Carbon footprint
The CO ₂ footprint, also called CO ₂ footprint is a measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions (measured in CO ₂), is caused directly and indirectly by an activity or arises over the life stages of a product.
Since it (2011 version) is still no internationally accepted definition, all greenhouse gases or even additional factors are included in some calculations.
Carbon dioxide emissions (measured in CO ₂) and greenhouse gas emissions (measured in CO ₂ equivalents, CO ₂ -eq ) are often measured in tonnes per year - given - or in vehicles in grams per kilometer.
The CO ₂ footprint has increased in recent years, especially since it could be a useful tool to determine the climate impact of products, services and other events in the life of every person. Only with this information can be effectively minimize the climate impact of the same, which in turn is needed to target climate targets - for example, limiting global warming to 2 ° C - to reach.
The motor vehicle tax in Germany is not like it used only after displacement, but in cars even after specific emissions of pollutants and after CO ₂ emissions per kilometer is calculated according to § 8 KraftStG.
- 5.1 Literature
- 5.2 See also
- 5.3 External links 5.3.1 Some CO ₂ footprint calculator on German
Term
The term " CO ₂ - footprint " has become relatively well known in recent years. Today is rather the English term carbon footprint usual and is also used by German authorities and institutions. The term is based on the concept of the ecological footprint, which was developed in 1994 by Mathis Wackernagel and William E. Rees. The CO ₂ footprint is not part of the ( founded by Wackernagel 2003), Global Footprint Network, as Wackernagel considered it as part of the ecological footprint and not as a stand-alone factor.
The CO ₂ footprint can also be for people, organizations, countries and events (such as a vacation ), etc. calculated. Who knows the CO ₂ footprints of several alternative courses of action, these figures can weigh other factors into account when making decisions. In individuals, organizations, or events is often offered to neutralize the CO ₂ footprint by, for example, according to the result of the calculation in rainforest reforestation, renewable energy or other climate- friendly measures invested ( → Chapter: The compensating a CO ₂ - footprint ).
Facts and Figures
The CO ₂ footprint of a product
A Germany-wide (not international) accepted definition for the CO ₂ footprint of products is the following from the memorandum ' Product Carbon Footprint "( PCF) of BMU, UBA and Öko-Institut of 2011:
Product Carbon Footprint ( CO ₂ footprint of products ) describes the sum of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire life cycle of a product in a defined application and based on a defined apartment.
The product life cycle is to cover the entire value chain:
- Manufacture, production and transportation of raw materials and intermediate
- Production and distribution
- Use, recycling
- Disposal / Recycling
Of all the variants of the CO ₂ footprint of CO ₂ footprint of products is examined in the most detail. He could have a great future in the CO ₂ - labeling of goods and services.
In the UK, 2008 by BSI ( British Standards Solutions) compiled standardization of the methodology of CO ₂ footprint of products with the British Standard was ' PAS 2050:2008 ' completed. 2011 marked the largest British retail group Tesco claims to have 500 products in the UK and in South Korea according to this standard. However, the entire value chain is not always included. Even in Japan and Thailand such labels are introduced in part.
In Germany, the CO ₂ footprint of products by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Federal Environmental Agency and the Öko-Institut was discussed, according to the final memorandum but no further actions are taken before not the ' ISO 14067 ' to account for the CO ₂ footprint of products available as an additional confusion of the population should be avoided to the approximately 400 existing labels.
According to the definition above, the CO ₂ footprint of individual food is " on the order of a few tens of grams to several kilos of CO ₂ -eq per kg food. Extremely high values for example, has beef with around 13 kg CO ₂ -eq per kilo. " The values can vary greatly ( → Chapter: Criticism ) depending on the transport, storage and preparation method.
To get an idea, here are some product labels from Tesco, which according to the British Standard (PAS 2050:2008 ) were identified:
Grams of CO ₂ -eq per functional unit ( rounded)
CO ₂ footprint Viticulture
For a project in Traisental (48 ° 21 ' 12 " N, 15 ° 41 ' 42" O48.35333333333315.695 ) the process chain have been analyzed and identified based on the results those areas that had the greatest impact on the carbon footprint. The functional unit used 1 liter of wine was set. The investigation included the process steps vineyard, wine production, packaging, waste, and sales. During the production of grapes in the vineyard, winemaking, including disposal of waste in the cellar and the bottling of wine average emitted around 1.7 kg CO ₂ e until they leave the wine cellar. For the transport to the consumer ₂ e per liter still around 0.2 kg of CO are added.
