Corporate carbon footprint: measuring emissions with ISO 14064 and 14067

Not a number thrown into a report: a solid emissions inventory that stands up in front of clients, supply chains and verification bodies.

What a carbon footprint is

• Organisational carbon footprint (OCF) — measures the greenhouse gas emissions of the whole company and its activities (Scope 1, 2 and 3). Reference standard: ISO 14064-1, or the GHG Protocol as an alternative.
• Product carbon footprint (PCF) — measures the emissions of a single product across its entire life cycle, on an LCA basis. Reference standard: ISO 14067.
• Carbon neutrality — a company aiming to declare itself carbon neutral will find in ISO 14068 the reference for doing so credibly, rather than as a marketing claim.

The difference between OCF and PCF is no detail: it dictates method, data and effort. Choosing correctly is the first thing the consulting is worth.

	OCF (Organisation)	PCF (Product)
Subject	The whole company	A single product
Standard	ISO 14064-1 / GHG Protocol	ISO 14067
Approach	Emissions of the organisation	Life cycle (LCA)
Data	Company data collection	Supply chain data collection
Verification	By an independent body	By an independent body

Who needs it, and why

• Companies with reporting duties: the CSRD requires a sustainability statement from a growing number of businesses, and the emissions figure is at its core.
• Companies fielding requests from the supply chain: large clients with CSRD or SBTi targets ask their suppliers for emissions data.
• Companies taking part in ESG ratings — EcoVadis, CDP — or answering questions from banks and investors.
• Companies that want a serious basis for cutting emissions and energy costs, not just something to communicate.
• For products: companies bidding for tenders that reward a certified footprint, or preparing for the Digital Product Passport (ESPR).

After the recent European simplification (the Omnibus package) many businesses fell outside the direct reporting duty, but the demand for emissions data moved onto the supply chain: the large clients still caught by the rules ask their suppliers for it. That is why measuring emissions now matters even to companies no longer required to by law.

GHG Protocol or ISO 14064?

This is the question companies actually ask, and one that gets few clear answers.

• Use the GHG Protocol where it is explicitly required: CDP questionnaires, CSRD reporting under ESRS, SBTi targets.
• Use ISO 14064 when you need an inventory that an independent third party can verify.

The GHG Protocol and ISO have announced their intention to merge the two standards into a single harmonised global reference, to cut duplication and make inventories more comparable. A calculation set up properly today will already be in line with it.

How we work

The route differs from certifying a management system: here you build an inventory and have it verified.

1. Initial review (free preliminary assessment) — company structure, objectives, reporting boundary, the choice between OCF and PCF and between ISO and the GHG Protocol.
2. Data collection — consumption, processes, suppliers. This is the most laborious part, and where technical competence heads off crude mistakes.
3. Calculating the emissions — to the requirements of the chosen standard.
4. Documentation — the inventory that will stand up to verification.
5. Third-party verification — we stand alongside the company before the body that validates the data, with the advantage of knowing exactly what will be looked at, and how.
6. Putting the results to work — ESG reporting, reduction strategies, routes towards neutrality.

Our two roles, and how we keep them apart

On carbon footprint we work on both sides, but never on the same inventory:

• As consultants, we build the emissions inventory with the company and take it through to verification, which stays with a third-party body.
• As a qualified ISO 14064-1 verifier (GHG Lead Verifier), we can be appointed to verify inventories prepared by others.

The separation is not a formality: independence is what gives verification its value, and an inventory cannot be validated by whoever built it. What carries over, either way, is knowing the yardstick from the inside.

The Swiss and cross-border context

The CSRD is a European directive, but it bears directly on clients in Italy and on Swiss companies trading in the EU market or belonging to groups that fall under it. Switzerland has also introduced climate reporting duties of its own for large companies.

For anyone working on both sides of the border, an inventory built to an international standard covers what both systems ask for from a single base.

How the cost breaks down

Two items: our consulting fee and the fee of the verification body, an independent third party. The variables are the boundary (Scope 1 and 2 only, or Scope 3 as well), the choice between OCF and PCF, and above all the quality and availability of the starting data — almost always the factor that weighs most.

Why BS & Partners

• Qualified GHG Lead Verifier for ISO 14064-1: direct experience of verifying emissions inventories. Qualification issued by Swiss Approval International.
• A multidisciplinary approach: measuring the emissions of a production process means understanding the process. Our grounding in structural and mechanical engineering lets us read real consumption and real flows, rather than estimating by eye.
• The link with ISO 14001: a company that already has an environmental management system starts ahead, and we know how the two fit together. The same goes for ISO 50001: if you already measure energy, you hold much of the data needed here.
• Ten years in business, 117 projects, work in 9 countries.
• The firm and the way we work: the BS & Partners profile.