A Beginner’s Guide to Product Carbon Footprint
What is a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)?
A product carbon footprint, or PCF, consists of measuring the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) generated throughout the total life cycle of one specific product, from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal. These emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), a metric that combines the impact of CO₂, methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and other greenhouse gases into a single comparable number.
PCFs are typically expressed as carbon intensity. For example:
- A pair of sneakers may have a carbon intensity of 14 kgCO₂e per pair, capturing emissions from materials like rubber and cotton, manufacturing, and transportation.
- A bottle of wine may have a carbon intensity of 1.2 kgCO₂e per bottle, including emissions from grape farming, fermentation, packaging, and distribution.
How Life Cycle Assessment contributes to PCF calculation
Understanding a product’s environmental impact, through product carbon or environmental footprint, requires following a Life Cycle Assessment methodology. This standardised process evaluates the entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal, capturing all significant environmental impacts.
The difference lies in scope:
- An LCA covers all environmental impact categories (e.g., water use, ecotoxicity, land use, climate, etc.).
- A PCF focuses exclusively on climate impact, representing just one of more than 15 LCA indicators.
How to calculate a Product Carbon Footprint
To simplify the process, we break PCF calculation into clear steps.
Step 1: Define goal and scope
Start with clear boundaries. Define the product you’re analysing and the life cycle stages to include. Will you focus on production only (cradle-to-gate) or the entire life cycle, from raw materials to disposal (cradle-to-grave)?
Your purpose is just as important: are you calculating to meet regulations, improve processes, or showcasing sustainability to customers?
A well-defined scope and purpose keep your efforts focused and your results actionable.
Step 2: Gather data
Document everything involved in creating your product, from a data perspective.
Consider all environmental inputs and outputs. Inputs are what you take out of the environment to put into the product’s life cycle like materials, water, fertilisers, chemicals and energy. Environmental outputs are what the product’s life cycle puts out into the environment including CO₂ and waste.
The GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Standard enables companies to choose the quality of the data they collect and provides guidelines.
When primary data is missing
When high-level estimates are needed or primary data is unavailable, default data serves as a reliable alternative. This method uses average emissions factors or modelled production data, often sourced from public or specialised databases (like ecoinvent).
Balancing speed and accuracy remains crucial when adopting this approach. Nevertheless some PCF software simplifies the process by automating it and automatically filling in default data from databases.
Step 3: Apply emission factors
Convert activity data into emissions using emission factors. Each material, energy source, and activity has an emission factor which is a standardised value estimating its greenhouse gas output.
For example:
- 1 kg of steel → ~2 kgCO₂e
- 1 km of truck transport → ~0.2 kgCO₂e
Multiply the activity data by these emission factors to calculate emissions for each life cycle stage.
Step 4: Calculate PCF
Add emissions from all life cycle stages. Then divide by the number of functional units (e.g., per pair, per bottle, per item) to obtain the product’s PCF.
Step 5: Interpret the results
Identify the biggest contributors. If transport is high, consider local suppliers. If production is energy-intensive, switching to renewables may help. These insights guide targeted improvements.
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Why PCF calculations matter
For companies of all sizes, calculating Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) offers key sustainability insights, along with many other valuable benefits.
Less demanding than LCA analysis
A PCF requires less detailed data and is simpler than a complete Life Cycle Assessment. It provides a strong understanding of climate impact without evaluating every environmental category.
Identify environmental hotspots
PCF calculations help you identify environmental hotspots across your product’s entire life cycle. By targeting and optimising these high-impact areas, you can improve processes and reduce your overall carbon footprint over time (e.g., through ecodesign).
Stakeholders' expectations
Stakeholders increasingly expect transparency about a product’s impact. A clear and well-communicated PCF enhances a company’s brand image and attracts eco-conscious buyers.
Ensure compliance
Regulations such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and growing Scope 3 reporting requirements are pushing companies to disclose and reduce emissions. PCFs are a key part of ESG reporting and environmental accountability.
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Pilario: The Sustainability Solution that Grows with You
In today’s fast-paced environment, spreadsheets just don’t cut it for carbon footprint calculations any more. Pilario is designed to simplify and scale with your business.
Whether you're expanding operations, launching new products, or managing complex supply chains, our tools handle growing data volumes with ease and simplify the process of collecting it. Industries that have long supply chains like packaging, electronics, and food production will benefit from our software by saving time, reducing errors, and staying ahead of the curve.
Curious about how to begin? Talk to one of our specialists and explore how Pilario can help simplify your first assessment.
Let us guide you on your path to sustainability.
