The refinement of the WBCSD/WRI Greenhouse Gas Protocol Standards for Product and Scope 3 Accounting is in full swing. Between May 18 and 21 two workshops took place at the WRI office in Washington, DC to integrate feedback from companies participating in road testing the two standards. The general feasibility of the standards was confirmed and recommendations given for their refinement. Recommendations from the workshop, the road testers’ feedback and decisions taken by the Steering Committee based on the workshop results will be integrated in the pre-final drafts to be published in September. Release of the final versions of the standards is scheduled for December 2010.

Details of the road testing results and how these were integrated in the new draft standards will be presented at the upcoming PCF World Summit, 20-21 October 2010 in Berlin.

French Environmental Labelling Scheme: What to expect from Grenelle 2?

The announcement of France to introduce a mandatory environmental labelling scheme (Grenelle 2 / Le Grenelle Environnement) for products in 2011 has raised significant international attention from businesses, governments and civil society alike. Following up on developments in France is not trivial, given the extent of the scheme and the number of organisations involved. The recent decision by the French National Assembly to postpone the start of the scheme by half a year and to introduce an experimental phase introduced more clarity on the next steps but also raised new questions. It is now time to take a closer look at the French plan and its implications for international businesses and stakeholders.

The PCF World Forum will therefore host a special update workshop on the French environmental labelling scheme on June 23 in Berlin. The workshop will provide an outstanding opportunity to deep-dive into and shape your opinion on the French plans with participants from business, politics and civil society.

Find more details here.

The challenges for reducing GHG emissions in the value chains are manifold. For the past years substantial methodological work has been undertaken to develop a basis for the uniform assessment of product carbon footprints. The major standards are now moving closer to completion - the GHG Protocol Product and Scope 3 standards are expected for later this year after intensive road-testing by more than 70 companies. The ISO standard will likely soon enter the status of a draft international standard.

With these standards moving to completion the debate on adequate communication and engagement with consumers for GHG reductions is in full swing - the discussions at the last PCF World Summit already expressed a clear need for more refined approaches and discussions. Clarity on standards and communication approaches and requirements is important to tackle the issue of low carbon consumption and production in an efficient, credible and effective way, for business, governments, civil society and solution providers alike.

The 4th PCF World Summit “From Standardisation to Communication”, will dedicate two full days to help you raise and discuss important questions on the current status and perspectives of standardisation and communication in product carbon footprinting:

• WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol road-testing results
• Latest developments in the ISO 14067 standardisation process
• Perspective of PAS 2050. What will a revision bring?
• Product Category Rules: Status of international harmonisation
• Mandatory carbon labelling in France: What are the impacts?
• What drives climate conscious consumer behaviour? What role can product design play?
• Debate: Carbon labelling in the perception of the consumer

The two-day Fourth PCF World Summit “From Standardisation to Communication” will take place on October 20-21, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

Register online or through the offline fax registration form until July 30th to enjoy the early bird discount.

Singapore announced the introduction of a carbon label for the end of 2010. The methodology will be based on PAS 2050 and the draft standard ISO 14067. It will also incorporate conclusions drawn from international best practice on PCF. The life cycle phases to be assessed include: raw material extraction, production, transport and use phase. The label is developed by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SimTech) in collaboration with various industry organisations like the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Singapore Manufacturers´ Federation (Sma). The purpose of the Singapore Carbon Label is to improve the competitiveness of the national export sector and to raise the consumers´climate consciousness alike.

On 11 May 2010 the French Assembly finally adopted the second part of the Grenelle Environnement (Grenelle 2). Article 85 of this environmental bill describes the outlines of a programme on environmental/carbon declaration for consumer products. Due to recent amendments the programme will now start with a trial phase of at least one year, scheduled for 1 July 2011. The outcomes will allow for a final decision on how to implement the environmental declaration framework.
Amendments to Article 85 were the result of concerns about the lack of data throughout the value chain, the need for further elaboration of product category rules (PCR) and insecurities in the application of the developed methodology BPX30-323. The introductory phase will also provide opportunities to familiarize the consumer and to develop appropriate decrees.

Over a hundred international representatives from the business sector, non-governmental organisations, research institutes and governments gathered for the 3rd PCF World Summit in Berlin to share and discuss recent developments and future of product carbon footprinting and low carbon consumption around the world. View the summary video below and over 130 statements of speakers and participants. The full documentation or single presentations can now also be ordered through the webshop.

The ISO work item on “carbon footprint of products”, originally planned for completion in March 2011, will now be officially moved forward to “Committee Draft” status. At the same time, the timeline for completion is likely extended into 2012 to allow for more time in resolving individual issues.

