Learn in the textbookCorporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Initiatives
DefinitionA carbon footprint (カーボンフットプリント) is an indicator that converts the greenhouse gases a product or service emits over its whole life (its life cycle), from sourcing raw materials to disposal, into an amount of CO2.
ExplanationThe emissions from each stage are added into a single figure and made visible, for example by printing it on the product. Consumers can use it as a guide to choose products with a smaller environmental impact, and companies can use it to find the stages that emit the most and cut them.
AnalogyLike a nutrition label on food, it is a label that shows in numbers how much greenhouse gas the product emits over its life.
Memory hookA footprint is the mark a foot leaves behind. Read it as the carbon footprints a product leaves along its path from creation to disposal.