Screening estimate
Your weights and factors, three or four stages.
Finds the largest stage.Tool · product carbon footprint
Product carbon footprint calculator: per unit, stage by stage
This product carbon footprint calculator adds up one product’s emissions per unit: materials, factory energy, delivery and, if you choose, end of life.
You bring the material factors; it applies the UK government’s 2026 factors for energy and road freight and shows which stage is largest.
The calculator
What is the carbon footprint of one unit of your product?
Enter the weight of each material and its factor, the factory energy per unit and the delivery distance.
One product, per unit · by life cycle stage
Footprint: 0.190 kgCO2e per unit · 0.190 tCO2e per 1,000 units
2 materials have no factor yet and count as zero: the result is incomplete until you add them.
Raw materials (your factors)0.000 kgCO2e
Manufacture (electricity and gas)0.157 kgCO2e
Distribution by road0.033 kgCO2e
DESNZ factors used: electricity 0.13096 per kWh, gas 0.18231 per kWh, average HGV at 50% laden 0.12320 per tonne km (DESNZ 2026). Material and end-of-life factors are yours.
A screening estimate, not an ISO 14067 study or a verified label. Nothing is stored or sent.
The stages
Which life cycle stages make up a product footprint?
A product footprint follows one unit from the materials it is made of to where it ends up, and reports the result stage by stage, as the GHG Protocol Product Standard requires.
For a final product that standard expects cradle to grave; cradle to gate is allowed when disclosed and justified.
The calculator does raw materials, manufacture and delivery, and adds end of life if you tick it; use-phase energy is left to a full study.
Five stages, one unitExplore
Five stages, one unit
Raw materials
Extraction and processing of what the product is made of.
Five stages, one unit
Manufacture
Energy and process emissions in your factory.
Five stages, one unit
Distribution
Getting the product to the customer.
Five stages, one unit
Use
Energy the product uses, if any.
Five stages, one unit
End of life
Disposal, recycling or recovery.
The factors
Which numbers does the calculator supply, and which do you?
| Stage | Factor | Who supplies it |
|---|---|---|
| Raw materials | kgCO2e per kg of each material | You: supplier data, an EPD or an LCA database |
| Manufacture: electricity | 0.13096 kgCO2e per kWh | DESNZ 2026, Table 9 |
| Manufacture: gas | 0.18231 kgCO2e per kWh, gross | DESNZ 2026 flat file |
| Distribution by road | 0.12320 kgCO2e per tonne km, average HGV, 50% laden | DESNZ 2026 flat file |
| End of life | kgCO2e per unit | You |
Freight factors per tonne km fall as a lorry fills: the same average HGV is 0.07488 at 100% load, so the calculator uses the 50% row when the load is unknown.
Material factors carry most of the uncertainty, which is why the tool flags any material left without one rather than guessing.
A full study
What does an ISO 14067 study add to a screening estimate?
ISO 14067 sets requirements for a product footprint and rests on the life cycle method of ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
A study defines its goal and functional unit, sets data-quality rules, handles co-products by allocation and reports its assumptions, none of which a calculator can do for you.
The software that runs those studies is compared on product carbon footprint software and life cycle assessment software.
One
product
product
ISO 14067 study
Goal and scope, data quality, allocation, every stage, a report.
A figure you can publish with care.Using the result
Can you publish or label a product footprint?
A footprint on a label or in an advert is an environmental claim, which the CMA’s Green Claims Code and CAP Code section 11 expect to be accurate and to consider the full life cycle.
Misleading claims fall under Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
Read about EPDs and UK CBAM
An EPD is a verified declaration under ISO 14025:2026, and for construction products EN 15804; see EPD software.
UK CBAM charges embodied emissions in certain imports from 1 January 2027 under Finance Act 2026 Part 5, on its own boundaries.
Where a product figure goesExplore
Where a product figure goes
Internal hotspot
A screening estimate is enough.
Where a product figure goes
A customer request
Share the figure with its boundary and data sources.
Where a product figure goes
A label or advert
An environmental claim: substantiated and clear.
Order of work
What should you do first with a product figure?
- 1
Find the biggest stage
Usually materials; check before assuming.
- 2
Replace estimates there
Ask that supplier for product-specific data.
- 3
Fix the boundary
Gate or grave, stated and kept.
- 4
Study before you publish
ISO 14067 or the Product Standard.
