“Carbon footprint” is a term used to describe the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by a particular activity or entity, and thus a way for organizations and individuals to assess their contribution to climate change. Understanding these emissions, and where they come from, is necessary in order to reduce them. In the past, companies wanting to measure their carbon footprints have focused on their own emissions, but now they are increasingly concerned with emissions across their entire supply chain.

Supply chain GHG emissions, which include those associated with processes not controlled by the company itself, can be measured at either the company level or the level of an individual product.

While PAS 2050 provides a standard method for assessing a product’s carbon footprint, this guide, “Guide to PAS 2050″, will help businesses to implement the standard by offering specific and practical guidance. It is not a replacement for PAS 2050 and should always be used alongside PAS 2050. There are benefits to both company- and product-level supply chain emissions assessment; however, PAS 2050 and this guide focus on product-level emissions only.

This guide aims to:

- Enable companies of all sizes, and from all industries, to assess the life cycle carbon footprint of their products and to identify emission reduction opportunities

- Share best practices, tools and frameworks for calculating product-level GHG emissions and prioritizing opportunities to reduce emissions

PAS 2050 and this guide focus exclusively on GHG emissions created during a product’s life cycle.

Visit the Carbon Trust website (http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/Pages/Default.aspx) to download supporting documents such as the PAS 2050 Specifications, the Guide to PAS 2050, and the Code of Good Practice.

Paul Tasner
Reclipse Group, Inc.

Opportunities to Reduce GHG Emissions Through Materials and Land
Management

http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/ghg_land_and_materials_management.pdf

First, in order to increase understanding of the link between
materials and land management and GHG emissions, this document
presents an estimate of the portion of U.S. GHG emissions associated
with materials and land management practices. Second, it presents a
set of materials and land management scenarios—referred to as total
technical potential scenarios—as a first step to identifying areas of
opportunity for EPA and its partners to reduce GHG emissions through
materials and land management.

Products, Packaging, and US GHG emissions

http://www.productpolicy.org/content/climate-change-epr

This paper builds on a new report from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, “Opportunities to Reduce GHG Emissions through
Materials and Land Management Practices,” which offers new insight
into the impact of products and packaging on climate change. Based on
the report, non-food products are associated with 37 percent of U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions. This paper extends the EPA analysis to
include the impacts from producing products abroad that are consumed
in the U.S. This brings the share of products and packaging to 44
percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Paul Tasner
Reclipse Group, Inc.