Product life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere profile
Measurement answer
What this metric measures
Carbon dioxide emissions released to the atmosphere during the assessed product life cycle, reported with life-cycle-stage and biogenic-status distinctions.
Specification
Metric specification
- Result format
- Structured table
- Unit
- Structured table — see field-level units
- Reporting basis
- Product life-cycle inventory period
- Aggregation
- Sum of carbon dioxide emissions released to the atmosphere during the product life cycle, reported by applicable dimensions
- Pillar
- Environmental
- Topic
- Product life-cycle greenhouse gas inventory
- Controlled domain
- Products and life-cycle assessment
- Entity type
- Metric
Reporting boundary
Attributional product life-cycle inventory boundary for the assessed product
Verified source occurrences
Framework coverage
This is one canonical metric. The bindings below show every verified framework occurrence without creating duplicate metric pages. Edition, disclosure, role, and relationship remain source-specific.
- Measurement AuthoritySource evidence
GHG Protocol
- Publisher
- GHG Protocol
- Edition
- September 2011 publication
- Requirement
- Not Specified
- Relationship
- Defines Measurement
- Mapping outcome
- Direct Evidence
- Source locator
- p.29, section 6.2 Requirements
- Measurement Authoritye6fcb9f57e656a327306
GHG Protocol
- Publisher
- GHG Protocol
- Edition
- September 2011 publication
- Requirement
- Not Specified
- Relationship
- Maps Source Identity
- Mapping outcome
- Published
- Source locator
- p.29, section 6.2 Requirements
Value structure
Dimensions and units
- Unit
- Structured table — see field-level units
- Reporting basis
- Product life-cycle inventory period
Unit meaning: Each field uses its source-defined unit and retains the applicable product, unit of analysis, life-cycle stage, gas, period and method.
Table fields and units
- product
- unit of analysis or functional unit/reference flow
- life-cycle stage
- carbon dioxide emissions to atmosphere
- biogenic status
- inventory period
- boundary type
Published dimensions
- product
- unit of analysis
- functional unit or reference flow
- life-cycle stage
- boundary type
- gas
- biogenic status
- direction
- inventory period
- GWP source and date where CO2e conversion is used
- allocation or recycling method
- land-use-change method where applicable
Calculation method
Formula information
- Status
- Specified
- Formula type
- Sum
Formula
Σ CO2_emitted,iApply the source-defined GHG Protocol Product Standard method only within the disclosed product, unit-of-analysis and life-cycle boundary. Section 6.2 requires companies to account for carbon dioxide emissions released to the atmosphere during the product life cycle. The result is retained as a product-level atmospheric-emissions profile, with biogenic status preserved and without reuse of corporate-scope identities.
Variables
| Symbol | Variable | Definition | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
CO2_emitted,i | Carbon dioxide emissions for life-cycle activity or stage i | Carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere by the relevant product life-cycle activity or stage. | Dimensionless |
Verified sources
Evidence and status sources
Sustopedia checked each record-specific claim directly against primary publisher material. Labels distinguish current measurement authority from future compatibility and corroborative, legal, edition, or method status context. Corroborative evidence can support a stated limitation but cannot establish the core measurement by itself.
Measurement evidence
- Measurement evidenceChecked 28 August 2026
Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard
- Publisher
- GHG Protocol
- Edition
- September 2011 publication
- Locator
- p.29, section 6.2 Requirements
Supports: The official GHG Protocol Product Standard source supports the identity, boundary and method basis of “Product life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere profile”.
Open official source
Use with context
Interpretation boundaries
Method disclosures required
Source-edition basis: Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard, September 2011 publication.
- Product and unit of analysis, functional unit, or reference flow.
- Product life-cycle stages included and the boundary type.
- Gas identification as carbon dioxide and the reported direction as emissions to the atmosphere.
- Biogenic status of the carbon dioxide emissions.
- Inventory period.
- GWP source and date if reported in CO2e or combined with other greenhouse gases.
- Allocation and recycling method.
- Land-use-change method where applicable.
Record-specific limitations
- This is a product-attribution inventory result and must not be represented as corporate Scope 1, Scope 2, or Scope 3 emissions.
- Offsets, avoided emissions, delayed-emission weighting, indirect land-use change, and indirect market effects are outside the inventory result and must not be netted.
- Biogenic and non-biogenic results must remain distinguishable rather than being flattened into an undifferentiated emissions total.
Interpret this metric with the stated reporting boundary, period convention, value shape, and unit. Results prepared with different boundaries or conventions may not be directly comparable.
Measurement evidence supports the core record-specific claims described above. Corroborative evidence can support limitations, while compatibility and status sources provide their separately labelled context. None of these cards by itself determines an organisation's legal applicability, filing readiness, assurance status, or compliance conclusion.