SSBTi.org News Release 2023-08-02
The international mutual recognition of product carbon footprints is one of the most critical tests for global carbon neutrality. If successful, it signifies a substantial international consensus and forms a powerful market force for carbon neutrality. For products from the Asia Pacific region, it means access to an open international market in the future under the emerging challenges of sustainability and net zero emission guidance.
To that end, we have taken the first step towards Asia-Europe product carbon footprint mutual recognition. Prior to this small step, we have journeyed for 13 years.
The history and technical background of Asia-Europe product carbon footprint mutual recognition date back to July 2009 when the EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC) held a public consultation meeting for the International Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Guidelines. The ILCD Guidelines published after the meeting became the official Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method and product carbon footprint accounting guide for the EU government.
In October 2010, IKE Environmental Corp (based in Sichuan, China; partner of SSBTi.org and Nanozeo.com) launched China's Core Life Cycle Database (CLCD) that adopted the ILCD database specification. Years later, ILCD became part of the EU's carbon footprint specifications. Not only is CLCD the first LCA/carbon footprint database in Asia Pacific, but it is also one of only four independent core databases globally (Swiss ecoinvent, German GaBi, Japanese IDEA, and China CLCD).
Since 2013, based on the ILCD Guidelines, the EU Environment Agency and the Research Directorate-General started to develop the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) Guide. This guide has been adopted by the EU government and has become the official guide for the product environmental footprint and carbon footprint calculations.
As a proactive response to the EU's PEF Guide, we started the development of Asia's Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method (LIME) in November 2013. After years of research and testing, IKE and our partner officially launched LIME in September 2016.
In December 2017, IKE and our partner published the updated Asia Pacific Core Life Cycle Database (CLCD), which incorporated the LIME impact assessment method. By aligning with international specifications, CLCD has become one of the world's leading LCA/carbon footprint databases.
In the wake of this progress, we have now taken the first step towards Asia-Europe product carbon footprint mutual recognition. As part of this process, in June 2022, IKE Environmental organized a meeting with European industry leaders. At this meeting, the participants agreed on the principle of Asia-Europe product carbon footprint mutual recognition and discussed the next steps.
Looking forward, we believe that the mutual recognition of product carbon footprints will bring new opportunities for businesses in the Asia Pacific region. We are committed to providing the tools and expertise needed for companies to navigate the changing landscape of carbon neutrality.
Edit & Rewrite By Raymond Wang (SSBTi.org)
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