Your customer asked for a product carbon footprint. Send one back today.
You don't need a consultant, a software subscription or a certification audit to answer a supplier questionnaire. You need a cradle-to-gate figure per unit, a clear boundary, and emission factors your buyer can trace. This page shows exactly how to produce that — and the tool that does the arithmetic.
Free. No account needed to produce and print the report.
What your buyer is actually asking for
Requests arrive with different labels — CSRD value-chain data, a CDP supplier questionnaire, a sustainability rating platform upload, an EPD pre-check, a customer's own Scope 3 category 1 inventory. Underneath, they nearly always want the same five things:
A declared unit — what exactly one "unit" of your product is (1 bottle, 1 kg, 1 pallet).
A system boundary — normally cradle-to-gate: raw materials, inbound transport, your production, packaging.
A total in kg CO₂e per declared unit.
The emission factors used, with source and dataset year.
What you excluded, and why.
A polished PDF containing those five items closes the request. Anything more is usually the buyer's own homework, not yours.
Three steps, one afternoon
Step 1
Gather the paperwork
Bill of materials with masses, packaging weights, last year's electricity and fuel bills, and how many units you made in that year.
Step 2
Pick traceable factors
Choose an emission factor per material from recognised national and industry databases — DEFRA, EPA, ADEME, UBA, MITECO, SEMARNAT — each with its source shown.
Step 3
Print and reply
Get a report with the total per declared unit, a stage breakdown, and a full factor register. Print to PDF and attach it to your reply.
My customer sent a spreadsheet asking for kg CO₂e per unit. Is a cradle-to-gate PCF enough?
In almost all supplier requests, yes. Buyers need your product's emissions up to the point it leaves your gate, because they add their own downstream stages themselves. That is exactly what a cradle-to-gate PCF reports.
Do I need to be certified or verified?
Not to answer a buyer questionnaire. ISO 14067 sets out how to quantify a product carbon footprint; certification is a separate, optional exercise. What buyers check is whether your boundary, declared unit and emission factors are stated clearly.
What data do I need before I start?
Your bill of materials with masses, roughly where each input comes from, your annual site electricity and fuel use, annual units produced, and your packaging weights. Invoices and meter readings are enough.
How long does it take?
Around 20–40 minutes for a first product if you have your bill of materials to hand. Later products are faster because you reuse the same factors.
Who is responsible for the number?
You are — as the manufacturer, you own the declaration. The tool shows every factor, source and dataset year in a factor register so your figure is auditable and defensible.
Answer the request instead of postponing it
Your progress is saved in your browser as you go, so you can stop and come back with the missing invoice. Create a free account only when you want a shareable link for the customer.