HowGood’s Carbon Life Cycle Module has been designed according to the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (referred to as the Product Standard) guidance for GHG emissions measurement and reduction. It measures the carbon footprint of an individual product for 12 distinct stages of the product lifecycle, from farm through processing, transport, manufacturing, packaging, retail, product use and disposal. These stages are defined in the system boundaries detailed below:
What data inputs are required to assess carbon footprint?
In order to assess carbon footprint at any of the available stages of the product lifecycle, the following data points must be provided at the product level:
Metric / System Boundaries | Data Required |
Cradle-to-farm-gate | Sourcing Location |
Farm-to-processing transportation | Processing Location |
Processing | Processing Location |
Processing to manufacturing transportation | Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region |
Manufacturing | Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region |
Packaging | Unit size (kg) Consumer units Packaging material Packaging location Uses Packaging weight |
Transportation to Storage | Retail Region Warehouse Region Cold Storage |
Storage Distribution Center | Retail Region Warehouse Region Cold Storage |
Transport to Retailer | Retail Region Warehouse Region Cold Storage |
Carbon Lifecycle - retailer | Retail Region Cold Storage |
Product Use | Cooking Cold Storage |
Disposal | Unit size (kg) Consumer units Packaging material Packaging location Uses Packaging weight |
Carbon Footprint - Annual | Sourcing Location Unit Size (kg) Units Sold (annual) |
Carbon Footprint - Cradle-to-farm-gate | Sourcing Location |
Carbon Footprint - On Farm + Processing GHGs | Sourcing Location Processing Location |
Carbon Footprint - Annual Cradle-to-gate | Sourcing Location Processing Location Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region Unit Size (kg) Units Sold (annual) |
Carbon Footprint - Cradle-to-gate | Sourcing Location Processing Location Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region |
Carbon Footprint - Annual Cradle-to-grave | Sourcing Location Processing Location Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region Consumer units Packaging material Packaging location Uses Packaging weight Retail Region Warehouse Region Cold Storage Cooking Unit Size (kg) Units Sold (annual) |
Carbon Footprint - Cradle-to-grave | Sourcing Location Processing Location Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region Consumer units Packaging material Packaging location Uses Packaging weight Retail Region Warehouse Region Cold Storage Cooking |
Carbon Footprint - Cradle-to-gate (with packaging) | Sourcing Location Processing Location Manufacturing Type Manufacturing Region Consumer units Packaging material Packaging location Uses Packaging weight |
All Annual Metrics | Unit Size (kg) Units Sold (annual) |
How to update your product’s carbon footprint data
To update your product’s data inputs, make sure that you’re in Live formula view on the Formula Profile page.
Select Edit details.
Update the relevant data inputs in the following locations:
1. Sourcing Location
2. Processing Location
3. Unit Size (kg)
4. Units Sold (annual)
5. Cooking
6. Cold Storage
7. Manufacturing Type
8. Manufacturing Region
9. Warehouse Region
10. Retail Region
11. Packaging
Select Save > Save changes.
Note: If your product previously had a Product Report created, and you wish to update the report with your updated carbon footprint details, you’ll need to create a new report:
Make sure you’re still in Live formula view.
Select Open report toolkit.
Expand the Create product report section and select Create another report. This will overwrite your previous report with the updated formula details.