Industries
Carbon footprint by industry every chain has its own hotspots.
The carbon footprint is not split the same way across sectors: in an industrial part the material and the process weigh most, in food it is farming, in an event it is attendee travel. These pages explain what dominates each chain and what documentation Xain needs to calculate it.
One method can serve every sector, but the buyer’s questions are not the same. A parts manufacturer needs to know which material and process weigh most; a food producer, which farming stage dominates; an events organiser, how much travel represents. These pages start from how each chain works and from the documentation the company already has.
What changes from one sector to another?
What changes is which part of the chain concentrates the emissions and which documents describe the product. Xain always uses physical life-cycle factors (material, weight, process (including its energy) and transport) and the company’s primary data when it exists. What varies is the process tree and the factor sources applied.
How are these pages organised?
Each page describes the sector’s hotspots, the documentation needed, the rules that usually prompt the request and the common questions. They contain no customer cases or result figures: the approved figures are on the solutions and methodology pages.
Is your sector missing?
The method applies to any product or service that can be broken down into materials, processes (including their energy) and transport. If your activity has no page of its own, get in touch and we will review your case.
In this section
Manufacturing
How to calculate the footprint of industrial parts and products: material, process (including its energy) and transport, from documents you already have.
Textiles
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a garment or fabric: fibre, spinning, dyeing and making-up. Nextil case: polo with −76 % versus conventional.
Food and agriculture
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a food product and the Scope 3 of food and agriculture purchases with physical factors instead of spend-based factors.
Beverages
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a beverage: ingredients, packaging, bottling and transport. Real case: cola can ~0.17 kgCO2e versus ~0.36 spend-based.
Events
How to calculate an event's carbon footprint: travel, accommodation, catering, materials, waste and venue energy. Cases: Noches del Botánico and AERCE Congress.
Consulting and services
How to calculate the carbon footprint of a service: travel, office energy, equipment and subcontractors, per project, hour or deliverable, with a certificate.
Vehicle cleaning and maintenance
How to calculate the carbon footprint of vehicle cleaning and maintenance: water, products, energy, waste and travel, per service, with a traceable certificate.
Banking
How to measure the Scope 3 of a financial institution’s purchases: services, technology, facilities and suppliers, with physical factors rather than spend.
Retail and distribution
How to measure the Scope 3 of a retailer or distributor’s purchases: goods for resale, private label and suppliers, with physical factors rather than spend.
Public sector
How to measure the Scope 3 of a public body’s purchases and how to answer tenders that ask for a carbon footprint: unit, boundary, standard and verification.
Hotels
How to measure the Scope 3 of a hotel’s purchases: food, linen, amenities, cleaning and maintenance, with physical factors rather than spend.
Keep reading
Solutions
Software that calculates and certifies the product carbon footprint and Scope 3 of purchases with physical factors and an ISO 14067 method verified by LRQA.
Physical vs spend factors
Differences between spend-based and physical emission factors: how they are calculated, what errors they cause and when each fits for products and Scope 3.
Calculating Category 1
Guide to calculating Scope 3 Category 1, purchased goods and services: the four GHG Protocol methods, the steps and when each one fits best.
Tell us what you want to measure
One product, a catalogue or your purchases. We reply with the next steps.
Contact Xain