An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is like a detailed nutritional label for a product's environmental impact. The EPD tells the entire story, from the very beginning to the very end.
When we talk about the environmental impact of fuels, things can get confusing. You might hear different numbers and terms used to describe their emissions, especially when comparing information from an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) with a company's direct emissions reported under the GHG Protocol.
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is like a detailed nutritional label for a product's environmental impact. The EPD tells the entire story, from the very beginning to the very end. This is often called a "life cycle assessment."
For instance, for a biofuel dataset used in an EPD, the emission factors like GWPtotal include:
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Cultivation and Harvesting: Emissions from growing the crops (like corn or sugarcane), including fertilisers, pesticides, and the fuel used for farm machinery.
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Transportation: Emissions from transporting the raw materials to a processing plant.
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Production: Emissions from the energy used to convert the crops into biofuel.
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Distribution: Transporting the finished biofuel to the gas station.
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Combustion: The emissions released when the biofuel is actually burned in an engine.
The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is more like an accounting system for a company's total greenhouse gas emissions. It helps a company measure and report its own carbon footprint. The GHG Protocol categorises emissions into three "scopes":
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Scope 1: Direct emissions from sources the company owns or controls (e.g., burning fuel in their own vehicles).
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Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling.
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Scope 3: All other indirect emissions in a company's value chain (e.g., from the products they buy).
When we talk about "direct emissions" for biofuels under the GHG Protocol, we are focused on Scope 1. This is where the key difference lies.
For biofuels, the GHG Protocol has a special rule. The carbon dioxide (CO2) released from burning a biofuel is considered "biogenic." This means it came from a natural, biological source (the plant). The reasoning is that the plant absorbed that same amount of CO2 from the atmosphere as it grew. Therefore, the GHG Protocol often treats the combustion part of biogenic CO2 as having a net-zero impact in their main accounting for Scope 1.
It's important to note that while the CO2 might be considered "carbon neutral" at the point of burning, the GHG Protocol still recommends reporting these emissions separately.
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