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ISO 14067: The International Standard for Product Carbon Footprints

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ISO 14067 (full title: ISO 14067:2018 – Greenhouse gases — Carbon footprint of products — Requirements and guidelines for quantification) is the internationally recognized standard for calculating and communicating the carbon footprint of products (CFP). Published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), it provides a clear, consistent methodology for measuring all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with a product across its entire lifecycle — from raw material extraction through to end-of-life.

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ISO 14067 is built on the principles of the ISO 14040/14044 series for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and aligns closely with the GHG Protocol Product Standard. Together, these frameworks form the methodological backbone of most Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) calculations used in industry today.

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What ISO 14067 covers

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ISO 14067 defines the requirements for every core step of a PCF calculation:

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• System boundaries: which lifecycle stages must be included — cradle-to-gate, cradle-to-grave, or cradle-to-cradle — and how to define them consistently.
• Functional unit: the reference unit against which all emissions are measured (e.g. 1 kg of material, 1 unit of product).
• Data quality requirements: standards for the accuracy, completeness, and representativeness of primary and secondary data used in the calculation.
• Allocation rules: how shared emissions are distributed across co-products or processes.
• Biogenic carbon: how carbon stored in or released from biological materials is treated within the calculation.
• Communication requirements: what must be disclosed when sharing a PCF result externally, ensuring transparency and comparability.

By standardizing these methodological choices, ISO 14067 makes PCF results consistent and comparable across companies, products, and industries — which is essential for supply chain reporting, customer-facing disclosures, and regulatory compliance.

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ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol: what's the difference?

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ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol Product Standard address the same core task — calculating product-level GHG emissions — but they differ in origin, scope, and application:

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• ISO 14067 is a formal international standard issued by ISO. It is particularly relevant for companies operating in regulated environments (such as the EU Battery Regulation or CBAM) that require audit-ready documentation and third-party verification against a recognized norm.
• The GHG Protocol Product Standard is a guidance framework developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It is widely used in corporate sustainability programs and supply chain reporting.

In practice, both standards are broadly compatible — a PCF calculated in line with one will largely satisfy the requirements of the other. Many companies align their calculations with both simultaneously, particularly where regulatory compliance and voluntary reporting overlap.

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Why ISO 14067 matters for companies

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ISO 14067 has become increasingly relevant for several interconnected reasons:

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• Regulatory requirements: The EU Battery Regulation requires PCF declarations for industrial and EV batteries explicitly aligned with ISO 14067. Similar requirements are expected to follow for other product categories under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR).
• Customer and supply chain demands: Companies across industries are receiving PCF data requests from customers, OEMs, and brand owners that specify ISO 14067 alignment as a baseline requirement.
• CSRD and value chain reporting: Under the CSRD and related sustainability regulations, companies must report on Scope 3 emissions with sufficient granularity — which in practice means product-level data aligned with recognized standards such as ISO 14067.
• CBAM: For companies exporting to the EU, CBAM requires verified embedded emissions data. ISO 14067-aligned PCF calculations are a recognized basis for meeting these requirements.
• Auditability: Because ISO 14067 specifies disclosure and documentation requirements, PCFs produced under this standard are audit-ready — a critical requirement for both regulatory submissions and customer verification processes.

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ISO 14067 and the product lifecycle

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At its core, ISO 14067 is a lifecycle-based standard. A compliant PCF must account for GHG emissions across all relevant stages of a product's life — typically including raw material extraction, processing and manufacturing, transportation and distribution, product use, and end-of-life treatment. This is what distinguishes an ISO 14067-aligned Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) from a simpler carbon calculation: it captures the full picture, not just the emissions that occur within the factory gates.

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This also means that Scope 3 emissions — the indirect emissions across the value chain — are central to ISO 14067-compliant PCF calculations. The CO₂e data used to quantify these upstream and downstream emissions must meet the standard's data quality requirements, which is why access to a verified, regularly updated CO₂e database is essential for companies that need to calculate PCFs at scale.

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What an ISO 14067-compliant PCF calculation requires in practice

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Producing a PCF that is genuinely aligned with ISO 14067 requires more than applying the right formula. It demands:

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• A clearly defined and documented system boundary
• A verified emission factor database aligned with the standard's data quality criteria
• Transparent allocation decisions, particularly for multi-output processes
• Consistent treatment of biogenic carbon
• A conformance statement and, where required, third-party verification

For procurement teams evaluating supplier data and for product teams calculating PCFs across large bills of materials, the practical challenge is scaling this process without sacrificing accuracy. This is where automated, ISO 14067-aligned tools and PCF calculation software become essential — they make it possible to produce audit-ready results efficiently across entire product portfolios.

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Want to calculate audit-ready PCFs aligned with ISO 14067?

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Explore our CO₂e database and PCF calculation tools, or contact our team to access the sustamizer® and produce ISO 14067-compliant product carbon footprints at scale.

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