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Abstract
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1 INTRODUCTION
Global warming is a fact, and evolves into a full range of issues of
politics, economy, society, technology, environment and ecology on
a global scale from a single scientific problem [1]. It becomes one of
the tremendous challenges for human being. Global warming and a
series of problems have aroused intense concerns of the international community. A series of international conventions like the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), The
Kyoto Protocol (1997), Bali roadmap (2007), Copenhagen
Agreement (2009) were signed, which reflect the determination
and efforts by the government in response to global warming.
According to consensus, countries have made commitments to
emission reductions and action plan. Thus, the innovative concepts
of low-carbon economy, low-carbon city, low-carbon life, carbon
trade, carbon tax, means to reduce carbon emissions become the
important development strategy of the whole world. Related
research studies were carried out by governments, organizations and
researchers on the economic, social and other aspects, and all the
stakeholders are trying to find a low-carbon development path.
Current research studies on the low-carbon issue, focused on
emissions accounting and reduction, carbon emissions trading
platform, carbon tax and carbon emission policy [2][3][4][5],
have made a lot of achievements. The carbon footprint and assessment standard is one of the most basic and crucial research
in low-carbon research. However, due to this issue consistent
results have not been achieved yet, and hence, concerned research were greatly affected. Research on the carbon footprint
and assessment standards has become a hot topic for governments and researchers.
This paper focuses on the research methods and steps involved
in carrying out studies on different types of carbon footprints.
Furthermore, a comparative study of different carbon footprint
assessment standards was carried out to identify their similarities,
differences and deficiencies.
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Concept of carbon footprints
The carbon footprint originates from the concept of ecological
footprint, which is a measure of human demand on the Earths
ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural
capital that may be contrasted with the planets ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a
This paper focuses on the research methods and steps involved in carrying out studies on different types
of carbon footprints. Furthermore, a comparative study of different carbon footprint assessment
standards was carried out to identify their similarities, differences and deficiencies. Goals, principles,
research boundaries, calculation methods, data selection and other aspects of organizations footprint and
product carbon footprint were analysed, respectively. Organizations carbon footprint assessment
standardsISO14064 and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) protocol and product carbon footprint assessment
standardsPAS2050, TSQ0010, ISO14047 and Product and Supply Chain GHG Protocol were analysed
comparatively. The selection of GHG, system settings, quantification and carbon footprint, selection of
date and treatment of specific emissions are the most important part of the study of the carbon footprint
and assessment standards, especially for organizations and products. Guidelines had been made on these
issues from existing assessment standards, but further improvement is still needed.
T. Gao et al.
The carbon footprint mainly applies to personal, products, organizations, cities and countries, etc [6][7][8]. A personal carbon
footprint is carbon dioxide emissions caused by each persons
clothing, food, housing and traffic of daily life. A product carbon
footprint measures the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the
entire life of a product (goods or services), from the extraction of
raw materials and manufacturing right through to its use and the
final re-use, recycling or disposal. An organizational carbon footprint measures the GHG emissions from all the activities across
the organization, including energy used in buildings, industrial
processes and company vehicles. A country carbon footprint
focuses on carbon dioxide emissions in the entire country generated by the overall consumption of materials and energy, vegetation and other carbon sequestrations, as well as the indirect and
direct emissions caused by import and export activities, to
analyse the carbon dioxide emissions of the entire country.
Different footprint boundaries of person, product, organization and country are illustrated in Figure 1. Meanwhile, there are
some crossovers among the four types. For example, the production process itself is part of the product life cycle, but would also
be included in the organizational footprint [9].
(1) Defining organizational boundaries: It is an important procedure to set clear, explicit boundaries on which parts of the
organization are included in the organizational carbon footprint. Meanwhile, an organization may comprise one or
more facilities, which usually apply control and equity share
approaches to consolidate facility-level GHG emissions and
removals at the organization level.
(2) Establishing operational boundaries: The operational
boundary determines which emission sources will be quantified. It should include the full range of emissions from
activities under operational control. All material Scope 1
and 2 emissions should be included, but Scope 3 emissions
can be chosen to include [14]. (Scopes 1, 2 and 3 are shown
in Figure 2).
(3) Calculating carbon footprint: The accuracy of the footprint
relies on collating consumption data for all of the emission
sources within the established boundary. It is important to
clarify any gaps in the data and list any assumptions that
have been made in calculating the footprint. The carbon
footprint is typically calculated using activity data collated
multiplied by standard emissions factors, although there are
other calculation methods, such as calculation of the use of
models or measurement.
(4) Reporting and verifying: Organizations should prepare a
report to facilitate inventory verification, participation in a
GHG program, or to inform external or internal users.