Find out more about standardisation activities and the world of product carbon footprinting in the latest issue of “The PCF World Forum News”.

Have You Registered Yet?

This March, the 3rd PCF World Summit will convene to present and discuss best practices in supply chain GHG management and business sector approaches to product carbon footprinting. To register for your pass, visit the PCF World Forum Webshop.

On March 17 & 18, 2010 in Berlin, Germany, the 3rd PCF World Summit features two days of talks and discussions by leading representatives from business programs, stakeholder organizations, and country initiatives in the field of product carbon footprinting. Building on the success of the previous two PCF World Summits, the 3rd PCF World Summit is the world’s leading forum for highlighting and reporting on the latest developments in product carbon footprinting.

Speakers confirmed for the 3rd PCF World Summit:

• Cees-Jan Adema (PepsiCo, Chair European Beverage Association)
• Adisa Azapagic (Manchester University, UK)
• Matthew Bateson (World Business Council for Sustainable Development/WBSCD)
• Jacob Bilabel (Thema1, Germany)
• Soledad Blanco (DG Environment, EU Commission)
• Sylvain Chevassus (Environmental Ministry, France)
• Carrina Gaffney (Eco:Metrics The Guardian, UK)
• Prof. Shabbir H. Gheewala (Thai Carbon Label, Thailand)
• Björn Hannappel (Deutsche Post DHL, Germany)
• Stephen Heal (Sustainable Consumption Institute, UK)
• Prof. Atsushi Inaba ( Carbon Footprint Program, Japan)
• Gyusoo Joe (Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute, South Korea)
• Jürgen Knirsch (Greenpeace, Germany)
• Thomas Kützemeier (mcongressconsult GmbH, Germany)
• Euan Murray (Carbon Trust, UK)
• Rita Schenck (American Center for Life Cycle Assesment, USA)
• Rasmus Priess (PCF World Forum, Germany)
• Luke Upchurch (Consumers International, UK)
• Fokko Wientjes (DSM, Netherlands)

* Download Full Programme_PCF_World_Summit_2010.

If you haven’t already registered, don’t miss out on this important opportunity to gain up-to-date insights and network with the organizations driving product carbon footprinting today.

Register Now!

The two-day 3rd PCF World Summit “Sector Approaches to Product Carbon Footprinting” will take place March 17-18, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

Register online, or use the Fax Registration Form to order your pass.

Sixty corporations today begin measuring the greenhouse gas emissions of their products and supply chains by road testing a new global framework that is part of the GHG Protocol Product and Supply Chain Initiative.

Developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the two new GHG Protocol standards - the Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard and the Scope 3 (Corporate Value Chain) Accounting and Reporting Standard - provide methods to account for emissions associated with individual products across their life-cycles and of corporations across their value chains.

GHG emissions across a product's life cycle

While many companies have been measuring the emissions from their own operations and electricity use, the Scope 3 Standard will  allow companies to look comprehensively at the impact of their corporate value chains, including outsourced activities, supplier manufacturing, and the use of the products they sell. Road testers of the Product Standard will measure the climate change impact of products ranging from magazines, food and jeans to computers, wind turbines and steel.

The draft standards were developed over the last year through a global, collaborative multi-stakeholder process, with participation from representatives from industry, government, academia and non-governmental organizations. The road testing process should provide real-world feedback to ensure the standards can be practically implemented by companies and organizations from a variety of sectors, sizes, and geographic areas around the world. The final standards are scheduled to be published in December 2010.

Companies participating in the road testing represent 17 countries from every continent and more than 20 industry sectors. The companies include: 3M Company; Acer Inc.; Airbus S.A.S.; AkzoNobel; Alcan Packaging; Alcoa; Autodesk, Inc.; Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.; BASF SE; Belkin International; Bloomberg LP; BT Plc; CA, Inc.; Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke AG; Colors Fruit SA (Pty) Ltd.; Deutsche Post AG; DuPont; Eclipse Networks (Pty) Ltd.; Ecolab; The Estee Lauder Company; Ford Motor Company; General Electric; U.S. General Services Administration; Highways Agency (UK); Hydro Tasmania; IBM; IKEA; Italcementi Group; JohnsonDiversey, Inc.; Kraft Foods; Lenovo Corporation; Levi Strauss & Co.; Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation; National Grid; Natura Cosméticos; New Belgium Brewing Co.; Otarian; Pinchin Environmental Ltd.; PricewaterhouseCoopers (Hong Kong); Procter & Gamble Eurocor; Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.; Rogers Communications, Inc.; SAP AG; SC Johnson; Shanghai Zidan Food Packaging & Printing Co., Ltd.; Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd; Swire Beverages (Coca-Cola Bottling Partner); TAL Apparel Limited; Tech-Front (Shanghai) Computer Co., Ltd./Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City; Tennant Company; Veolia Water; VT Group Plc; Webcor Builders and WorldAutoSteel.

