It is common to come across the term ‘carbon footprint’ when reading articles, campaigns, or hearing people talk about reducing emissions. However, have you heard about ‘carbon handprint’?

Carbon Footprint

Carbon footprint is a measure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, organization, service, product, or activity. According to the GHG Protocol, there are 7 types of GHG. They are typically converted into CO2 by multiplying the amount of each gas with the respective global warming potential value, and stated with the unit of mass of CO2 equivalent (written as CO2 eq.) per defined function. Usually, companies include the calculation of carbon footprint in their annual reports - specifically sustainability reports.

Carbon Handprint

Relatedly, carbon handprint is quite the opposite of carbon footprint and is usually assessed for companies. According to the carbon handprint guide by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd and LUT University, carbon handprint depicts the beneficial environmental impacts that organizations can achieve and communicate by offering products and services that reduce the footprints of others - in other words, carbon handprint is the reduction of the carbon footprint of others. Carbon handprint is separate from carbon footprint - a company’s handprint does not mean the reduction of the its own footprint.

Carbon footprint is the difference between carbon footprint of a baseline and carbon footprint of the product or service produced by a company (which is lower than the baseline). Carbon footprint is an absolute value of emissions, but carbon handprint is a relative value which is influenced by the baseline emissions. The baseline refers to the other existing product/service that delivers the same functions as the product/service offered by the company.

Aspects that contribute to carbon footprint include:

• Material use: replacing non-renewable or GHG-intensive materials, avoiding material use, increasing material use efficiency
• Energy use: replacing non-renewable or GHG-intensive energy, avoiding energy use, increasing energy efficiency
• Lifetime and performance: lengthening the lifetime of product, enabling the performance improvement of product, efficient use of side streams (residue or by-product)
• Waste: reducing waste and losses, contributing to recycling, reuse, and remanufacture
• Carbon capture and storage: contributing to GHG sinks through land-use change, sequestering carbon into biomass, storing carbon into products

An example of carbon handprint is a food packaging solution that is produced with low emissions and additionally helps to extend the food’s shelf life compared to a common packaging. This solution reduces the risk of food spoilage, hence reduces food waste and the emission released from it.

A company’s goal relating to carbon footprint is minimizing it until near zero. Meanwhile, there is no limit to which a company can enlarge its carbon handprint.

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