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Carbon Footprinting has gained popularity in recent years, and is discussed beyond scientific
communities. The idea behind the carbon footprint is to understand the contribution of a
product or service to the creation and release of emissions that contribute to climate change.

The carbon footprint especially should serve as information to the consumer, and orientate
him to make an environmentally conscious choice when shopping.

In Great Britain a Publicly Available Specification on carbon footprint was developed (PAS
2050), describing and giving practical guidance on how to determine the carbon footprint of a
product or a service. PAS 2050 is based on the ISO standards 14040 and 14044 for Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA).

Method of Carbon Footprints

The Guide to PAS 2050 recommends to include the following phases of the life cycle into the
model of a consumer product ('B2C goods'):

`Y ^aw Materials
`Y Manufacture
`Y uistribution/^etail
`Y Consumer Use
`Y uisposal/^ecycling

For materials, components, or semi-finished products that are delivered to companies ('B2B
goods') only the following stages apply:

`Y ^aw Materials
`Y Manufacture
`Y uistribution/^etail