Product carbon footprint (PCF) and life cycle assessment (LCA) explained
What a product carbon footprint is, how life cycle assessment works under ISO 14040, 14044 and 14067, cradle-to-gate versus cradle-to-grave, EPDs, and why export buyers ask Indian suppliers for PCFs.
What is an EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a verified, published document that reports a product's LCA results, including its carbon footprint, using a common PCR. EPDs are Type III environmental declarations under ISO 14025:2006. They are run by programme operators, follow published PCRs and are independently verified. In construction, EPDs commonly follow the European standard EN 15804.
An EPD is not a label that says a product is "green". It is a data sheet. Two EPDs can be compared fairly only if they follow the same PCR and functional unit.
Sources: ISO 14067:2018 Greenhouse gases: Carbon footprint of products (ISO catalogue); ISO 14040:2006 Life cycle assessment: Principles and framework (ISO catalogue); ISO 14040:2006/Amd 1:2020 (ISO catalogue); ISO 14044:2006 Life cycle assessment: Requirements and guidelines (ISO catalogue); ISO 14044:2006/Amd 2:2020 (ISO catalogue); ISO 14064-3:2019 (ISO catalogue); GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (2011); European Commission: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism; Regulation (EU) 2023/956 establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (EUR-Lex); Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, User Guide Version 22.0 (August 2026); ISO 14068:2026 Climate change management: Carbon neutrality (ISO committee page; replaces ISO 14068-1:2023)
This article was prepared with AI assistance and checked by the GreenEye team against the sources shown in each section.
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