The results of the overall analysis demonstrates that per hectare vineyard on average 2.4 tonnes of CO ₂ equivalents are emitted. Of this amount, approximately three quarters of the indirect greenhouse gas emissions and the combustion emissions and a quarter come by soil emission.
/ sub> e per liter so.
The CO ₂ footprint of a person
A CO ₂ footprint of persons will serve to provide assistance in self-employed reduce its own CO ₂ emissions. Only the current CO ₂ footprint is calculated, so you get a rough idea of its own emissions. The next step is to reduce emissions by, for example, switching to energy-saving appliances, electricity from renewable energy sources and changing everyday actions to save energy. One should make " power-hungry " equipment unusable or scrapped ( or give someone whose old equipment still current eating is ). The international target for the climate, " still acceptable " carbon dioxide emissions is 2.5 tons of CO ₂ -eq per person per year. The average footprint of Germans, including the greenhouse gas is about 11 tons of CO ₂ -eq and thus well above the world average of 6.8 tonnes of CO ₂ -eq.
With so-called CO ₂ computers can be the own CO ₂ footprint roughly calculated. The most distinguish the (life areas )
- Living ( CO ₂ emissions by heating and electricity in the apartment),
- Mobility (CO ₂ emissions by driving a car, using public transport and flies )
- Nutrition ( eating and drinking habits, origin of food)
- Private consumption ( buying behavior and criteria, eating out, hotel accommodation, cost of culture, health and other services ) and
- Government consumption (emissions that are caused by the state and distributed to all citizens)
The greatest influence is one of the regions or subregions Private consumption, heating, food, automobile traffic, air traffic and household appliances. The area Government consumption is on the individual little to not be influenced. In the areas of housing and domestic hot water preparation homeowners have immediate impact; Tenants can contact their landlord and, for example, for a reasonable rent increase given new window or a new heating system. Often is also offered after the calculation to compensate by donating their own CO ₂ emissions ( → Chapter: The compensating a CO ₂ footprint ). All results of CO ₂ footprint are rough numbers.
The communication of the CO ₂ footprint
In addition to calculating the CO ₂ footprint, the everyday use of communication is an important level of action. The basis for this example, a notional amount of CO ₂ be that every person is permitted to emit in a given time interval by all his actions to cited the global climate within the lot to hold 2 degrees guardrails. The initiative of Austria and Switzerland " has a good day 100 points " () has developed an approach with which to leave the Product Carbon Footprint global sustainability and solidarity and personal lifestyle together communicate in a simple graphical language.
The CO ₂ footprint of an organization or a country etc.
The creation of a CO ₂ balance can be both the object of specific studies, CO ₂ balance sheets by companies in the context of their sustainability report are increasingly being created. Operational procedures of accounting for the creation of a CO ₂ balance is called carbon accounting. A footprint of an organization identifies the total CO ₂ - or CO ₂ -eq - emissions caused by their activities per year. The CO ₂ footprint of Deutsche Bank, for example, was in 2008, claims to be 415 269 tonnes of CO ₂. As with the other CO ₂ footprints can find various numbers for the CO ₂ footprint of a country. According to calculations by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC ), which are also the Kyoto Protocol based emitted Germany 2008, approximately 988.2 million tonnes of CO ₂ - eq ( Switzerland 53.4 million tonnes of CO ₂ -eq, Austria 69.3 million tonnes of CO ₂ -eq ).
The Engineering and Natural Sciences University of Norway ( NTNU ) refers to the calculations on its website but www.carbonfootprintofnations.com the emissions with a that occur in the production of all goods of the total consumption of a country. If a country now has a larger CO ₂ footprint than its calculated by the UNFCCC greenhouse gas emissions, this means that the imports of the country in the production of more carbon than require its exports. The international transport by sea and air freight is included in the calculations of NTNU addition, which is not taken into consideration by the UNFCCC. This leads to a slightly larger footprint of 1239.5 million tonnes of CO ₂ - eq for Germany, 112.2 million tonnes of CO ₂ - eq for Austria and 131.7 million tonnes of CO ₂ -eq for Switzerland, which has a CO ₂ footprint 15.1 tonnes of CO ₂ -eq for every German, 13.8 t for all Austrians and 18.4 t for every Swiss results. Worldwide, the U.S. (29 t CO ₂ -eq per person), followed by Australia (21 t CO ₂ -eq per person), the biggest polluters, whereas Mozambique ( 1.1 t CO ₂ -eq per person) and Malawi ( 0.7 t CO ₂ -eq per person) stand most climate friendly.
