Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Consulting — ISO 14067
A product carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions of a product over its life cycle, or up to the factory gate, expressed in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per unit. NLCCC calculates PCFs to ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol Product Standard for manufacturers whose customers ask for a carbon figure per product, usually as part of their own Scope 3 reporting.
When a PCF is the right study
A PCF is the right format when the product ends up inside another manufacturer's product and the customer wants one climate figure they can add to their own footprint. If the product goes into a building and the buyer asks for a verified, multi-indicator document, an Environmental Product Declaration is usually required instead. If the question is about the whole company rather than one product, the answer is corporate GHG accounting. All three draw on the same data, and we advise which one fits before any work starts.
Footprint types we deliver
- Cradle-to-gate PCF: raw materials, inbound transport and manufacturing, up to the factory gate. What most industrial customers ask for.
- Cradle-to-grave PCF: adds distribution, use and end of life, for consumer products or where the use phase dominates.
- Partial PCF for a component or intermediate, in the format the customer's sector specifies.
- PCF updates: annual recalculation as energy mix, suppliers or recipes change, so the figure the customer holds stays current.
Sector formats we work with
Several industries have their own rules on top of ISO 14067. We calculate to the rulebook the customer names.
- Automotive: the Catena-X PCF Rulebook, used by automotive OEMs and their suppliers to exchange product footprints.
- Chemicals: the Together for Sustainability (TfS) PCF Guideline for chemical materials.
- Cross-sector: the WBCSD PACT Methodology, for exchanging PCF data between companies in a common format.
- EU imports of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers and hydrogen: CBAM embedded emissions, calculated under the EU CBAM rules rather than ISO 14067.
Supplier carbon data requests
Many manufacturers first meet carbon footprinting as a questionnaire from a customer, or a request to upload product-level data to a supplier platform. We prepare the figures, document how they were calculated, and help you answer follow-up questions, so the data you send holds up when the customer checks it.
How we work
- 1Scoping call (30 minutes, free): which products, which customer request, and which standard or rulebook applies.
- 2Fixed-fee proposal with a timeline and a data checklist.
- 3Data collection using our templates: bills of materials, energy, fuels, transport and waste for a recent twelve-month period.
- 4Calculation and a short results review with your team.
- 5PCF report to ISO 14067, plus the figures in the format the customer asked for.
- 6Optional third-party verification, if the customer requires it.
What you receive
- PCF report to ISO 14067, with the system boundary, data sources, allocation choices and results
- The result per declared unit, broken down by life cycle stage
- The figures in the customer's format (Catena-X, TfS, PACT or their own template)
- A short summary of the main emission sources and where reductions are possible