but first we need to measure it. An internationally agreed ISO standard for quantifying the carbon footprint of products has just been published.

According to the Global Footprint Network, an international non-profit research organization offering insights and metrics to advance sustainability, we are falling into ecological debt, and if we keep consuming the earth’s resources at the current rate, we will soon need the equivalent of 1.7 earths to survive.2)

 

Rising greenhouse gas emissions – mostly caused by our rabid consumption – have resulted in the climate chaos and consequent food and water supply disruption we see now. But much can be done to reverse this, by reducing our carbon footprint.

 

ISO 14067:2018, Greenhouse gases – Carbon footprint of products – Requirements and guidelines for quantification, has just been published as an International Standard, providing globally agreed principles, requirements and guidelines for the quantification and reporting of the carbon footprint of a product (CFP). It will give organizations of all kinds a means to calculate the carbon footprint of their products and provide a better understanding of ways in which they can reduce it.

ISO 14067:2018 replaces technical specification ISO/TS 14067:2013, which was upgraded to International Standard status after the market signalled a need for a more in-depth document.

Daniele Pernigotti, Convenor of the working group that developed the standard, said measuring the CFP is considered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as a keyway of contributing to the achievement of international climate action goals.

“It allows organizations to more accurately see where the main impacts on their carbon footprint are generated related to the production of their products, and thus take appropriate actions to reduce it,” he said.

“For example, if it is related to raw materials, they can investigate using others, or if it is related to transport, they can look at improvements to their logistics model or investigate suppliers or distributors closer to home.”

Key changes from the technical specification include greater focus on quantification, moving other topics such as communication to standards in the ISO 14000 environmental management family; greater clarity on a range of aspects such as calculating the use of electricity; and the introduction of specific guidance for agricultural and forestry products.

ISO 14067 is part of the ISO 14060 family of standards for quantifying, monitoring, reporting and validating greenhouse gas emissions to support a low-carbon economy.

The standard was developed by working group WG 8 of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 207, Environmental management, subcommittee SC 7, Greenhouse gas management and related activities, the secretariat of which is held jointly by SCC, ISO’s member for Canada, and SAC, ISO’s member for China. It can be purchased from your national ISO member or though the ISO Store.

What is ISO 14067 and why is it useful for carbon footprint?

In recent years, climate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental issues. The cause of the global warming is the increase of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), which leads to greater interest of the consumers and other stakeholders in the environmental impact of their activities, products, and services. Although this means a challenge for organizations, it can also be seen as an opportunity. The certification of the Carbon Footprint, which belongs to the environmental series ISO 14000, enables the organization to demonstrate its environmental responsibility.

Currently, there are two types of methodology approaches for the carbon footprint calculation: one is based on the organization, and the other on the product. In this article, we will focus on the international standard for the quantification and communication of the products.

The concept of CFP (Carbon Footprint of a Product)

The Carbon Footprint of a Product is the total of the greenhouse emissions generated during the life cycle assessment of a product—that is, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal. The GHG are considered all gaseous substances for which the IPCC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) has defined a global warming potential coefficient. They are expressed in mass-based CO2 equivalents (CO2e), which is the unit of measurement in ISO 14067.

The contribution of the standard

In May 2013, ISO TS 14067:2013 was published, which specifies principles, requirements, and guidelines for the quantification and communication of the carbon footprint of products (CFPS), including goods and services, covering GHG emissions and removals over the life cycle of a product.

The standard establishes a recognized reference frame for the Carbon Footprint of a Product, and it has been considered as “a very important tool for obtaining a good indication of areas in which greenhouse gases can be reduced” by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Klaus Radunsky.

Prior to the publication of this standard, numerous assessment models were developed; however, there were no objective analyses or tools for comparing these classifications. This was the main reason for the standard’s development, which was based on previous environmental labeling and management standards.

The application of ISO 14067

ISO 14067 provides the criteria to calculate the Carbon Footprint of a Product, now a competitive tool in the marketplace. This increases the consumer trust on this environmental indicator and helps to clarify the labeling of the products.

The international standard bases the footprint calculation on the life cycle analysis. That helps to discern which stage is responsible for most of the emissions, provides valuable information on how to correctly identify the opportunities for improvement, and allows for achievement of maximum efficiency.

