Project

Carbon Footprint Quebec

To determine the feasibility of large scale carbon footprint labeling in Québec and guide subsequent actions

The Québec government announced as part of its 2010-2011 Budget a $24 M plan aimed at promoting the marketing of products whose carbon footprints have been measured and certified.

The ministère des Finances et de l’Économie (MFEQ) was mandated to implement this measure that is not without obstacles, notably the young state of carbon footprint labeling internationally but also the lack of harmonization of calculation methodologies.

Faced with these limitations, the MFEQ partnered with the Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services (CIRAIG) in order to conduct a product carbon footprint pilot project. The pilot, which was launched in February 2012, included twelve companies that took on quantifying the carbon footprint of one or more of their products. The participating companies were selected in an effort to cover a large scope of products, types of businesses and sensitive calculation parameters.

The MFEQ also benefited from the expertise of the Bureau de normalization du Québec (BNQ) in greenhouse gas (GHG) verification in order to explore necessary auditing mechanisms for carbon footprint calculations. The aim of the pilot was ultimately to determine the feasibility of large scale carbon footprint labeling in Québec and guide subsequent actions.

In collaboration with

Similar projects

Biomass energy, or bioenergy, is energy produced from renewable biomass, for which the assessment of environmental impacts through life cycle assessment (LCA) presents a number of challenges, in particular methodological ones. The general objectives of this study are to analyze current practices for carrying out LCAs of biomass energy, and to provide recommendations on current and future best practices.

Food choices have a significant climate impact, which can be unknown to the public. The CIRAIG, commissioned by Polytechnique Montréal, has been tasked with calculating the climate-warming impact of the menus offered by the cafeteria, aiming to enable students to understand the impact of their meals and change their eating habits to reduce it.

Subscribe to our newsletter !