The past week has seen the publication of three major carbon and environmental footprinting methodologies:

1. The long awaited two new GHG Protocol Standards for Product and Value Chain GHG assessments were officially released on Tuesday, 4 October 2011.
Please visit www.ghgprotocol.org for more information. Here you can also download the new standards for free, as well as a range of accompanying tools and guidance documents.

2. A revised version of PAS 2050, the first carbon footprint specification originally published in 2008, was released on 30 September 2011.
Please find background information and a download link at http://www.bsigroup.com/en/Standards-and-Publications/How-we-can-help-you/Professional-Standards-Service/PAS-2050/PAS-2050/

3. The European Commission has released a draft version of the EU environmental footprinting methodology currently under development.
Please find more information and the draft methodology at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/product_footprint.htm

4. Furthermore, new information on the currently ongoing French National Experiment for environmental labelling has been published, including practical approaches for communication:
Please visit http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/experimentation-affichage for more information.

Representatives from all these initiatives will introduce the new documents and developments at the upcoming 6th PCF World Summit “Environmental Footprinting in Europe and Beyond” on 26-27 October 2011 in Berlin, Germany, along with representatives from a number of other national and international initiatives. There are currently 25 places left. Register here

All these and many other standards and programmes make use of product category based specification to define measurement rules for particular product categories and sectors. Alignment and harmonisation of these rules across standards is a major issue. Current developments will be discussed at the 3rd PCR Round Table on 25 October 2011, 13-18 CET, on the Day before the Summit in the same location. Register here

Additionally, the GHG Protocol will offer a training on the two new standards on 28 October 2011 just after the Summit. Register here

With these major developments we are looking forward to insightful discussions at the 6th PCF World Summit on the future of carbon and environmental footprinting.

The upcoming 6th PCF World Summit “Environmental Footprinting in Europe and Beyond: How Will it Shape the Corporate Agenda“, on 26-27 October 2011 in Berlin will explore current developments around environmental footprinting, i.e. standards, tools and initiatives that address the environmental performance of products and value chains, while keeping an eye on the global challenges and the business and policy imperative.

Amongst the speakers:
Thomas Albisser, Hop Cube, France  | Sylvain Chevassus, Ministry of Sustainable Development, France  |  Jacob Bilabel, Platform Climate Conscious Consumption / THEMA1, Germany  |  Cynthia Cummis, WRI / GHG Protocol Initiative, USA  |  Edouard Fourdrin, ADEME, France (tbc)  |  Gianluca Gondolini, Rainforest Alliance  |  Katerine Hunter, BSI, UK  |  Ulf Jaeckel, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Germany  |  Olivier Jan, BIO Intelligence Service, France  |  Masayuki Kanzaki, JEMAI, Japan  |  Enar Magnusson, Findus, Sweden  |  Pavel Misiga, DG Environment, EU Commission  |  Maureen Nowak, defra, UK  |  Rana Pant, Joint Research Centre / EU Commission, Italy  |  Rasmus Priess, PCF World Forum, Germany  |  Anna Richert, Climate Certification for Food and Svenskt Sigill, Sweden  |  Tom Savage, Savage&Hall, UK  |  Georg Schoener, The Sustainability Consortium, USA  |  Adebola Rasheed Shabi, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, Nigeria

Find the 6th PCF World Summit Programme here and register here before 7 October.

Environmental Footprinting in Europe and Beyond:
How will it Shape the Corporate Agenda?
Berlin, 26-27 October 2011

We are happy to announce the 6th PCF World Summit on 26-27 October 2011 in Berlin. It will explore the relationship between product carbon footprinting and other environmental aspects and product sustainability labels. The past years have seen a strong focus on building the foundations for assessing GHG emissions in value chains. This work will continue and more emphasis will be placed on sector and product level specifications and actual implementation. Besides this important “deepening” of GHG management and reporting along value chains, a number of public and private initiatives are widening their scopes to assess the environmental and social performance of products in a more comprehensive and integrated manner. Prominent examples are the Environmental Product Declaration Programme in France which is currently in its long awaited experimentation phase and the recently launched Environmental Footprinting Project by the European Commission. Also many existing programs with a focus on other sustainability issues, such as organic, fair trade or eco-labels, are incorporating climate change considerations in their set of criteria.

Find the Session Overview and further information here and register online or by fax form.

Impressions from the 5th PCF World Summit:

Please note: At this event the spoken language will be German with many contributions delivered in English.

Die Plattform Klimaverträglicher Konsum Deutschland richtet am 6. September und am 15. September zwei Dialogforen zu aktuellen Themen aus.

Über Ihre Teilnahme würden wir uns sehr freuen. Die Plätze sind begrenzt und werden in der Reihenfolge der Anmeldungen vergeben.

Dialogforum “Umweltkostenrechnung auf Basis der Ermittlung von CO2e-Emissionen in der Wertschöpfungskette: Was können wir von PUMA lernen?”

6. September 2011, 10:00-18:00 Uhr + Get-Together, Niedersächsische Landesvertretung, Berlin

Dialogforum “Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung über Unternehmen und Produkte im Web 2.0: Status und Perspektiven”

15. September 2011, 10-18 Uhr + Get-Together, Hessische Landesvertretung, Berlin

The 5th PCF World Summit took place at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Zurich next to the Lake of Zurich, on the 7-8 April 2011. 150 international delegates and speakers were in attendance, from fields of business, government, non-government organisations and academic institutions. The Summit has addressed the issue of Credibility in Carbon Footprint Information, as related to assurance and verification, the emerging international standards, its consideration in different international initiatives and programmes and its practical relevance and implication for emerging economies and international trade.

Click here for further details.