Japanese Ministry Establishes Guidelines and Rules for Creation of a Carbon Footprint System

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced on March 3, 2009, the publication of its "Guidelines on the Carbon Footprint System," which describes the background and goals of the system, as well as how to calculate and display carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, plus standards for establishing product category rules (PCR).

The carbon footprint system is an index used to measure greenhouse gas emissions in units of CO2 throughout the entire lifecycle of a product or service -- from raw material procurement to disposal and recycling -- and indicates the information on a special label. METI has been working to establish the system, with the aim of working towards preventing global warming through the combined efforts of businesses and consumers.

METI plans to use the guidelines and PCR standards as basic rules for use in pilot projects to introduce the system into the market, which is scheduled to be launched in fiscal year 2009, and refine the issues found in the trials. The guidelines and the standards will be compiled as Technical Specifications (TS), recognized by the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC).

Ministry to Proceed with Carbon Footprint Program (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/028738.html
Establishment of the basic rules on the carbon footprint system
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/data/20090303_01.html

Posted: 2009/06/15 06:00:15 AM