Seven departments: Preliminary construction of a product carbon footprint factor database in 2027

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on December 12, the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the General Office of the Ministry of Housing, Urban-Rural Development, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport, the General Office of the General Administration of Market Supervision, and the General Department of the National Data Administration issued the “Product Carbon Footprint Factor Database Construction Work Guidelines”. Relying on the national greenhouse gas emission factor database, all parties are encouraged to try first, participate, and collaborate effectively. In 2027, a product carbon footprint factor database will be initially built, and a product carbon footprint factor database with wide coverage, high data quality, and strong international influence will basically be built in 2030.

The original text is as follows:

Product Carbon Footprint Factor Database Construction Work Guidelines

In order to implement the “Implementation Plan on Establishing a Carbon Footprint Management System”, actively promote the construction of a product carbon footprint factor database, guide local, industry, scientific research institutions, enterprises and other social actors to explore data development or database development, support the construction of product carbon footprint management systems, and form a product carbon footprint factor database construction pattern with multi-party participation, scientific standardization, and coordination, the following guidelines are proposed.

I. General Requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping's ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, we will comprehensively implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress and the 20th Plenary Session of the Party, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's ideology of ecological civilization, adhere to the system concept, strengthen overall management, establish unified standards, speed up the construction of a product carbon footprint factor database, and lay a solid foundation for building a product carbon footprint management system. Relying on the national greenhouse gas emission factor database, all parties are encouraged to try first, participate, and collaborate effectively. In 2027, a product carbon footprint factor database will be initially built, and in 2030, a product carbon footprint factor database with wide coverage, high data quality, and strong international influence will basically be built.

II. Form a pattern of collaborative construction and sharing

(1) Clarify ideas for building a product carbon footprint factor database. Relying on the national greenhouse gas emission factor database, build a national product carbon footprint factor database, focus on key areas such as basic energy, commodities and raw materials, transportation, etc., carry out the development and management of carbon footprint factors throughout the product life cycle, build a product carbon footprint factor publishing platform, and support the carbon footprint accounting of terminal products. Willing industry authorities, local governments, industry associations, scientific research institutions and enterprises can focus on specific regions, industries or products for segmented data development or database development based on their own advantages to form effective connections and supplements, and provide data support for the construction of China's product carbon footprint management system.

(2) Establish a mechanism for sharing and integrating product carbon footprint factor data. The National Product Carbon Footprint Factor Database establishes a working mechanism covering the reporting, evaluation, feedback, adoption and update of product carbon footprint factor data. Each entity can submit high-quality carbon footprint factor data (complete unit process data and life cycle models should be attached) to ensure traceability of carbon footprint factor results. The National Product Carbon Footprint Factor database compiles high-quality data, forms and publishes representative national and regional factors, and updates them regularly. Databases at all levels are encouraged to share data through unified data structures and interfaces, and to exchange and compare key elements such as consistency, applicability, and boundary setting of carbon footprint data, and establish an integrated sharing mechanism for “multi-party reporting, national integration, unified release, and dynamic feedback”.

3. Improve the management system for the whole process of data development

(3) Standardize the product carbon footprint factor data development process. Based on life cycle assessment methods, develop relevant technical guidelines, optimize and improve standards related to product carbon footprint factors, and guide product carbon footprint factor development. First, the goals and scope should be clarified, functional units, system boundaries, trade-off criteria and data quality requirements should be defined, then data collection, data verification, unit process data set construction, life cycle inventory modeling and calculation should be carried out, and a carbon footprint factor data set should be constructed to form a complete data development report. The product carbon footprint factor development process and terminology must meet the relevant requirements of standards such as “GHG Product Carbon Footprint Quantification Requirements and Guidelines” (GB/T24067-2024), “Environmental Management Life Cycle Assessment Principles and Framework” (GB/T24040-2008), and “Environmental Management Life Cycle Assessment Requirements and Guidelines” (GB/T24044-2008).

