What does the announced partnership between ISO and the GHG Protocol mean for carbon footprinting at product level?

With the recent announcement that ISO and the GHG Protocol will harmonise their standards, the landscape of carbon footprinting is about to change. The collaboration will bring together the ISO 1406x family of standards with the GHG Protocol’s Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance, Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, and Product Standard.

At product level, this particularly affects the ISO 14067 Standard (Greenhouse gases – Carbon footprint of products) and the GHG Protocol’s Product Standard (in full Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard).

So, what does this harmonisation mean in practice for product carbon footprinting? And how do these two standards differ in the first place? Let’s start by taking a closer look at each of them.

The GHG protocol, a collaboration between the World Resource Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), provides several globally recognised standards that help organisations measure, manage and report their GHG emissions at corporate, value chain, project and product level.

Whilst best known for its corporate standard, the GHG Protocol has also developed a product standard, which offers practical guidance for quantifying and reporting GHG emissions associated with products over their entire life cycle. It is primarily meant to give insight in hotspots, to inform sustainability strategies & communication, and support transparent reporting. The product standard allows flexibility in methodological choices (e.g. allocation methods or system boundaries) and allows integration of product-level emissions into organisational inventories.

ISO 14067 is the international standard for quantifying and reporting the carbon footprint of products, and is built on the LCA ISO standards (14040 and 14044). In contrast to the flexibility allowed by the GHG Protocol Product Standard, it provides more strict methodological requirements to ensure comparability and consistency. Because of its emphasis on rigour, it is especially used for third-party verification and regulatory compliance, for example when making (comparative) product claims or for ecolabels.

While both standards serve the same overarching goal, quantifying the GHG emissions of products, there are several important differences:

• Methodological flexibility: The GHG Protocol allows more options (e.g., on allocation rules), while ISO 14067 prescribes stricter rules to ensure consistency and comparability.
• Audience and application: The GHG Protocol is typically used in corporate reporting contexts, whereas the ISO 14067 is more commonly applied in technical studies which require the credibility of external verification.
• Ease of use: The GHG protocol offers more practical guidance, options and examples in contrast to the more prescriptive requirements provided by the ISO 14067.

ISO and GHG Protocol have just announced a landmark partnership to harmonise their GHG standards (this includes the ISO 1406x family and the GHG corporate and product carbon footprint standard). For product carbon footprints, this means there will be one coherent approach for data collection, methodological choices, verification and communication. From this, we can expect:

• Comparability and Credibility: having one globally accepted standard means that PCF results will be consistent and comparable worldwide, supporting benchmarking and strengthening acceptance by regulators, auditors and investors.
• Efficiency: instead of having to navigate the different requirements from both standards, the harmonisation efforts will ensure less confusion, simplify compliance, and reduce reporting costs.
• Enhanced Scope 3 reporting: because of more consistent approach to measuring value chain emissions, scope 3 emission reporting (which uses product level data as building blocks) will become more accurate, allowing for better target setting (e.g. with SBTi).

It should be noted that the GHG protocol is currently in the process of updating its standards, which should be finalised in 2027, meaning that the announced harmonisation effort will very likely not be concluded before that time.

Even though these two standards are key in the product footprint world, they are not the only ones! Below you can find a selection of other relevant standards, some of which are life cycle assessment (LCA) standards (thus assessing the broader environmental impact) but can also provide relevant guidance when only considering the carbon footprint.

• National standards, of which the PAS 2050, developed by the British Standards Institute, is the most well-known carbon footprint standard (and used as a basis for other standards)
• Product Environmental Footprint (PEF): is a method developed by the European commission to harmonise LCA standards. It provides more detailed methodological guidance (on data quality, modelling choices, reporting, etc.) and has product specific guidelines (product environmental footprint category rules (PEFCRs), developed for product categories like beer, apparel, pet food or batteries). They are (to be) linked to EU environmental policies and regulatory frameworks.
• Product Category Rules (PCRs): are product-specific LCA guidelines developed by industry stakeholders and are required to make an EPD (environmental product declaration). They are commonly used in the construction sector.
• ISO 14040/14044: the overarching LCA standards that are the foundation of most other standards mentioned here

Merging of the ISO/GHG protocol standards may also necessitate updates to (some of the) above standards, to ensure they remain aligned, consistent and relevant in a harmonised global landscape.

Both the GHG Protocol Product Standard and ISO 14067 have been crucial in product carbon footprinting. Their harmonisation will bring much-needed consistency and comparability, reduce complexity and improve the credibility of results. Hopefully this will give a boost to sustainability reporting and target setting!

Do you need support in navigating the evolving standards landscape? We can help! From a carbon quickscan to a full LCA, we always follow relevant standards!

Want to learn more about our services? Have a look here or feel free to contact us!