Environmental impact of products: 6th Product Carbon Footprint World Summit, 26-27 October, Berlin

The past week has seen the publication of three major carbon and environmental footprinting methodologies Tthat you may be interested in:

1. The long awaited two new GHG Protocol Standards for Product and Value Chain GHG assessments were officially released on Tuesday, 4 October 2011. Please visit www.ghgprotocol.orgfor more information. Here you can also download the new standards for free, as well as a range of accompanying tools and guidance documents.http://www.bsigroup.com/en/Standards-and-Publications/How-we-can-help-you/Professional-Standards-Service/PAS-2050/PAS-2050/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/product_footprint.htmhttp://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/experimentation-affichage for more information.

2. A revised version of PAS 2050, the first carbon footprint specification originally published in 2008, was released on 30 September 2011. Please find background information and a download link at

3. The European Commission has released a draft version of the EU environmental footprinting methodology currently under development. Please find more information and the draft methodology at

Furthermore, new information on the currently ongoing French National Experiment for environmental labelling has been published, including practical approaches for communication: Please visit

Representatives from all these initiatives will introduce the new documents and developments at the upcoming 6th PCF World Summit “Environmental Footprinting in Europe and Beyond” on 26-27 October 2011 in Berlin, Germany, along with representatives from a number of other national and international initiatives.

For more information, full programme and registration at http://www.pcf-world-forum.org/summit/

All these and many other standards and programmes make use of product category based specification to define measurement rules for particular product categories and sectors. Alignment and harmonisation of these rules across standards is a major issue. Current developments will be discussed at the 3rd PCR Round Table on 25 October 2011, 13-18 CET, on the Day before the Summit in the same location. Registration is also possible online via http://www.pcf-world-forum.org/webshop/collections/view/24

Additionally, the GHG Protocol will offer a training on the two new standards on 28 October 2011 just after the Summit. Registration online at http://www.pcf-world-forum.org/ghg-protocol-training-workshops/