Previously no industry guidance on calculating a full carbon footprint for an offshore wind farm existed. This has left the industry open to interpret existing standards, which are not entirely applicable for offshore wind. Consequently, comparing carbon footprints of different development projects could be meaningless. 

The Sustainability JIP has tackled this problem by developing the Offshore Wind Industry Product Carbon Footprinting (PCF) Guidance. This guidance is a freely available methodology document and advises users on how to accurately calculate emissions using an inventory of offshore wind activity data and emission factors.

Aims of the Offshore Wind PCF guidance

The primary aim of the methodology document is to produce a standardised set of guidelines for assessing the product-level carbon footprint of an offshore wind development. This seeks to harmonise the approach across the industry. To achieve this aim, a series of objectives have been defined: 

1. Provide offshore wind sector specific guidance on the application of existing standards for Product Carbon Footprinting (PCF).  
2. Provide guidance for harmonising the calculation approach within the industry, improving comparability and transparency of PCF for offshore wind developments, enabling stakeholders to understand the impact of different designs and technologies. 
3. Provide a framework for developers to calculate and report different emissions metrics for their developments. 
4. Develop a framework to improve data quality and enable data exchange between partners in the offshore wind supply chain.