Carbon Footprint

Determining a Product’s Carbon Footprint

A carbon footprint accounts for the total emissions associated with the raw materials, transportation, manufacturing, use and disposal of a product.  Energy is used in every step of the process, and that energy is generally created by burning something: coal, natural gas, or oil.  Adding up the carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of these fuels at each step yields the carbon footprint for the product (for some products, other greenhouse gases are also considered).  Carbonfund.org has developed a protocol that all products will be required to meet in order to qualify for certification as CarbonFree®.

The Protocol

The CarbonFree® Product Certification Protocol has been developed in consultation with the Edinburgh Center for Carbon Management, one of the leading carbon consultancies in the world, and is based on a number of pilot studies completed by Carbonfund.org working with participating businesses. The methodology has also been reviewed by the Green Design Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. The methodology aims to be both analytically rigorous and practical for business to apply.

The protocol provides a consistent methodology that can be applied by independent third parties for determining the lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions associated with creating a product.  Only products that are evaluated using this Protocol will be eligible for certification as CarbonFree®.

To obtain a copy of our protocol, or for more information on CarbonFree® product certification, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

To learn more about becoming a preferred CarbonFree®; LCA provider, please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Technical Advisory Group

Carbonfund.org established a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to provide ongoing review and support of the protocol and program. The TAG will advise on both scientific and implementation issues. 

Members of the Technical Advisory Group include:

Aleksandra Dobkowski-Joy

Ms. Dobkowski-Joy is a Principal with Framework:CR and has an extensive background in corporate responsibility strategy and communications. She has provided strategic and tactical counsel to multinational corporations in diverse industry sectors around their corporate responsibility communications. She has conducted materiality analyses and benchmarkings, worked on the development of reports, web content, newsletters, and other materials, and created distribution strategies to ensure effective engagement with key stakeholders. She also reviews corporate responsibility reports for Ethical Corporation magazine and speaks about corporate responsibility communications at conferences and seminars. Ms. Dobkowski-Joy previously worked as a sustainability strategy consultant and as a Regional Innovations Coordinator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, assisting corporations to develop and implement “beyond-compliance” environmental initiatives. She holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Connecticut. She is fluent in Polish.

Michael Gillenwater

Michael Gillenwater is the founder and Executive Director of the Greenhouse Gas Experts Network. He also co-founded the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, and serves as its Dean. Both non-profit organizations are focused on training, and professionalizing the community of experts working on measuring, accounting, and managing greenhouse gas emissions. Michael is also actively engaged in the training experts for the Kyoto Protocol and UNFCCC Secretariat and supports the Clean Development Mechanism as a methodology expert. He is a lead author of several IPCC reports and core advisor on the GHG Protocol. He co-established the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Program at the U.S. EPA, where his work on climate change began and is completing a PhD in the Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program at Princeton University.

Anne Landfield-Grieg

Anne Landfield Greig is the principal and owner of Four Elements Consulting, LLC, an environmental consulting firm specializing in Life Cycle Management.  She has over 12 years of experience in the environmental field, which includes environmental management, engineering, and legal environmental work.  At Four Elements, Anne provides Life Cycle Assessment and climate change services to help corporations, government and non-governmental organizations find valuable environmental and cost management solutions for their products and operations.  Over the past several years, Anne has actively participated in global Life Cycle Management workshops and helped prepare a practical handbook developed under the UNEP Life Cycle Initiative program.  She has been serving on the task force to bring LCA into the US Green Building Council’s LEED green building rating system.  Anne holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Boston College and a Master of Science in Environmental Management from Duke University.

Lisa Laurin

Lisa Laurin founded EarthShift to support businesses in their endeavor to reduce environmental impacts. EarthShift provides Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and total cost Assessment (TCA) consulting and training and offers both LCA and TCA software. Prior to EarthShift, Lisa worked with electronics and semiconductor companies in marketing, manufacturing, and development. She began her professional life as a process engineer at Intel. She holds a BS in Physics from Yale University.

Shelie Miller

Dr. Shelie Miller is an assistant professor of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at Clemson University.  Dr. Miller received her PhD in Civil and Materials Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2006.  She also has an M.E. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Denison University.

Dr. Miller became interested in the field of sustainability while working on a National Science Foundation program with Alcoa Inc. from 2001-2005 to assess the environmental benefits of soybean-based lubricants for use in aluminum rolling.  Since then, her interests have primarily focused on bio-based energy and developing an economically and environmentally sound strategy for developing a bioenergy industry within the Southeast.
Susan E. Selke

Susan E. Selke is Acting Director of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University, where she has been a faculty member for 24 years. She holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from Michigan State. Her research interests include environmental impacts of packaging; sustainability; plastics recycling; biodegradable and biobased plastics; composites of plastics with natural fibers; life cycle assessment; nanotechnology and packaging; microcellular foams; mass transfer characteristics of plastics; oxygen absorbers, antimicrobials and other active packaging materials; shelf life assessment and modeling; and VCI materials to retard corrosion of metals. She has authored or coauthored several books on packaging materials and on packaging and environmental issues, as well as over 150 articles and book chapters. Courses she teaches include plastics packaging, packaging materials, packaging and the environment, stability and recycling of packaging materials, and analytical solutions to packaging design.

Nana Takyi Wilberforce

Dr. Nana Takyi Wilberforce is an Environmental Scientist at Green Seal, Inc.  His main responsibilities are the development of new and revision of current Green Seal environmental leadership standards. He has led carbon reduction strategies and implemented environmental performance measurement at many multinational companies. Nana also has extensive experience with auditing annual emissions inventory reports and calculations as well as 3rd party certifications for greenhouse gas emissions, reductions, and credits.