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Product carbon footprints, explained

Plain-English guides for manufacturers whose customers are asking for product carbon data: the method, the standards and what to send back.

Start here · 6 min read

What is a product carbon footprint?

A product carbon footprint adds up the greenhouse gases from making, moving, using and disposing of one product. What it covers and why buyers ask.

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  1. Raw materials
  2. Production
  3. Transport in
  4. Packaging
  5. Distribution
  6. Use
  7. End of life
8 min readHow to calculate a product carbon footprint, step by stepThe seven steps behind a product carbon footprint: unit, boundary, materials, factory energy, transport, emission factors and checks. With an example.Read →7 min readISO 14067 explained in plain EnglishWhat ISO 14067 asks of a product carbon footprint, how it relates to ISO 14040/44, the GHG Protocol and PACT, and what 'in line with' should mean.Read →6 min readThe PACT methodology and data file: what your buyer meansWhat PACT is, why buyers ask for a PACT-format footprint, what the data file contains and how it differs from a PDF report. A plain guide for suppliers.Read →5 min readCradle to gate vs cradle to grave: which one does your buyer want?Cradle to gate stops at your factory; cradle to grave adds distribution, use and disposal. What each includes and which one buyers ask for.Read →5 min readCarbon footprint vs life cycle assessment (LCA): what's the difference?A life cycle assessment covers many environmental impacts; a carbon footprint covers one. When a footprint is enough and when you need an LCA.Read →6 min readEmission factors explained: where the numbers come fromAn emission factor turns a quantity into kg CO₂e. Where factors come from, why two sources disagree, how to judge one, and which public databases we use.Read →5 min readPrimary vs secondary data, and why buyers ask for your primary data sharePrimary data is your own measured data; secondary data comes from databases. What the primary data share is, why buyers track it, and how to raise yours.Read →6 min readThe carbon footprint of a T-shirt: what our catalogue showsHow many kg CO₂e is a T-shirt? Typical figures from thousands of T-shirts in our catalogue, the stages behind them, and what lowers the footprint.Read →7 min readHow to answer a customer's request for a product carbon footprintA buyer has asked for your product's carbon footprint. What they need, what to collect, which format to send and what to say about data quality.Read →
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