QRS Quality · ISO 14067 product carbon footprint
ISO 14067 product carbon footprint
Calculate climate impacts for a stated product function and life-cycle boundary. Product carbon accounting answers a different question from an organisation-wide emissions inventory or a multi-impact EPD.
Define the route and boundary
ISO 14067:2018 concerns a product’s greenhouse-gas footprint. Agree the product, reference or functional unit, intended use of the study and included life-cycle stages before collecting data. A partial footprint must disclose its boundary. The result addresses climate change, not the complete environmental or social performance of the product; offsets and the authorisation of marketing claims require separate consideration.
A practical decision before a claim
For a hypothetical reusable container compared with a lighter single-use alternative, weight alone is insufficient. State the service delivered, reuse cycles, return transport, cleaning and breakage assumptions. Test which assumptions drive the result and disclose important limitations. Do not announce one option as better while its end-of-life stage or return journeys are missing from the comparison. No numerical reduction is assumed in this example.
Records, deliverables and quotation
Collect material quantities, process energy, transport distances, loss rates and supplier data with their periods and quality limitations. Explain allocation and the background databases used. Agree whether the deliverable is a calculation report, a review package or a separately verified statement. Product variants, primary-data availability and the required review determine cost. A change in recipe, electricity sourcing or expected use can require reassessment rather than reuse of an old number.
Who reviews and who decides
QRS should specify the contracting and assessment roles for the actual enquiry. A management-system certificate does not prove that a product footprint was competently verified, and this page claims no blanket verification authority. Check the recipient’s acceptance criteria and the competent body’s actual scope. A footprint report does not automatically grant an ecolabel, a CE approval or permission to describe the product as carbon neutral.
Official sources and application limits
The operating examples are hypothetical, not customer events or guaranteed decisions. The actual standard and competent body determine requirements.