Cautious welcome for new Carbon footprint specification

The eagerly awaited PAS 2050, a specification for carbon footprint analysis, was published in London on 29^th October 2008. Dave Covell, a Principal at environmental consultancy firm ENVIRON has used the new standard for the last few weeks and says, "This is an excellent document which will provide a benchmark that will be used world-wide. We know that many businesses have been treading water, waiting for PAS 2050, but now that a common specification has been published, they can start work on the detailed analysis of their supply chains.”

This Publicly Available Specification (PAS) specifies requirements for the assessment of the GHG emissions associated with the life cycle of all goods and services. It is intended for application in businesses of all sizes and is designed to create a level playing field in carbon footprinting, ensuring that common methods of analysis lead to fair comparisons.