International Standardisation
of Carbon Footprinting

Note: presentations have not been updated match those given at the meeting

Special session coordinator: Matthias Finkbeiner, TU Berlin

Carbon footprinting (CF) is really fashionable these days. Like with all fashion, not all that glitters is gold. But, on the other hand we have the market demand. Whether it is real or just perceived or just desired seems not so important. There is enough momentum for numerous international, na-tional and sectoral initiatives underway to deal with CFP. The session seeks to provide information on the current international standardisation projects and discuss synergies, potential inconsistencies and options for alignment between them. Among the main international activities are the upcoming ISO 14067 on the quantification and communication of carbon footprints for products and the development of a GHG Protocol for products and Scope 3 by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and World Resources Institute. The UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative has a project goup to support these standardisation activities. In addition, numerous carbon footprint projects are organised by national or sectoral organisations, e.g. the British Standards Institution, the Carbon Trust and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the United Kingdom, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan, ADEME in France), the German Ministry of Environment or the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The outline of the section is to start with five introductory presentations. They will include Japanese and German programmes as two examples of national initiatives on carbon footprinting and three international initiatives (ISO, WRI/WBCSD, UNEP/SETAC). The presentations will be followed by a structured panel discussion. There are about 10 methodological issues (from treatment of carbon storage, system boundaries, cut-offs etc.) for which the standards may have different requirements. The idea is to address some of those at the panel to establish an overview of state-of-the-art and emerging consensus.

Presenters:

Matthias Finkbeiner, TU Berlin
Introduction to the international standardisation of carbon footprinting
presentation

This introduction provides an overview of the international standardisation activities with regard to carbon footprinting. As introduction to the special session it introduces the individual presentations and the overall outline of the special session.

Introduction to the Japanese carbon footprint trial programme
Atsushi Inaba, Kogakuin University Tokyo
Chie Nakaniwa, Japan Environmental Association for Industry
Masayuki Kanzaki, Japan Environmental Association for Industry
presentation

In Japan, a preliminary trial project of carbon footprint was conducted in 2008, where enterprises obtained the best available primary and secondary data and calculated carbon footprints for the purpose of recognizing specific issues. 30 enterprises participated in this project and calculated carbon footprints of 62 commercial goods of food, beverage, commodities and others. They were shown at “Eco Products 2008” exhibition in December, 2008 and consumer’s reflections ware collected.

In the trial project, primary data were mainly collected at production sites, where primary data coverage of material production stage of food and beverage tend to be higher than other industrial goods. Reviewing those resulted calculation procedures and consumer’s reflections, several issues were recognized including strategy of primary data collection and labeling method of carbon footprint, both of which originated from the nature of carbon footprint, i.e., disclosure of compressed information about whole supply chain of a commercial good. Based on these results, the drafting of the product category rules for some products are now going on.

Product Carbon Footprint – Work on Methodology and Communication by the German Government
Ulf Dietmar Jaeckel, German Ministry of Environment
presentation

In order to preserve consumer awareness and at the same time provide incentives for companies to improve the carbon footprint of their products the Federal Ministry for the Environment commissioned work on methodology for PCF. Improvement of existing approaches is the aim, no single German way. After discussions with all interested parties including the international community, we have now developed a memorandum on methodology which gives guidance for analysing a PCF. It is an offer rather than a mandatory requirement and an input to the international discussion aiming at harmonisation of methodologies on the European and international level.

On communication the existing Blue Angel system was revised. In a cluster-approach criteria will be more focussed and allow a “Blue Angel for Climate Change” which shall be established as the climate label in Germany. To support that, criteria for the 100 most climate-relevant consumer product groups and services are or will be developed. Today criteria for 30 product groups are already available.

PAS 2050 and the International Standardisation of Carbon Footprinting
Graham Sinden, Carbon Trust
presentation

PAS 2050, Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services, provides organizations, governments and consumers with a single, internationally applicable standard for product carbon footprinting. In addressing the single impact category of global warming, PAS 2050 sought to provide and clarify specific methodological approaches to issues encountered in product carbon footprinting. Key contributions to methods development in product carbon footprinting include the treatment of biogenic carbon storage and delayed emissions from product system life cycles, certainty regarding the greenhouse gasses considered in the assessment, the inclusion and treatment of land use change, and other key aspects of the assessment. Specific approaches for data acquisition and the treatment of uncertainty with product carbon footprinting, and refinement of the existing international guidance on allocation to co-products, are further contributions of the standard that both simplify its application and support greater comparability of the results arising from product carbon footprint studies. Since its publication in October 2008, PAS 2050 has been applied by a wide range of organizations in many countries around the world, has been adopted by a number of organizations as the default approach to product carbon footprinting, and has formed the basis of case studies covering a wide variety of products. This presentation will briefly review the development process for PAS 2050, before considering the contribution PAS 2050 has made to the product carbon footprinting and life cycle assessment communities.

