This Publicly Available Specification (PAS) specifies requirements for the assessment of the life cycle GHG emissions of goods and services (collectively referred to as “products”) based on key life cycle assessment techniques and principles. This PAS is applicable to organizations assessing the GHG emissions of products across their life cycle, and to organizations assessing the cradle-to-gate GHG emissions of products.

Requirements are specified for identifying the system boundary, the sources of GHG emissions associated with products that fall inside the system boundary, the data requirements for carrying out the analysis, and the calculation of the results.

This PAS addresses the single impact category of global warming. It does not assess other potential social, economic and environmental impacts or issues arising from the provision of products or issues associated with the life cycle of products, such as non-GHG emissions, acidification, eutrophication, toxicity, biodiversity or labour standards. The life cycle GHG emissions of products, as calculated using this PAS, do not provide an indicator of the overall environmental impact of these products, such as may result from other types of life cycle assessment.

PAS 2050 is generically applicable to a wide range of goods and services. However, this revision includes principles for the preparation and use of supplementary requirements to provide a focused approach for specific industry sectors or product categories in a manner that will facilitate consistent application of PAS 2050 within the particular sector or product category.

This PAS does not specify requirements for the disclosure or communication of the results of a quantification of the life cycle GHG emissions of goods and services.