Meanwhile, a third-party verification of carbon footprint
was suggested to be carried out, to add credibility and confidence to carbon reporting for public disclosure.
T. Gao et al.
Essential information
Publisher
Date
Type
Availability
Property
Objects
Applications
ISO14064
GHG protocol
ISO
2006
Official
Instructional
International standard
Organizations
Mainly used in industry enterprises
WBCSD&WRI
2004, 2011 (revise)
official
operability
Voluntary initiatives standard
Organizations
Various industries, governments, (NGOs), carbon trading platform
Double counting
System boundary
Organizational
boundary
Operation
boundary
and procedures of the four standards are similar, there are still
some differences. Table 2 shows the details of each aspect of the
methodologies, the differences among the four standards.
By comparison of the four product carbon footprint assessment standards, we can see that the core content of the study
and application of product carbon footprint assessment standards are still concentrated on greenhouse gas choice, system settings, quantification and carbon footprint and treatment of
specific emissions and removals and other aspects.
Six GHGs in the Kyoto Protocol were selected in the four
standards. GHG and ISO can be applied to both B2B and
B2Ccarbon footprint assessment, and TS-Q0010 only applies to
B2C carbon footprint assessment. The PCR, as outlined in ISO
14025, was preferentially recommended to settle the system
boundaries by the four standards.
Four standards gave different methods to the quantization
product carbon footprint, but quantization based on GHG activity data multiplied by GHG emission or removal factors is
suggested and most widely used. Activity data and emission
factors can come from either primary or secondary sources.
Primary data come from direct measurements on products life
cycle, while secondary data refer to external measurements that
are not specific to the product, but rather represent an average
or general measurement of similar processes or materials,
usually find in types of databases, such as multi-sector life cycle
databases, industry-specific databases and country-specific data
sources.
In order to get an accurate study of product carbon footprint,
researchers and organizations paid more attention to specific
emissions and removals, such as land use change, delayed emissions, renewable power resources and carbon storage. Treatments
of specific emissions and removals are given in the four standards,
although the approach is different and not complete.
The PAS2050, TSQ0010 and Product Life Cycle Accounting
and Reporting Standard have been officially released. Most of
the existing carbon footprint assessment cases are carried out
based on the PAS2050 assessment standard, while TSQ0010 standards are only used in Japan and the applications of Product Life
Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard have just begun. These
three standards are mainly used in the food, drinks, drinks, clothing, cosmetics and other areas of life. At the same time, combined
with the existing assessment standards, ISO is being prepared for
ISO14047, which is expected to be released in 2013.
5 CONCLUSION
The carbon footprint has started becoming synonymous to a
comprehensive GHG account, over the life cycle stages of any
product or activity. The carbon footprint study is the basis of
low-carbon research. The carbon footprint has been commercialized and is being utilized by organizations to count themselves
and their products carbon and adopt measures to cut down
emissions, to meet the green consumer expectations of consumers or governmental request, and provides enormous
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2014, 9, 237 243 241
T. Gao et al.
TS-Q 0010
JIS
2009
Official version
Operability
WBCSD&WRI
2011
Official version
Operability
Essential information
Organization
BSI
Date
2008, 2011
Type version
Official version
Operating
Operability
availability
Properties
Open standard
Objects
User fields
Mainly used in foods, drinks,
clothing and cosmetics, etc. on a
global scale
Goal, scope and principles
GHG
GWP
System boundary
System boundary B2B&B2C
Use phase
Obligatory; disclose use profile;
B2C
Included
Allocation
Quantification
Function unit
Data quality
Data type
Carbon storage
International standard
B2B&B2C
Cradle to Gate or Cradle to Grave
if product is supplied to the
consumer
Adapted from ISO 14044, 4.3.4.2
Quantization
method
Treatment of specific emissions and removals
Capital goods
Excluded
Reduction
Code of practice require reporting
Land use change
Voluntary initiatives
Product/serve
Mainly used in foods and
Mainly used in foods, drinks and
consumer goods in Japan
cosmetics, etc. on a global scale
Excluded
Could be included, if both CFP
are certified.
Not specified
Relevance criterion
Important aim, not many rules
Relevance criterion
Not specified
Not specified
Not specified
Probably included
Not specified
Technical regulation
ISO
Expected to release in 2013
CD edition
Instructional
FUNDING
This work was supported by Soft Science Research Projects of
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the
Peoples Republic of China (No. 2011-R1-15) and Humanities
and Social Sciences Fund of Ministry of Education of the
Peoples Republic of China (No. 11YJCZH125).
REFERENCES