Abstract:

As our country’s carbon footprint research is started late, the establishment of a thorough carbon footprint assessment system is an inevitable choice for us to effectively cope with complex international relations and increasingly fierce international low-carbon economic competition, scientifically promote and guide the development of green and low-carbon transformation, and orderly achieve the “double carbon” goal. Based on domestic and foreign literature research, the carbon footprint concept, carbon footprint assessment methods, carbon footprint assessment standards, carbon footprint assessment boundary division and data acquisition were reviewed and analyzed systematically. Although the academic definition of carbon footprint was not yet completely unified, more people tended to elaborate it from the perspective of the whole life cycle. In this paper, the concept of carbon footprint of industrial products was supplemented and improved from the perspectives of the “whole life cycle” and “whole process”. Compared with the input-output analysis method (IOA), the life cycle assessment method (LCA) was relatively leading in development, had certain advantages in universality, systematization and quantification, and expanded the product system in time and space, but it still needed to be further improved in the terms of the truncation error control, data quality assurance and unification of standard system, etc. PAS2050, GHG Protocol and ISO14067 were currently the most widely used whole life cycle carbon footprint assessment standards. However, more detailed, precise and clear Product Category Rules (PCR) were needed for specific product categories. Based on the above research summary and the analysis of the application progress of carbon footprint assessment technology in key industrial emission control industry such as electric power, steel, cement, petroleum and chemical industry, the problems existing in the current research and the challenges facing the development of our country's carbon footprint assessment technology were proposed: ①The localization carbon emission database of the whole life cycle and whole process of multiple fields had yet to be improved; ②A high-precision, standardized and internationally recognized carbon footprint assessment methodology had yet to be built; and ③The research on the combination of carbon footprint and quantitative assessment of carbon emission reduction was not in-depth enough, and there were few landmark demonstration projects that supported the implementation of carbon footprints for low-carbon solutions. In the future, it was necessary to further explore the combination of carbon footprint assessment technology with carbon emissions accounting and carbon trading research, combine product carbon footprint with product carbon labeling and Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), and give full play to the role of carbon footprint assessment technology in promoting scientific and orderly carbon reduction, guiding green and low-carbon consumption, and responding to trade barriers, etc. This paper could provide a reference for promoting the establishment of a comprehensive, scientific, accurate and standardized carbon footprint assessment system in China.

Key words: carbon footprint, life cycle analysis, carbon peak and carbon neutral, carbon footprint assessment standards, product carbon footprint, trade barriers

摘要：

我国碳足迹研究起步较晚，建立完善的碳足迹评估体系是我国有效应对复杂国际关系和日益激烈的国际低碳经济竞争、科学推动和引导绿色低碳转型发展、有序实现“双碳”目标的必然选择。基于国内外文献调研，本文系统梳理和分析了碳足迹概念、碳足迹评估方法、碳足迹评估标准、碳足迹评估边界划分及数据获取等。虽然学术上对碳足迹的定义尚未完全统一，但更多倾向于从全生命周期来进行阐述，本文从“全生命周期”和“全工艺流程”2个角度对工业产品碳足迹概念进行了补充完善。与投入产出分析法（IOA）相比，生命周期评价法（LCA）发展相对较为领先，在普适性、系统化、定量化上具有一定的优势，并对产品系统在时间和空间上进行了扩展，但在截断误差控制、数据质量保证和标准体系统一等方面还需进一步完善。PAS2050、GHG Protocol和ISO14067是目前应用最为广泛的全生命周期碳足迹评估标准，但针对具体的产品门类，还需开展更细化、精准、明确的产品类别评估规范（PCR）。基于上述研究总结及碳足迹评估技术在电力、钢铁、水泥、石油和化工等重点工业控排行业的应用进展分析，提出了目前研究存在的问题及国内碳足迹评估技术发展面临的挑战：多领域全生命周期全流程的本土化碳排放数据库尚待完善；高精度、标准化、国际互认的碳足迹评估方法体系尚待构建；碳足迹和碳减排量化评估相结合的研究还不够深入，碳足迹支撑低碳化方案实施的标志化示范项目较少。未来需进一步探索碳足迹评估技术与排放量核算、碳交易研究的结合，产品碳足迹与产品碳标签、绿色产品认证（EPD）机制相结合，充分发挥碳足迹评估技术在推动科学有序降碳、引导绿色低碳消费、应对贸易壁垒等方面的作用。

关键词: 碳足迹, 生命周期评价法, 碳达峰与碳中和, 碳足迹评估标准, 产品碳足迹, 贸易壁垒