When should companies calculate a PEF?
The PEF encompasses various environmental aspects, including product-level carbon emissions, which align with corporate carbon footprint reporting. This includes a calculation of all three emission scopes:
- Scope 1 – Direct emissions from company-owned sources (e.g. fuel, heating, vehicles), including process emissions generated during industrial or manufacturing activities.
- Scope 2 – Indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat, or steam.
- Scope 3 – Indirect emissions across the value chain, such as raw material extraction, logistics, product use, and end-of-life, where it is important to account for supply chain activities when calculating total emissions.
Collecting primary data – such as specific information on materials, manufacturing processes, and product usage –is essential to ensure accurate product carbon footprint calculations.
Since Scope 3 often makes up 75–90% of a company’s total footprint, product-level analysis is critical to tackling the bulk of emissions.
The role of category rules (PEFCRs)
Not all products are created equal — which is where Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) come in. PEFCRs, the formal name for these guidelines, are based on the PEF methodology and provide detailed, product-specific guidelines that ensure calculations are consistent across similar products. Each PEFCR includes specific rules for its product category.
Existing categories already cover items such as beer, pasta, detergents, paints, IT equipment, and pet food. PEFCRs are designed to allow for comparison of products with the same function, and are being created for various industries and services.
The development of PEFCRs is a collaborative process, requiring the involvement of other actors such as industry, NGOs, and public bodies to develop robust and widely accepted rules.
In June 2025, the European Commission welcomed new PEFCRs for apparel and footwear. These rules are still being developed and are currently in a transition phase before full implementation. Developed over five years with input from industry, NGOs, and national bodies, the rules introduce a science-based, impartial method for measuring environmental impact across the entire lifecycle of clothes and shoes.
The pilot phase served as a period of testing and refinement, allowing stakeholders to finalize category-specific rules before the methodology becomes mandatory.
The framework treats all materials equally, supports fair comparisons, and aligns with the EU’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. The implementation of these rules is expected to have a significant impact on the European market by promoting comparability and transparency for sustainable products. Future updates are expected to address microplastics and biodiversity impacts, further strengthening the methodology.
Life cycle impact assessment
At the heart of the PEF framework is the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). This cycle assessment LCA based method, which is part of broader life cycle assessments, goes beyond greenhouse gas emissions to evaluate a wide range of environmental impacts linked to a product. LCIA uses standardized impact categories and weighting factors to ensure consistency and comparability of results. These include:
- Climate change contributions (CO₂, methane, nitrous oxide, and other GHGs)
- Resource depletion and resource use (use of finite raw materials, energy, and water)
- Air and water pollution (including acidification and eutrophication)
- Waste and toxicity (impact on ecosystems and human health)
By applying LCIA, businesses gain a holistic picture of environmental harm — not just carbon emissions but also broader effects on people and the planet. LCIA helps companies improve their life cycle environmental performance and overall environmental sustainability.
This approach enables organizations to evaluate environmental performances across the product life cycle.
Understanding greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain one of the most visible metrics in sustainability reporting. PEF assessments capture both direct and indirect emissions associated with a product’s life cycle.
Lucie explains: “Looking at GHGs alone can give a misleadingly narrow picture. A PEF is more comprehensive because it also measures how products affect resources, biodiversity, and pollution — the things that matter for long-term resilience.”
That said, reducing GHG emissions remains a critical outcome of PEF analysis, as it directly supports corporate net-zero targets and compliance with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
How to calculate a PEF
A PEF assessment is based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, specifically utilizing the PEF method as a standardized, based method for calculating product environmental footprints. The PEF method sets specific rules and databases to ensure consistency and facilitate regulatory acceptance. Compared to existing methods, the PEF method offers improved standardization, comparability, and reliability, addressing limitations found in other approaches and helping to prevent greenwashing. The assessment follows recognised international standards:
- ISO 14040 – Principles and framework for LCA
- ISO 14044 – Requirements and guidelines for LCA
- GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting – A widely adopted framework for product-level emissions
This means considering the entire journey of a product — from design and production, through transport and use, to disposal or recycling, using consistent methods to ensure reliable results.
Sweep makes it easier for organisations to tackle product footprinting. Our platform helps you:
- Define system boundaries (all activities, processes, and suppliers involved)
- Collect reliable climate data across your supply chain with surveys and workflows
- Map product emissions, carbon intensity, and hotspots
- Build audit-ready reports for compliance or customer disclosure
As Lucie explains, “Product carbon footprints are valuable, as they are the first step in calculating your PEF. ”