The compensating a CO ₂ footprint
→ Main article: Climate compensation
Compensating for their own CO ₂ emissions by a donation is often offered after calculating the CO ₂ footprint. To execute your own CO ₂ footprint is not reduced, but it will reduce greenhouse gases at a different location in the world. This is done through climate protection projects such as the erection of wind, water or geothermal power plants and other greenhouse gas saving measures. The compensation is done on a voluntary basis. Such a CO ₂ compensation costs depending on the provider and the chosen standard 1-30 euros per tonne of CO ₂. However, it is important that the used for such projects CO ₂ certificates from internationally recognized institutions such as come to the Gold Standard.
Criticism
The biggest criticism is the lack of a clear internationally accepted definition of CO ₂ footprint. The Organization for International Standards seeks a uniform international standard (ISO 14067 ) to account for the CO ₂ footprint of products while on, but the publication is to be expected at the earliest in April 2014. Although there are now self-proclaimed standards to be able to use this indicator as, for example, the "Carbon Footprint Standard ", but a self-examination, a control mechanism lacks sufficient.
The British standard PAS 2050:2008 is the most successful and is subject to precise criteria, which are reviewed by the Carbon Trust in the moment. He mostly builds on the LCA standard ISO 14040, but also differs in some important respects significantly on what has earned him international recognition not great. Thus, the width of the definitions of only direct carbon dioxide emissions of additional methane emissions to the inclusion of all greenhouse gases such as N2O or CH4. A result, the unit in which is measured differs between eg simple carbon dioxide emissions (measured in metric tons of CO ₂) emissions of CO ₂ equivalents (measured in metric tons of CO ₂ -eq ) or area (approximately in hectares ). In the latter case, " the size of the wood surface is defined which is needed to accommodate all the CO ₂ emission, less of the emissions, which are received by oceans ."
Other criticisms, especially on CO ₂ footprint of products, show the Öko-Institut, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Environment Agency in the published in December 2009 memorandum on PCF. Is criticized, among others, the one-sidedness of the CO ₂ footprint, since all other injury categories such as air emissions, resource requirements or eutrophication are not included in the calculation. Since the CO ₂ footprint is already carried out usually with a LCA software, it is suggested, LCA instead of the isolated CO ₂ - to use or greenhouse gas balances.
It is further stated that consumers usually with the purely numerical value, ie, the CO ₂ footprint with CO ₂ digit, not much could start, as the standard of comparison lacks, would arise from the values no recommendations for the optimal use of climate point of view, other environmental issues would be ignored and would thus contributed more to confusion than guidance for consumers. There are more proven environmental labels such as " The Blue Angel " recommended that assess the important products in terms of climate impact. As the use phase has a significant impact on the overall balance, it will be accounted for with both PAS 2050, and the Memorandum PCF as an important component of the CO ₂ footprint. The concrete signpost of this phase is unclear, however, since there are often huge differences in the manner of use. It is unclear, such as a t-shirt is to be expelled. When the user Mitbilanzierung phase durable T -shirts have a smaller CO ₂ footprint as short-lived T -shirts.
Also the statements of food for which there are various processing options (example: flour, eggs) (example: apples, strawberries) and storage facilities are is not clear and may thus lead at one and the same product to different accounting results.
For clarity, here is an example of the CO ₂ footprint of apples from the memorandum PCF:
" The energy required for the production and storage of apples varies from company to company and can vary between large and small firms differ by a factor of 2-3, the transport distance can also vary greatly. Bodensee fruit is sold on Lake Constance, but also in Kassel and Berlin. The apples but can also be imported from New Zealand or Chile. The apples produced in Germany are stored until late spring and cooled in the process. , the PCF increases from month to month. "
Last but not least also the high data costs are a problem because, for example, many farms in different size, frequently changing suppliers, strong differences in the method of cultivation, by year and season fluctuations in earnings, and different processing techniques need to be involved.