The standard clarifies the GHG assessment, providing specific requirements in the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, choosing system boundaries and simulating use and end-of-life phases when quantifying Carbon Footprint of a Product (CFP).

The functional unit in ISO 14067 can be either a product or a service. The results of a CFP study can be reported as a product unit or in terms of services provided.

System boundaries

Results for the carbon footprint will vary widely depending on what is included when making the calculations, and the methodology.

According to ISO 14067, the life cycle stages that need to be studied in the LCA are defined by the following system boundaries:

Cradle-to-grave: includes the emissions and removals generated during the full life of cycle of the product

Cradle-to-gate: includes the emissions and removals up to where the product leaves the organization

Gate-to-gate: includes the emissions and removals that arise in the supply chain

Partial CFP: includes the emissions and removals that come only from specific stages

Selecting system boundaries avoids data manipulation, because organizations will no longer be able to exclude life cycle stages that they claim to have limited significance.

Communication practices

Carbon footprint is becoming popular among companies to differentiate their products in a competitive market, hence the importance of the communication of this measurement.

ISO 14067 makes a valuable contribution to GHG quantification, allowing a transparent communication and comparison of CFPs made among identical quantification and communication requirements.

The standard provides a step-by-step guide and standardized template for communicating the result of the CFPs. That can be made in the form of a CFP external communication report, CFP performance tracking report, CFP declaration, or CFP label. A standardized format of each type is provided in the standard.

This is also complemented by an external communication report (ECR) and a carbon footprint performance report (CFPR). These reports depend less on quantification and provide quick and traceable information to the final consumers.

Benefits

There are many benefits that arise when performing a CFP assessment:

The standard makes reliable and comparable parameters available to organizations and consumers.

Life cycle processes that significantly contribute to CFP can be identified by service providers and manufacturers; thus, improvement in the efficiency of the value creation chain by reducing emissions can be achieved when taking targeted measures. Furthermore, this LCA can help organizations to implement other standards, for instance ISO 14001:2015 (see more about the ISO 14001 approach in the article Lifecycle perspective in ISO 14001:2015 – What does it mean?).

The standard provides a transparent quantification and reporting of the GHG, including those generated from the production to the waste disposal or recycling – that is, the whole life cycle of the product or service.

ISO 14067 is also consistent with other environmental standards, for instance, ISO 14025 (environmental labels and declarations), ISO 14044 (lifecycle assessment), and BSI PAS 2050 (specification for the assessment of the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services).

The calculation of CFP is the first step towards the implementation of a reduction and offsetting strategy for the emissions.

Making a difference

The publication of this standard means a step forward in GHG quantification by using a new range of system boundaries, but furthermore provides transparent communication and comparison, because ISO 14067 makes available a standardized template for reporting CFP assessments. By implementing this standard, a company demonstrates its environmental responsibility, differentiation itself from competitors and reinforcing its image.

ISO 14067 Consultants

This international standard provides the requirements and guidelines to quantify the carbon footprint of products.

Our ISO 14067 consultants can help you implement the standard and report on the carbon footprint of your product.

Principles

The standard sets out key principles which should be built into your carbon footprint programme.

Our consultants can provide training and awareness on these, and the whole programmes.

Methodology for Quantifying Carbon Footprint

The standard provides a detailed methodology framework that organizations can use to quantify the carbon footprint of their products, including the scope of the study, collecting data and the impact assessment of carbon factors.

Life Cycle Assessment

ISO 14067 takes a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to quantifying the carbon footprint of a product and builds on standards such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.

This means all phases of a product are analysed including raw materials, packaging, transport, sales, and disposal (or recycling).

Carbon Footprint Report

The output of ISO 14067 is a carbon footprint report for your product which enables you to identify areas for improvement within the life cycle of your product and ultimately reduce your carbon impact.

The report can be shared with buyers or publicly as part of your social responsibility programme or used internally as part of your carbon management programme.

Start Your Carbon Footprint Assessment, contact us:

Ms. Van Pham

Commercial Executive - HCMC and Vietnam's southern

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Email: van.pham@iscvietnam.net 

ISC Vietnam

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