(4) Clarify product carbon footprint factor data sources and update requirements. Product carbon footprint factor data development should prioritize the use of primary data (quantitative values of processes or activities obtained through direct measurement or calculation based on direct measurement), and rational use of secondary data such as statistics, literature data, and estimation data (data that does not meet the requirements of primary data). Data sources should be fully recorded to ensure data traceability, core data should disclose methodology and representative verification information, and the use of third-party data must be clearly authorized. Strengthen dynamic data management, update data with rapid technical iterations or significant regional differences in a timely manner, and improve data timeliness.

(5) Conduct a product carbon footprint factor data quality evaluation. Product carbon footprint factor data quality evaluation should be carried out based on the core principles of multi-dimensional representation (covering technical, geographical and time dimensions), scientific rigor (in line with relevant international and domestic standards), and traceability (complete disclosure of data sources, accounting methods and assumptions). The data should fully reflect the actual and technological progress level of China's energy, industry, and technology. Improve evaluation standards in line with technological development, policy adjustments, and industry feedback to enhance the scientific, representative and trustworthiness of the data.

(6) Strengthen the security protection of product carbon footprint factor data. Clarify the main responsibility for data security, establish and improve data security management systems, strengthen product carbon footprint factor data classification and classification management, strengthen risk monitoring, use technology and data service methods to strengthen data security protection, and promote data compliance and efficient circulation and utilization.

4. Clarify technical requirements for database construction

(7) Standardize the structure of the product carbon footprint factor database. The database should include relevant information such as product carbon footprint factors and product life cycle models involved in the development process, life cycle inventory analysis results, and unit process data. Life cycle models should include relationships between relevant unit process data sets. For other relevant requirements, see “Environmental Management Life Cycle Assessment Principles and Framework” (GB/T 24040-2008). The data source provides traceable original documents or acquisition channels, and the quality assessment records include complete review opinions and revision processes to ensure that the product's carbon footprint factor development process is scientific and rigorous.

(8) Unify the naming, classification and coding system for factor data. Formulate a unified naming, classification and coding system for each component of the database. Process and product names should reflect typical information such as process characteristics, and should follow national economic industry classification standards and statistical product classification catalogues issued by the National Bureau of Statistics; basic flows should have uniform unique codes to support interconnection between processes, data sets, and databases. Explore the development of uniform data naming, classification, and coding standards and data structure standards.

(9) Innovative cutting-edge technology applications. Encourage the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to improve the efficiency and quality of product carbon footprint factor database construction, and improve the representation and reliability of carbon footprint factor data. Explore application scenarios for solutions such as trusted data spaces in the construction of product carbon footprint factor databases, and encourage testing first.

5. Continuously strengthen policy guarantees and international exchanges

(10) Strengthen database construction guarantees. Refine product carbon footprint factor database construction standards, explore normalized evaluation mechanisms for factor data, encourage the industry and localities to regularly publish excellent data sets, study the inclusion of high-quality data in application scenarios such as green finance and green procurement, and improve data rights protection systems. Strengthen policy promotion and training guidance, and systematically promote database technical requirements, construction results and advanced experience. Explore multi-channel financial support models, increase policy guarantees, and encourage the inclusion of data submission to the National Product Carbon Footprint Factor Database in relevant work goals and results requirements.

(11) Promote international exchange and connectivity of databases. Follow and determine the development trend of rules related to the carbon footprint factor database for international products, strengthen exchanges and cooperation among domestic and foreign database development agencies, conduct database system consistency assessments, establish an internationally compatible data conversion mechanism, and encourage database R&D institutions and foreign equivalent agencies that are in a position to do so to explore mutual recognition of data in accordance with the law. Jointly with relevant international organizations, industry associations, scientific research institutions and enterprises, etc., we actively participate in and promote the revision of international standards related to product carbon footprint factors, make China's voice heard and make China's contribution.

