BPIF launches print industry standardised carbon calculator

10 March 2009

Environment

The BPIF has launched a carbon calculator aimed at cutting through the "accreditation clutter" and setting transparent carbon benchmarking.

The calculator, which will initially be available for free to BPIF Platinum members before being rolled out across the industry, was 18 months in the making and is supported by the CarbonNeutral Company.

BPIF chief Michael Johnson described it as a "world-class product" for which he has had enquiries as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. He added that he was already talking to Kodak about rolling it out in the US.

The calculator can be applied on both a product and plant basis and provides a "cradle-to-the-grave" carbon assessment based on PAS 2050 and GHG protocol respectively.

Once the carbon footprint has been calculated, the results can be ranked to reveal the most carbon-intensive parts of production, which is where reduction processes can have the most impact.

Following that, printers can choose to have the remaining carbon offset by companies such as the CarbonNeutral Company, although users of the calculator are not tied in to this service.

The calculator takes into consideration the carbon impact of energy consumption, paper, inks, plates, landfill waste, staff commuting and sub-contracted operations and more.

It also includes a library of 28 paper profiles, with more added as information becomes available, meaning printers can show clients how different stock can change the environmental impact of their work.

However, Bill Sneyd, director of advisory services at the CarbonNeutral Company, warned that it was still an evolutionary process.

"There's currently a lack of data available, especially from chemical producers," he added.

Dale Wallis, who heads up the BPIF's Carbon Management services said that the ultimate goal was not just to measure carbon, but to reduce it. He said that despite the current lack of data in certain areas, it is still a core tool in identifying key areas where measures to reduce carbon will have most impact.

The calculator meets PAS 2050 and will be updated every quarter with fresh data.

The BPIF also intends to make an online version of the calculator available, which will record data from previous calculations, so that printers can continually update their carbon profile against the latest benchmarks.