The product carbon footprint (PCF) refers to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with a product throughout its lifecycle, from raw material extraction to disposal. This includes emissions from production, transportation, usage, and end-of-life treatment.
A product's life cycle starts with the material acquisition and pre-processing. Next, we move to production.
Following production, we enter the distribution and storage stage. The first three stages of product lifecycle are referred to as cradle-to-gate emissions, that is, all emissions that occur until the product leaves the factory gate.
When the product reaches consumers, it enters the product use stage. Eventually, the product reaches its end-of-life. At this point, it can either be recycled or reused. All stages of product lifecycle together are referred to as cradle-to-grave emissions.
The emissions that occur throughout a product’s life cycle stages are part of the .
Quantifying a product's carbon footprint can help companies identify hotspots or areas with high emissions within the product's life cycle, allowing them to target reduction strategies and improve the overall environmental performance of their products. It can also assist consumers in making more informed purchasing decisions based on the environmental impact of the products they buy.
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (Background)
The GHG Protocol is a widely used accounting tool for governments, businesses and organizations to understand, quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions. It is developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
The protocol comprises three different standards including value chain standard, corporate standard and the product standard. Organizations need to assess their GHG emissions at corporate or product level, which are based on different GHG protocol standards. You have already learnt to calculate the corporate carbon footprints in detail in the beginner and intermediate learning journeys that are also a prerequisite for this learning journey. In this learning journey, we will deep dive into the calculations for product carbon footprints.
Watch the following video to learn about the overlaps and differences between product carbon footprint and corporate carbon footprint.
You will learn how to transition from CCF to PCF by allocating the CCF to respective products in the following lessons.