Appendix: Product Carbon Footprint Factor Database Development Process

1. Definition of goals and scope: Clarify the development goals and scope of application of the product carbon footprint factor data set, including product systems and their functional descriptions, functional units and quantification methods, system boundaries, time and geographical coverage. Identify key process paths and unit processes, determine data trade-off criteria and quality requirements, and initially screen secondary data sources and selection schemes that meet technical, temporal and geographical representation.

2. Data collection: Collect qualitative data and quantitative data for each unit process within the boundaries of the system, giving priority to primary data that meet the requirements of goal and scope definition. If necessary, secondary data from open sources, reviewed, and representative may be used. Qualitative data includes process names, process descriptions, time and geographical locations, data processing methods and data sources; quantitative data refers to the input and output inventory data for each unit process, including products, by-products, material and energy consumption, transportation activities, and direct emissions of waste and greenhouse gases.

3. Unit process data set construction: Each unit process needs to determine an appropriate reference flow, and all quantitative data should be normalized using this reference flow as a reference. For processes involving multiple products, input and output data should be appropriately distributed to each product system in accordance with established allocation or substitution rules. Qualitative data and quantitative data are collated to form a structured unit process data set that can be used for life cycle inventory modeling.

4. Life cycle model: According to functional units, build a product life cycle model based on relationships between unit processes.

5. Life cycle inventory data set: Based on the life cycle model, calculate the sum of input and output generated by all unit processes within the system boundary of a unit product based on functional units to form a life cycle inventory data set.

6. Product carbon footprint factor results: Based on the life cycle inventory data set, global warming potential coefficients consistent with the national greenhouse gas inventory preparation method are selected to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent of various greenhouse gases, and the carbon footprint factors of products based on functional units are added and obtained.

7. Product carbon footprint factor data set development report: Systematically record the entire process of product carbon footprint factor data from goal and scope definition, data collection, unit process data set construction to life cycle modeling to form a development report. The report should describe in detail functional units, system boundaries, data quality requirements, data sources, data processing methods and modeling methods, and clarify the selection principles (including technology, time and geographical representation, consistency, completeness, accuracy) and the basis for use of secondary data.

8. Data set review: Verify the accuracy, completeness and consistency of the unit process and life cycle model through methods such as material balance, energy balance, element balance, etc., and further confirm the accuracy and completeness of the unit process data set and life cycle model through cross-comparison with other source data sets, expert review, document verification, field research, etc.; quantitatively evaluate the representation (technology, time and geographical representation) of the data set based on data quality evaluation methods, and qualitatively evaluate the scientific rigor (in line with relevant domestic and foreign standards) and traceability (completeness) of the data set Disclose data sources, accounting methods and assumptions) to form standardized review records and review conclusions.

9. Product carbon footprint factor database: The product carbon footprint factor database should be constructed according to structured standards and includes eight modules: model, process, basic flow and product flow, flow attributes, unit groups, climate change impact assessment methods, sources, contacts/institutions. Each module establishes a data linkage and traceability mechanism through unique identification and reference relationships. The model data set records the modeling logic of the life cycle inventory, and the product system model is constructed by referring to process and flow data sets; the process data set contains qualitative data and quantitative data of the unit process and life cycle inventory; the basic flow and product flow data sets describe the substance or energy input and output, and the unit conversion relationship is clarified through associated flow attributes and unit group files. The climate change impact assessment method should use a global warming potential coefficient consistent with the national greenhouse gas inventory preparation method to quantify the climate change impact of greenhouse gases. The source data set is used to record all materials in the data development process, such as development reports, review records, etc.; the contact/agency data set clarifies the ownership and review responsibilities of the data. All documents should follow a unified data naming, classification and coding system, and support bilingual information recording in Chinese and English.

This article was edited from: Ministry of Ecology and Environment official website; Zhitong Finance Editor: Chen Xiaoyi.