Background
Carbon footprint has emerged as a widely-used concept in the debate on abatement action to reduce carbon emissions. However, the term often gets used in a variety of contexts making it difficult for organisations to identify what a carbon footprint actually encompasses.
‘Carbon footprinting’ is defied as the total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organisation, event or product. The challenge for businesses in reporting emissions is not having a single, consistent standard or approach to collating and reporting data that will enhance the competitive value of reporting emissions voluntarily.
Whilst there are several ways to calculate the emissions of one’s own operation to date, there has been no consistent way to calculate the carbon footprint of a product or service.
The PAS 2050 has been developed as a response to business’s demand for a consistent and robust method to fill this gap. EEF believes that the standard has the potential to become a powerful tool for companies to calculate their carbon footprint.
What is PAS 2050?
Last week saw the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra), the Carbon Trust and BSI British standards join forces to launch world’s first carbon footprinting standard PAS 2050.
The publically-available specification (PAS) specifies requirements for the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the life cycle of goods and services. It includes the measurements of the six GHGs identified under the Kyoto Protocol (i.e. Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, Methane and Sulphur Hexafluoride).
The method is accessible to all businesses big and small within a wide range of sectors. It aims to provide a consistent way of counting the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in products and services throughout their entire life cycle.
Furthermore, the standard has been developed to help businesses move beyond managing the emissions their own processes create and to look at the opportunities for reducing emissions across the supply chain. It is designed to help firms better understand the carbon impact of their products and identify tangible opportunities to reduce it.
Why should I take an interest?
There are many benefits associated with adopting the PAS 2050 to calculate your carbon footprint, as once calculated organisations can begin to implement measures to manage and reduce carbon emissions and identify where to cut costs.
The Carbon Trust has suggested that organisations can make additional savings on GHG emissions of up to 10-20% through supply chain analysis, as well as the 15-20% to be found by looking at one’s own operations. Moreover, reducing carbon footprints through the supply chain has the potential to unlock significant financial benefits by reducing the carbon footprint at an individual product level.
The standard includes its carbon reduction label along with a code of good practice on product GHG emissions and reductions claims, which was also been published last week. The Carbon Trust hopes this will provide a trustworthy way for companies to share their product footprint information publicly.
Furthermore, PAS 2050 is already attracting international attention, with both USA and China piloting the standard. Moreover, the international organisation for standardisation (ISO) is also looking to use the PAS as a seed document for a future ISO standard.
Further information
A copy of the standard is available for download on the BSI website.