While negotiations on future global climate policy currently culminate in Copenhagen, 2009 has also seen considerable developments in very practical approaches to managing GHG emissions, particularly in product carbon footprinting:

• First drafts of the upcoming international standards in product carbon footprinting, the GHG Protocol Product Standard and ISO 14067 “Carbon Footprint of Products”, have been elaborated.
• Reporting, labelling and communication schemes increasingly take shape in France, Sweden, Japan, Korea and other countries.
• Companies are making substantial practical experiences in the application of product carbon footprinting and the management of supply chain GHG emissions.
• The general framework for measuring carbon footprints in the value chain is more or less set, practical solutions for reducing GHG emissions and sector approaches are gaining in importance.

After the first two PCF World Summits, it is now time to take a closer look at best practices in supply chain GHG management and sector approaches to product carbon footprinting:

• What are best-practices in managing GHG emissions in different sectors? Sector champions in agriculture, ICT, logistics, retail, packaging and others will present best practices and solutions to reducing their own GHG emissions and those of their customers
• How do sector approaches link to the emerging global standards for product carbon footprinting and for measuring supply chain GHG emissions?
• How are emerging international initiatives taking sector specific requirements and realities into account?

The two-day Third PCF World Summit “Sector Approaches to Product Carbon Footprinting” will take place on March 17-18, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

Register online or through the offline fax registration form until January 31th to enjoy the early bird discount.

On December 15th the most relevant standard setting intiatives in Product Carbon Footprinting will meet during the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (COP15) to discuss latest developments. This roundtable is made possible through the support of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

Product Carbon Footprinting - Enabling climate-conscious consumption
International approaches towards a common standard

Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 13h to 15h
COP15, Hall C7, Federation of German Industries (BDI)

Participants
- Andrea Brown (WBCSD / GHG Protocol Initiative)
- Paul Dickinson (Carbon Disclosure Project, UK)
- Oliver Rapf (WWF International)
- Dr. Klaus Radunsky (Co- Convenor ISO)
- Guido Axmann (Product Carbon Footprint Project, Germany)
- Jean-Pierre Tabet (ADEME, France)

Chair: Jacob Bilabel (PCF World Forum / THEMA1)

If you want to participate, please contact Lucile Barras, +45 24 66 83 47

(Access possible only for COP15 delegates!)

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) will host five one-day stakeholder workshops to get stakeholder feedback on the Scope 3 and Product Standard drafts, both of which will be released for stakeholder comment prior to the workshops. These workshops will be held in Berlin, Germany (17 November), Guangzhou, China (17 November), Beijing, China (19 November), London, UK (20 November) and Washington, DC, USA (1 December).

You can register through the GHG Protocol website at: www.ghgprotocol.org/stakeholder-registration

A draft workshop agenda is available on the GHG Protocol website: www.ghgprotocol.org/files/stakeholder-workshop-agenda-draft.pdf

Details for the Berlin workshop are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Start Time: 8:30 (Coffee and Continental Breakfast from 8:00 - 8:30)
End Time: 17:30
Location: Seminaris Campushotel Berlin, Takustrasse 39, 14195 Berlin

If you have any workshop questions, please contact Holly Lahd at hlahd@wri.org or Andrea Brown at brown@wbcsd.org

The 2nd PCF World Summit took place on 23/24 September 2009 at the Heinrich-Boell-Foundation in Berlin. Over 100 representatives of retailers, companies, international organisations, non-governmental organisations, research institutes and governments from 17 countries gathered and exchanged their experience and views on product carbon footprinting with regards to harmonisation. Various approaches practised in different initiatives and pilot projects were presented along with the status quo of key standardisation processes. The participants actively discussed a broad range of questions. Find first impressions in this short video:

Click to watch interviews and order the documentation dvds including all presentations, an information kit and further pictures here.

The 3rd PCF World Summit will take place on 18/19 March 2010. Save the date!

More pictures available in the documentation dvds.

… will be discussed at next week’s Second PCF World Summit. Even if you cannot join yourself you may want to encourage your colleagues to register for this timely event.

The extraordinary lineup of speakers and participants will be welcomed on September 23rd by Timo Mäkelä, Director Sustainable Development and Integration at DG Environment, European Commission, with a keynote on “The role of Product Carbon Footprinting in European Climate Policy”.

