Product carbon footprint: an ISO 14067 calculation guide
A product carbon footprint (PCF) is the total greenhouse gas emissions and removals linked to a product over its life cycle, or a defined part of it, expressed in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per unit. ISO 14067 is the international standard for calculating one. Most business-to-business footprints are cradle to gate: from raw material extraction to the moment the product leaves your factory.
Standards for product carbon footprints
Several documents set the rules, and they are largely consistent with each other:
- ISO 14067:2018 — requirements and guidelines for quantifying the carbon footprint of a product, built on the life cycle assessment standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. ISO has begun work on a revision; the 2018 edition remains the current one, so check for updates before a new study.
- GHG Protocol Product Standard — the GHG Protocol's equivalent for product life cycle inventories.
- PACT Methodology — guidance from the Partnership for Carbon Transparency for cradle-to-gate PCFs exchanged between companies. Version 3 was released in April 2025.
- Product category rules (PCRs) — sector-specific rules, for example EN 15804 for construction products, used when the footprint feeds an environmental product declaration (EPD).
Choose the standard your customers or programme expect, and state it in the report. Where a PCR exists for your product, follow it; it fixes choices that ISO 14067 leaves open.
Step 1: define the functional unit and system boundary
The functional unit (or, for partial footprints, the declared unit) is what the result refers to: one tonne of steel coil, one kilogram of resin, one packaged unit. Get this wrong and no two footprints are comparable.
The system boundary sets which life cycle stages are included.
| Boundary | Stages included | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Cradle to gate | Raw materials, inbound transport, manufacturing | Intermediate products sold to other businesses; customer Scope 3 data |
| Cradle to grave | All stages including distribution, use and end of life | Consumer products, product comparisons, design decisions |
| Gate to gate | Your own processes only | Internal improvement; a building block for larger studies |
Document any cut-off criteria — inputs left out because they are immaterial — and show that excluded items do not change the result significantly.
Step 2: build the inventory with the right data
A PCF calculation multiplies activity data by emission factors for every relevant process. Data falls into two groups:
- Primary data — measured at your sites or supplied by your suppliers: fuel and electricity per batch, material quantities, yields, scrap rates, supplier PCFs for key inputs.
- Secondary data — industry averages and life cycle databases, used where primary data is not available.
ISO 14067 expects site-specific data for processes under your control and for significant contributors. Record data quality for each input — how recent, how representative geographically and technologically, and how complete. Buyers and verifiers increasingly ask what share of a footprint rests on primary data.
Electricity, biogenic carbon and offsets
- Electricity: use the grid factor for the location, or supplier-specific factors where contractual instruments meet the standard's quality criteria. State which approach you used.
- Biogenic carbon: report emissions and removals of biogenic carbon separately, so readers can see their effect.
- Offsets: carbon credits are not part of a product carbon footprint under ISO 14067. A PCF reports the product's emissions, not net of purchased credits.
Step 3: allocate emissions between co-products
Many plants make more than one product from the same process. ISO 14067 follows the ISO 14044 hierarchy:
- Avoid allocation where possible, by splitting the process into sub-processes with their own data, or by expanding the system.
- Allocate on physical relationships — mass, energy content or another causal link — where allocation cannot be avoided.
- Allocate on another relationship, such as economic value, only where physical relationships do not work.
Recycled content and end-of-life recycling need their own rule, set by the PCR or standard you follow. Whatever you choose, apply it consistently across products and years and explain it in the report.
Step 4: review and verification
ISO 14067 requires a study report setting out the goal, scope, data, assumptions, allocation and results, including uncertainty and limitations. For footprints that are shared externally, expect customers to ask for third-party verification or critical review, and EPD programmes require independent verification against the relevant PCR. Verification goes faster when every activity figure links to evidence — meter readings, invoices, production records — and every emission factor has a recorded source and version.
Keeping footprints current
A footprint describes a product at a point in time. Recalculate when something material changes — a new energy contract, a different supplier for a key input, a process change or an updated emission factor database — and at least once a year for products customers rely on. Keep earlier versions, so you can show a customer how and why a figure moved.
Uses of a product carbon footprint
- Answering customers. Customers need supplier-specific data to calculate their Scope 3 Category 1 emissions. A cradle-to-gate PCF, shared in a standard format such as the PACT data model, is the most useful thing a supplier can provide. See supplier engagement for Scope 3.
- EPDs. Construction and other sectors use environmental product declarations under ISO 14025 and sector PCRs; the carbon footprint is one indicator within them.
- CBAM. CBAM embedded emissions use their own rules — direct emissions, indirect emissions from electricity where applicable, and precursors, under the EU's CBAM methodology. A PCF cannot be submitted as a CBAM value, but the same installation and process data feeds both. See how to calculate CBAM embedded emissions.
- Product regulation. Some EU product rules, such as the Batteries Regulation, introduce carbon footprint declarations for specific products on their own timetables.
- Design and sourcing. A footprint shows which materials and processes drive emissions, so engineering and procurement know where to act.
How EKOTRACE helps
EKOTRACE calculates product carbon footprints and LCA following ISO 14067 alongside your corporate inventory. Activity data you already collect for Scope 1 and 2 — fuels, electricity, production — is reused at process level, with supplier footprints for purchased inputs collected through the supplier portal. Emission factors are versioned, every entry carries its evidence and approval, and the same installation data supports CBAM embedded emissions. See EKOTRACE and CBAM compliance.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol Product Standard?
Both set rules for product footprints and are broadly compatible. ISO 14067 is an international standard built on the ISO life cycle assessment framework; the GHG Protocol Product Standard comes from the GHG Protocol family. Many companies calculate to ISO 14067 and note alignment with the GHG Protocol where needed.
What does cradle to gate mean?
A cradle-to-gate footprint covers emissions from extracting raw materials through to the product leaving the factory gate. It excludes distribution, use and end of life, which is why it is the usual format for intermediate products sold to other businesses.
Can we certify a product as carbon neutral under ISO 14067?
No. ISO 14067 quantifies a product's footprint and does not include offsetting. Carbon neutrality claims fall under other standards and, in the EU, are restricted for consumer products where based on offsetting.
How long does a PCF calculation take?
It depends on the number of processes and how much primary data is already available. Companies with a well-kept GHG inventory and production records can move much faster, because most of the activity data already exists.