CARBON FOOTPRINT
The Carbon Footprint – also known as carbon footprint – represents the exact amount of greenhouse gas emissions of a product or an organization generated along the life cycle of a product or service.
The Kyoto Protocol was the first international agreement aimed at reducing GHGs – Greenhouse Gases – to combat climate change. These are gases which, according to the Global Warming Potential, contribute to global warming. The decrease in carbon emissions leads to an improvement in energy efficiency, resources and consequently also economic savings.
In accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, the greenhouse gases to be included are: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs ). The tCO2e (tons of CO2 equivalent) allows the greenhouse effect produced by these gases to be expressed in reference to the greenhouse effect produced by CO2, considered equal to 1 (for example, methane has a greenhouse potential 25 times higher than CO2, and for this reason, one ton of methane is accounted for as 25 tonnes of CO2 equivalent).
HOW IT’S CALCULATED
The Carbon Footprint of an Organization is calculated by creating an “inventory of greenhouse gas emissions”, with an annual reference, to understand how much and in which activities or sectors there is a trace of carbon, so as to be able to reduce or eliminate it.
CFP IN ITALY TODAY
Expressed in the CO2eq unit of measurement, the Carbon Footprint of Product (CFP) considers the overall emissions of all phases of the life of the product or service “from the cradle to the grave”, compared to the Global Warming Potential of CO2: the accounting starts from the procurement and treatment of its constituent raw materials, their processing and production of the product, transport to the customer, its use, disposal of the product at the end of its life.