Professor Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner from Technical University Berlin and the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative Carbon Footprint Project will open the second day of the Summit with a reflection on “The future of Product Carbon Footprinting: where should we go from here?”

For further information and registration, please click here.

Programme

Impressions of the first PCF World Summit (February 26-27 in Berlin):

Seven months after the first global summit, all major international players in Product Carbon Footprinting and related consumer communication will gather for the second time on the 23rd and 24th of September 2009 for the 2nd PCF World Summit to discuss practical experiences and lessons learned:

Product Carbon Footprinting: On the Road to Harmonisation? Business Responses to Diverging Approaches

• What do standardisation schemes do for harmonisation?
• Are different retailer standards emerging?
• Are international policy approaches aligned?
• Do pilot projects pay off?
• In-depth discussions at the exclusive network dinner

Among the speakers:
Yumie Kawashima, Aeon Group, Japan
Frances Way, Carbon Disclosure Project, UK
Robin Dickinson, Carbon Trust, UK
Corinne Mercadie, Casino, France
Chie Nakaniwa, CFP Pilot Project, Japan
Dr. Klaus Radunsky, Co-Convener ISO14067, Austria
Luke Upchurch, Consumers International, UK
Timo Mäkelä and Pavel Misiga, DG Environment, European Commission
Claudia Sprinz, Greenpeace, Austria
Corinne Diethelm, Migros, Switzerland
Alison Watson, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, New Zealand
Christian Hochfeld, PCF Project, Germany
Prof. Dr. Sven-Olof Ryding, Swedish Environmental Management Council, Sweden
Stefan Dierks, Tchibo, Germany
Ralf-Martin Mueller, TÜV Rheinland Group, Germany
Prof. Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner, UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative/Technical University Berlin, Germany
Jeffrey D. Rice, Wal-Mart Sustainability Index Consortium, USA
Cynthia Cummis, WBCSD/WRI, Switzerland/USA

Please find further information at www.pcf-world-forum.org/summit

Register for the 2nd PCF World Summit now and save your seat! Find the detailed programme here.

Experts, businesses and public representatives gathered on July 1st for the Update Workshop “International standardisation, legislation and consistency” in Berlin. During the meeting, which was organised within the PCF World Forum, various experts working in the field of product carbon footprinting shared their views on recent developments in the branch. Insights on Sweden’s “Climate Declaration Scheme”, Japan’s “Carbon Footprint System” and the Carbon Trust “Footprint Expert” were supplemented by presentations on recent outcomes of the ISO process on product carbon footprint standardization as well as of the GHG Protocol Product and Supply Chain Initiative.

In the afternoon the focus was on government activities in the field. Some background information on European Commission’s plans on product carbon footprinting was given. Later on the audience followed a short overview on recent trends in U.S. Congress legislation. A representative from Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment completed the workshop by giving background information on Germany’s activites in product carbon footprinting.

The PCF World Forum will hold an update workshop on “International standardisation, legislation and consistency in product carbon footprinting“ on July 1st, 2009 in Berlin. With both major standardisation processes, the ISO 14067 “Carbon Footprint of Products” and the “GHG Protocol Product and Supply Chain Initiative”, having major meetings in June and the issue gradually making it into legislative processes it is time to hold a PCF World Forum update workshop:

PCF World Forum Update Workshop
“International standardisation, legislation and consistency in product carbon footprinting”
July 1, 2009 / 10:00 - 17:00
Hotel Schweizerhof
Budapester Str. 25 , 10787 Berlin, Germany

For programme and registration see www.pcf-world-forum.org/events

PCF Quarterly #1

The PCF World Forum is introducing a new format for information on current international developments and upcoming events in the world of product carbon footprinting and related communication to consumers. The first issue of this quarterly update is attached and highlights developments around the world: PCF Quarterly #1.

This first issue is free of charge, the next three issues can be purchased for a nominal fee of 105 Euro (+ VAT), including a free copy of the 3 documentation DVDs of the First PCF World Summit with all presentations and speeches (instead of 275 Euro). Order now!

New initiatives seem to be emerging at an ever increasing pace. The next PCF World Summit will take place from September 22 to 23, 2009, in Berlin. We will be taking a close look at international standardisation efforts. The PCF World Summit will again be presenting major international developments in product carbon footprinting and carbon labelling. Please make sure to mark the date in your calendar.

The valuable international contributions of experts form around the world at the first PCF World Forum Summit (26-27 February 2009) have been recorded on video and are available on DVD now. Simply order the Documentation DVDs today, featuring all talks (video recordings), presentations (PDF files), impressions from the conference and a list of participants for a service charge of EUR 275 incl. postage & packaging, excluding VAT.