Status of ISO 14067
Sergio F. Galeano, Georgia Pacific LLC
presentation

IISO 14067 is a standard in development with two parts: quantification and communication. It is one of the three international-type of standards competing for a final acceptance in the market place. At the moment of preparing this presentation, the "zero" version of a Working Draft(WD2) is just circulated to the editing committee for preparation of the final WD#2, comments on which will be discussed at Vienna next October with the hope to move to a Committee Draft(CD #1).

The standard is being developed in a fast track and it in the stage of logical consolidation and improvement. Because the nature of this LCA Conference, the author stresses in his presentation, the LCA aspects of Part 1, quantification, logically based on the ISO 14044 LCA standard. The author describes areas of present discussion which need resolution preferably before a CD. The role of the standard as a tracker of progress or a comparison tool is also discussed with limitations in the latter to be clarified. The resolution of these issues will frame the practicality and credibility of the document which, in turn will determine the added value ultimately offered by the standard to the stakeholders.

Developing International Standards on Product Life Cycle and Scope 3 Carbon Footprint Management - An Overview of the GHG Protocol Product and Supply Chain Standard
Pankaj Bhatia, World Resources Institute
presentation

Building on the success of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard over the last decade, the GHG Protocol Supply Chain Initiative is poised to develop and promote the widespread adoption of new international standards for measuring and managing GHG emissions across corporate and product supply chains, through a broad, global multi-stakeholder process of businesses, policymakers, and other experts and stakeholders. The initiative will produce two new standards: 1) GHG Protocol product life cycle accounting and reporting standard (for assessing supply chain GHG emissions at the product level), and 2) corporate value chain (scope 3) accounting and reporting standard (for assessing supply chain GHG emissions at the corporate level). Led by WRI and WBCSD the GHG Protocol will develop the new standards through a broad, inclusive, multi-stakeholder process, based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and ISO 14040-44 life cycle assessment standards, which will serve multiple business and GHG program objectives. WRI believes that the design and form of the GHG Protocol supply chain and product accounting framework must be driven by the objectives and functions it will serve, with a long-term goal of supporting and catalyzing widespread GHG reductions across business value chains.

In the last six months the GHG Protocol has established a global stakeholder partnership of more than 1000 active members that include a Steering Committee of more than 20 members made up of global businesses, governments, and academics; seven Technical Working Groups of more than 175 members; and a Stakeholder Advisory Group of more than 180 members. To date the Technical Working Groups have held more than 100 conference and two meetings to develop draft requirements on key accounting issues including setting the product system boundary, selecting the allocation method, choosing data, and providing a public report. This presentation will provide an overview of the GHG Protocol supply chain initiative, outline key elements of the accounting framework under development, and identify key issues for further discussion.

The carbon footprint project of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
Guido Sonnemann, UNEP
Sonia Valdivia, UNEP
Jim Fava, Five Winds International
Matthias Finkbeiner, TU Berlin
presentation

The aim of this project of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative is to further develop the internationally recognized GHG protocol for enterprises to also include the supply chain and the whole life cycle of products. Therefore, the development and promotion of the GHG protocol is of great importance for the widespread adoption of a new standard for measuring and reporting GHG emissions across corporate and product supply chains, through a broad, international multi-stakeholder process of businesses, policymakers, and other experts and stakeholders. The main target for the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative is to ensure coherence and consistency with state of the art LCA-practice and the ongoing standardisation efforts for carbon footprint. The global network and competence of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative can add value to these initiatives. Consistent with the goal, the UNEP/SETAC project will not generate its own standards or documents, but provide a platform for active participation and written contributions to the main international standardisation projects, i.e. WBCSD/WRI and ISO. The Initiative is represented in the Steering Committee of the GHG Protocol process and the ISO TC207/SC5-Chair leads the project group for UNEP/SETAC and is represented on the International Life Cycle Board of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. Several experts of the Initiative are involved on the Technical Working Group level. All these representatives exchange information and coordinate positions in remote and personal meetings of the project group.