After nine months of development, the Union of the European Lubricants Industry and the Technical Association of the European Lubricants Industry published their Methodology for Product Carbon Footprint Calculations for Lubricants and Other Specialties.
Many lubricant companies are feeling increasing pressure from customers, suppliers and investors to provide detailed data on their products’ carbon footprints. The two associations hope that this new methodology with simplify and standardize the calculation process.
UEIL and ATIEL set up a task force in January to devise a harmonized cradle-to-gate product carbon footprint methodology that can be used throughout the European lubricants industry, according to a joint press release from the two associations.
“To be able to determine product carbon footprints for lubricants and other specialties on a common, harmonized basis for the whole European Lubricants Industry is a decisive capability, and we are delighted to have developed it together with ATIEL,” UEIL President Mattia Adani said in a press release.
The methodology is aligned with ISO Standard 14067:2018 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol product standard. It takes the production of 1 kilogram of unpacked lubricant or other specialty product at the factory outbound gate as the declared unit and reference flow. This could be, for example, production of 1 kg of unpacked SAE 0W-20 engine oil.
A declared unit is an amount of the substance or product that is being studied. The reference flow is the quantity unit of required inputs from a process in a system that is needed to fulfill the functionality of the declared unit.