Product Carbon Footprint

A Product Carbon Footprint – PCF for short – is a greenhouse gas balance for a specific product or service. It records greenhouse gas emissions and, to the extent relevant according to the applied standards, quantifiable CO₂ removals within the defined system boundary.

natureOffice calculates PCFs depending on the product, the purpose of the carbon footprint, and the agreed scope of services on the basis of the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard or ISO 14067:2018. The specific standard applied is stated in the respective carbon footprint report. A generalised statement of conformity is not made for all PCF products and calculation methods.

Relevance: the balance sheet item, reference unit, system boundary, data and methods are appropriate for the intended use and adequately reflect the actual characteristics of the product.

Before the calculation begins, the intended purpose, the targeted users and the product under investigation are defined. Possible purposes include, for example, the identification of emission hotspots, product development, the provision of supply chain data, the updating of a PCF, the fulfilment of customer or tender requirements or the objective communication of a result.

Every PCF requires a unique reference basis. For end products, the unit of analysis is defined as the functional unit. It describes the performance of the product and basically comprises:

The system boundary determines which phases and processes of the product life cycle are included in the calculation.

For each product, the relevant processes are structured in a process map. Depending on the system boundary, the following life cycle phases can be included:

natureOffice distinguishes between primary data, secondary data, proxy data and estimates.

Emission factors link activity data with the associated greenhouse gas emissions. When selecting them, particular consideration is given to technical suitability, technological, geographical and temporal representativeness, process and system boundaries, reference value, included upstream chains, GWP basis and version status.

Electricity is accounted for on the basis of the consumption allocated to the product and an appropriate emission factor. Consumption is measured as directly as possible or allocated via an appropriate physical relationship – such as machine time, process quantity or energy demand.

Depending on the process, direct measurements, mass balances, stoichiometric calculations, energy and material flow models, or other technically suitable methods are also used.

If a joint process yields multiple products, co-products, or functions, energy, material, and emission flows must be appropriately allocated.

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Downstream life cycle stages are often based on assumptions because the actual life cycle is not yet complete at the time of the assessment. These assumptions are documented as scenarios.

Biogenic materials are not treated as climate-neutral or emission-free by default. Methane and nitrous oxide from biogenic sources are taken into account with their respective GWP values. Land-use changes, biogenic CO₂ flows, carbon storage and CO₂ removals are treated according to the standard applied in the specific PCF, an applicable Product Rule and the methodological characteristics of the datasets used.

In principle, all attributable processes within the defined system boundary are taken into account. natureOffice does not currently use a general quantitative cut-off limit that applies to all PCFs.

PCFs contain uncertainties due to input data, emission factors, model choices, and assumptions about the future life cycle. In particular, these include:

natureOffice PCFs generally refer to clearly defined individual products or product variants. Product groups, average values, or reference products are only used if this is appropriate for the application and the allocation can be documented in a comprehensible manner.

A PCF represents a specific state of product, data, and methodology. Recalculation is not required solely based on a fixed period of time. The result can continue to be used as long as the product, processes, data, and methods remain sufficiently representative for the specified reference period and intended use.

A lower PCF is not automatically a real emission reduction. For a resilient statement, the compared balance sheets must be methodologically and objectively sufficiently comparable.

Two PCF values are not comparable solely because both are expressed in kg CO₂e. A reliable comparison requires, in particular, that:

The main result is expressed in grams, kilograms, or tonnes of CO₂ equivalents per functional unit or reference flow. The presentation shows at least:

ecozoom calculates a PCF using a documented and versioned template as well as the data entered or provided by the customer. Within the intended scope, the software checks technical rules, mandatory fields, formats, units and calculation logics. In addition, an audit is carried out by an employee in accordance with the quality process defined for the product.

For manually created PCFs, a sample- and risk-oriented four-eye principle applies. In particular, the methodological boundaries, hotspots, conspicuous values, key assumptions, and deviations from previous balance sheets are checked. For ecozoom balance sheets, automated system checks are combined with a review by a staff member. Methodological approval is granted by the relevant line manager.

A voluntary commitment to climate protection projects is not part of the PCF calculation. It is optional, is documented separately from the greenhouse gas balance sheet, and is not deducted from the calculated emissions.

The methodological framework is versioned and regularly reviewed. An adjustment may become necessary in particular due to: