PAS 2050:2011 – Bridging the
gap between product carbon
footprinting theory and practice
assesses the recent revision of the world’s first product carbon footprinting standard
While greenhouse gas emissions are often viewed at global, national, corporate or organizational levels, emissions are also emitted from supply chains within businesses, between businesses, and nations.
Increasingly, best practice has been for organizations to consider impacts beyond their own corporate activities – extending the scope of their ‘carbon footprints’ to include the impact of the goods and services they produce. PAS 2050 provides a means for this.
First published by the British Standards Institution in October 2008, PAS 2050 is a publicly available specification that provides a method for assessing the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of goods and services, jointly referred to as ‘products’. It is intended for use by organizations of all sizes and types, in any location, to assess the climate change impact of the products they offer.
Following its publication in 2008, interest in PAS 2050 has been phenomenal. The standard has been downloaded more than 35,000 times from BSI’s website, across more than 80 countries. Over the past three years, PAS 2050 has proven to help organizations carry out internal assessment of the existing life cycle GHG emissions of their products to identify ‘hotspots’ and related cost/energy saving opportunities. It has served as a useful means for businesses around the globe to understand better the ‘story’ of the products they offer, thereby informing improvement and carbon reduction measures along their products’ complex life cycles. As a result of PAS 2050 assessments, organizations have reported an increased ability to evaluate alternative product configurations, sourcing and manufacturing methods, raw material choices and supplier selection. All of these factors have a direct impact on the bottom line.
A survey carried out at the beginning of the PAS 2050 review process revealed that 52% of 1,018 international respondents identified ‘a better understanding of their organization’s processes’ as the most tangible benefit of applying PAS 2050. Elsewhere, 42% claimed to have achieved a reduction in GHG emissions, and 32% cited achievement of cost savings and efficiencies.
Revising the standard
This tremendous level of interest in the world’s first framework methodology for product carbon footprinting was at the centre of this year’s PAS 2050 review. In the 2008 edition of PAS 2050, there were sections of the methodology that the drafting experts noted as being areas where understanding was limited and where the topic potentially needed early review/revision. These were identified in the published PAS 2050 as: aircraft emissions, indirect land use change, carbon storage in soils, capital goods, product category rules, reference to the International Reference Life Cycle Data (ILCD) system, and recycling. These had to be addressed individually in a review process.
The above factors determined the need for a PAS 2050 revision, which was undertaken with objectives to:
- clarify ambiguities that have become apparent in the application of the standard
- take account of advances in knowledge and understanding that have emerged since
- reflect user experience as much as possible
- enhance the level of take-up and application of product carbon footprinting
- reduce unnecessary differences between the PAS 2050 methodology, its application, and other internationally recognized footprint methods – particularly the methodologies being developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The significant changes arising from the revision centre around: clarification on purpose; provisions for the drafting/use of supplementary requirements; treatment of biogenic carbon; extension of allocation options; extension of recycling calculation options; modified approach for reuse; changes of approach for land use change emissions; 10% primary data rule – change to ‘cumulative’ upstream; other minor clarifications (eg for agricultural emissions); further detail on record keeping requirements; and use of
cradle-to-gate footprint values.
The continued co-operation with organizations such as WRI/WBCSD, ISO and the European Commission throughout the PAS revision process ensures that the revised document reflects international product carbon footprinting theory and practice, and brings the methodology and its use towards closer alignment with other internationally recognized footprint methods to promote best practice and harmonization of standardization effort.
Since the publication of PAS 2050 in 2008, both ISO and WRI/WBCSD have embarked on a programme to add quantification of emissions from products and services to their portfolio of specifications. ISO is currently developing ISO 14067 carbon footprints of products, covering quantification and communication requirements, expected to be published in 2012. Meanwhile, WRI/WBCSD has developed a new Product Accounting and Reporting Standard, the GHG Protocol Product Standard.
The key difference between the PAS 2050 approach and the ISO 14067 and GHG Protocol Product Standard is that:
- PAS 2050 focuses on providing a consistent quantification method only
- the purpose for the GHG Protocol Product Standard methodology is to underpin a public inventory report
- ISO 14067 is aimed at providing a standard for both the quantification and communication of carbon footprints.
Future development
PAS 2050 has been available since October 2008 and has been widely used as a means of quantifying the carbon footprint of a wide range of goods and services. It has been shown to provide a generally applicable quantification method but there is increasing evidence that carbon footprinting could be enhanced for some product categories through the provision of additional category specific rules to supplement the generic provisions of PAS 2050 in a uniform and consistent manner.
To facilitate this, the revised PAS 2050 introduces a framework to permit the coordinated development and use of such additional sector specific requirements, referred to as ‘supplementary requirements’ that can be applied in conjunction with PAS 2050, to deliver quantification outcomes that are both credible and widely accepted. Supplementary requirements are defined as lifecycle GHG emissions quantification requirements applicable to a particular sector or product group, to enhance the application of PAS 2050. It could include product category rules, product rules, product footprint rules or sector specific standards.
BSI is currently working with Productschap Tuinbouw (PT) and Ministerie Landbouw, Natuuren Voedselkwaliteit (LNV) in the Netherlands on a project to develop a protocol that will provide such supplementary requirements for the horticulture industry. This first derivative of PAS 2050 is being developed as Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050-1, Supplementary requirements for the application of PAS 2050 to horticulture products.
About the author
Maria Varbeva-Daley is sector content manager for sustainability at BSI.