In one sentence
The whole page, said once
One product, one unit, stage by stage, and the biggest stage is where the work begins.
Takeaways
Five facts, then the next step
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| ISO 14067 governs product carbon footprints. | ISO 14067:2018 |
| Results are reported by life cycle stage. | GHG Protocol Product Standard |
| Offsets stay out of a product footprint. | GHG Protocol Product Standard |
| An average HGV at 50% load is 0.12320 kgCO2e per tonne km. | DESNZ 2026 |
| A label is an environmental claim under the Green Claims Code. | CMA |
Where to go nextExplore
Frequently asked
Product carbon footprint calculator, answered
How do I calculate the carbon footprint of a product?
Add the emissions from each life cycle stage for one unit: the materials it is made from, the energy used to make it, getting it to the customer and, if you go to grave, its use and end of life.
The calculator on this page does that sum per unit.
Where do I get material factors?
From your supplier, a published EPD for the material, or an LCA database.
This site publishes no material factors and the calculator invents none: a material without a factor counts as zero and is flagged.
Which factors does the calculator supply?
Only those DESNZ publishes: UK grid electricity at 0.13096 kgCO2e per kWh, natural gas at 0.18231 per kWh gross, and an average non-refrigerated HGV at 50% load at 0.12320 per tonne km.
What is the difference between cradle to gate and cradle to grave?
Cradle to gate stops when the product leaves your gate or reaches your customer’s; cradle to grave adds use and end of life.
The GHG Protocol Product Standard expects cradle to grave for final products, with cradle to gate disclosed and justified.
Is this an ISO 14067 carbon footprint?
No. ISO 14067 sets requirements for goal and scope, data quality, allocation and reporting that a screening calculator cannot meet.
Use this to find the largest stage; commission or run a study for a figure you will publish.
Can I put the result on a label?
Not on this basis.
A carbon label is an environmental claim, and the CMA’s Green Claims Code and CAP Code section 11 expect it to be accurate, substantiated and clear about what it covers.
Can carbon offsets reduce a product footprint?
Not in the result.
The GHG Protocol Product Standard keeps offsets and avoided emissions out of the inventory results.
How does a product footprint relate to an EPD?
An EPD is a published, verified declaration under ISO 14025, and for construction products EN 15804.
A product footprint can feed one, but an EPD covers more than climate change and follows product category rules.
Does UK CBAM use product carbon footprints?
UK CBAM, from 1 January 2027, charges embodied emissions in certain imported goods under Finance Act 2026 Part 5, using its own system boundaries, not a general product footprint method.
Why per unit and per 1,000 units?
Per unit is how a product footprint is declared; per 1,000 units, in tonnes, shows how it adds up across a production run.
Is anything stored?
No. The calculation runs in your browser.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
Checked against 17 sources fromISOBSIGHG ProtocolGHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroCompetition and Markets Authority
- ISOISO 14067:2018 — Carbon footprint of products
Climate change only; under revision with no published date.
- ISOISO 14040:2006 — Life cycle assessment: principles and framework
The four phases a product study follows.
- ISOISO 14044:2006 — Life cycle assessment: requirements and guidelines
Requirements behind ISO 14067.
- ISOISO 14025:2026 — Environmental product declarations
When a footprint becomes a published declaration.
- BSIBS EN 15804:2012+A2:2019
Construction product EPDs.
- GHG ProtocolProduct Standard
Corporate versus product footprints.
- GHG Protocol (WRI, WBCSD)Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (PDF)
Results by stage; no offsets in the result; boundary rules.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2026
Factory energy and road freight factors used here.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroConversion factors 2026: flat file (revised July 2026)
Gas and HGV freight rows.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero2026 conversion factors methodology paper, Table 9
UK grid electricity.
- Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGovernment conversion factors for company reporting
Published for company reporting; other uses at the user’s own risk.
- Competition and Markets AuthorityGreen Claims Code
Claims must be accurate and consider the full life cycle.
- Competition and Markets AuthorityMaking green claims across the supply chain
Evidence passed between businesses.
- Advertising Standards Authority (CAP)CAP Code section 11 — environmental claims
Claims in advertising.
- legislation.gov.ukDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4
Misleading practices.
- legislation.gov.ukFinance Act 2026, Part 5 (UK CBAM)
Embodied emissions in imported goods, from 1 January 2027.
- HMRCUK CBAM policy summary
How embodied emissions are charged.