GHG Footprinting

Carbon Footprinting

An example of carbon labelling.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) footprinting is the third way of measuring and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions for marketing and consumer information purposes. These assessment processes measure the emissions from the "paddock to the plate", or the life cycle analysis of a product. This describes to the consumer what quantity of greenhouse gas emissions went into producing, transporting, storing, and consuming the product.

The table below shows how GHG footrpinting differs from the Kyoto Protocol and the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.

Mechanism	What is it	Standards	Compulsory
Kyoto Protocol	International protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Based on reducing emissions down to 1990 levels by 2012.	Marrakesh Accords	Yes
Emissions Trading Scheme	New Zealand 's domestic programme to help meet Kyoto Obligations.	Climate Change Response Act 2002	Yes
GHG Footprinting	Also called carbon labelling. At present these are voluntary standards for assessing the GHG emissions that go into producing a product.	PAS (2050)- UK DEFRA/British Standards/Carbon Trust draft standard. WRI- World Resources Institute proposal to establish an international standard for product accounting of GHG emissions. ISO- International Standards Organisation (ISO) proposal to develop an international standard for GHG footprinting and communication.	No