On November 22, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport and other departments issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Product Carbon Footprint Management System” ” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”). The opinion proposes to promote the establishment of a product carbon footprint management system that is in line with the actual national conditions, improve the rules and standards system for carbon footprint accounting methods of key products, establish a product carbon footprint background database, promote the construction of a product carbon label certification system, expand and enrich application scenarios, and give full play to products. The carbon footprint management system promotes the green and low-carbon transformation of production and lifestyle.
The introduction of the product carbon footprint management system policy will effectivelypromote the standardization of product carbon footprint calculation, management, certification and other work, and achieve the effect of data credibility, traceability and mutual recognition; expand and enrich product carbon footprint The application scenarios of footprints will gradually make the low-carbon concept penetrate into all aspects of production and life, bringing broad market imagination.
In the past, many companies calculated and managed product carbon footprints from the perspective of downstream brand enterprise requirements or their own brand promotion. With the introduction of national policies, product carbon footprint levels will become an important standard in product competition, procurement requirements, etc. Giving more companies a stronger incentive to calculate, manage and disclose product carbon footprints is also an important starting point for promoting the realization of dual carbon goals.
The biggest challenges currently encountered in product carbon footprints are inconsistent standards, lack of unified rules for emission factor data selection, and lack of basic databases. The introduction of national-level policies is committed to providing standards and solutions for the calculation of product carbon footprints. Background database support is conducive to the orderly advancement of the market, making carbon footprint data traceable, comparable and reliable.
Enterprises carry out product carbon footprint calculation, management and disclosure, carry out process transformation, strengthen energy saving and carbon reduction management,which will help enterprises obtain government policy support, obtain more social capital funding support, and ultimately bring about the improvement of main business. Lifts.
Addressing climate change is a common global challenge, and reducing the carbon footprint of products also requires a global consensus and mutual recognition. Therefore, the introduction of product carbon footprint management system policies is of great benefit to promote the development of the industry.
Interpretation
Carbon Footprint provides a detailed interpretation of some key provisions of the “Opinions”:
The State Administration for Market Regulation, in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments, has accelerated the development of basic general national standards for product carbon footprint accounting, clarifying product carbon footprint accounting boundaries, accounting methods, data quality requirements, and traceability requirements. The National Development and Reform Commission, in consultation with relevant departments, will determine the key products for which accounting rules and standards will be prioritized. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other industry authorities organize relevant industry associations, leading enterprises, scientific research institutes, etc. to conduct pilot trials according to group standards and gradually transform them into industry standards or national standards. Based on the principles, we will study and formulate carbon footprint accounting rules and standards for key products. If conditions are ripe, we can directly formulate national standards or industry standards. The industry authorities, together with development and reform, market supervision and other departments, will issue a rules and standards adoption list to provide enterprises and institutions with unified and standardized rules and standards.
The currently widely used standards in the field of product carbon footprints are all from international sources, such as ISO14067 “Requirements and Guidelines for Quantifying the Carbon Footprint of Greenhouse Gas Products”, PAS2050 “Specifications for the Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions during the Life Cycle of Goods and Services”, etc. There is a lack of unified standards and standards in China. Standardized guidelines. This is also a pain point for companies to carry out carbon footprint accounting work. The introduction of this policy indicates that relevant departments will work together to jointly promote the formulation of national standards for carbon footprints, and prioritize the formulation of standards for key product areas to provide strong rules and standards support for domestic enterprises to carry out carbon footprint accounting work. At the same time, enterprises and institutions are encouraged to actively promote and explore group standards so that they can appropriately fill in the gaps in domestic standards before the national standards are released. In fact, some domestic industries have begun to explore the standardization of carbon footprint accounting, such as the electronic and electrical industry group standard “Microcomputer for Carbon Footprint Assessment of Electrical and Electronic Products” and the food industry group standard “General Technical Principles for Food Carbon Footprint Assessment”.
On the basis of ensuring uniform methods and accurate and reliable data, industry authorities and qualified regions can establish relevant industry carbon footprint background databases based on work needs to provide public services for enterprises to carry out product carbon footprint accounting. Relevant industry associations, enterprises, and scientific research units are encouraged to collect and organize relevant data resources in the industry in accordance with laws and regulations on the basis of indicating the data source, and publish a background database of product carbon footprints in subdivided industry fields.
The database is the infrastructure for carbon footprint accounting. The calculation of product carbon footprint requires a large amount of data support. The data is divided into two types: real-life data and background data. Real-life data is data directly related to the product or service being evaluated. Enterprise-specific data sets are usually obtained through field surveys; background data is data indirectly related to the product or service being evaluated, usually�� barriers, helping to improve the data quality of background data. 5G technology provides guarantee for high-speed data connections, and combined with the industrial Internet identification analysis system, can facilitate the monitoring and collection of background database source data; big data technology covers data collection and preprocessing, data storage, data cleaning, and data query Analysis and other technologies provide basic technical guarantee for the construction of background database; blockchain technology is a safe, shared, decentralized technical solution that helps to achieve the traceability and accuracy of background data throughout the supply chain. sex.
Suggestions
The issuance of the “Opinions” proposes a top-level design for the future construction of a national product carbon footprint management system. It is recommended that enterprises make early arrangements from the following perspectives to seize carbon footprint policies and market opportunities:
For consumer goods and industrial manufacturing companies,
Strengthen the capacity building of its own carbon management system, consolidate the data foundation for the entire process of procurement, production, and distribution, and gradually establish its own product carbon footprint accounting model through digital means;
Carry out emission reduction work as early as possible and promote the gradual reduction of product carbon footprint through technological innovation, use of low-carbon raw materials, energy conservation and clean substitution;
Strengthen the construction of green supply chains, realize carbon emission data interconnection with upstream suppliers and downstream customers, jointly conduct research on emission reduction technologies, and jointly promote the low-carbon transformation of the supply chain;
Actively participate in the construction of industry carbon footprint standards, and based on its own professional experience in the industry, cooperate with friends and industry associations to jointly establish carbon footprint standards for subdivided industries that are in line with my country’s national conditions;
Correctly publicize its own carbon footprint and carbon management system construction results, not only to avoid false propaganda such as “greenwashing”, but also to highlight the effectiveness of its own low-carbon work, strengthen the company’s own low-carbon image, and communicate closely with consumers, customers, governments, etc. Expand sales channels for products with their own carbon footprint and help enterprises develop sustainably.
For platform companies, it is recommended to encourage participating brands to disclose carbon footprint data, continuously improve the level of data disclosure of emissions and emission reduction products, and provide traffic support for products with outstanding emission reduction effects through green zones and other methods. Linkage with innovative methods such as carbon accounts allows consumers to intuitively feel the relationship between purchasing low-carbon products and their own environmental responsibilities, and enhances public low-carbon awareness.
For financial companies, it is recommended to actively promote green financial innovation, develop green financial products based on carbon footprint accounting results, and enhance support for companies with outstanding low-carbon attributes and advanced carbon management systems. At the same time, the authenticity and completeness of carbon management data provided by enterprises should also be carefully identified, and the establishment of industry standards for product carbon footprint management systems supported by the financial industry should be promoted.
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