What is the carbon footprint of producing an office chair?

Every day, there are many little-known stories happening around us, but they are closely related to life. For example, what are the processes to produce an ergonomic office chair? How much carbon emissions are there? Is it green and low-carbon? Let's go into the workshop and follow the production process to see the carbon footprint of a chair.

01

Walk into the production workshop

Look at the carbon footprint of office chairs

"There are four branches in the production of this chair, which are cutting and sewing, die-casting, grinding and spraying of five-star feet, punching, welding and spraying of armrest back frames, and drilling and riveting nuts in wooden boards. In Anji, Zhejiang, the person in charge of a furniture company introduced in the production workshop.

Using a life cycle assessment method based on relevant international and national standards, the Service Manufacturing Research Institute in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province evaluated and calculated the carbon footprint of the chair. "We pay attention to the carbon emissions of the whole process from 'raw material acquisition' to 'product manufacturing', and calculate the carbon emissions of the raw materials, each production link and the final assembly and packaging link of the chair, so as to form a complete carbon footprint report. A researcher at the Service-oriented Manufacturing Research Institute said.

In the five-star foot spraying shop, large furnaces are connected to a production line that is several hundred meters long. The chair uses a centralized aluminum melting process, which reduces energy consumption by about 20% compared with the past, and the aluminum material is also made of 100% recyclable materials. According to the estimation of scientific researchers, the carbon emission of the whole production process of Wuxingjiao is 21.44kgCO₂eq.

In the handrail and back frame production workshop, the manipulator is skillfully carrying out production operations such as punching and welding. It has been estimated that the carbon emissions of this link are 14.6kgCO₂eq.

At the end of the line, the cutting and sewing process is planned together with the final assembly and packaging process, "which reduces product turnover and reduces energy consumption during production and transportation." The person in charge explained that recyclable cardboard boxes and plastic films are used in the packaging process, and the original split product packaging method is changed to integrated carton packaging, which can achieve 100% recycling of packaging materials.

"The production process of this chair is relatively complex, and through the selection of more recyclable raw materials and the transformation of energy-saving technology in the production process, energy saving and carbon reduction have been achieved. The chair has a final carbon footprint of 63.59 kg CO₂eq. The researcher said.

From the carbon footprint of an office chair to the increasing use of solar energy to light up people's lives, the story of green and low-carbon development in the new era is constantly unfolding around us.

(People's Daily reporter Zhang Ye Dou Hanyang)

02

What is a Product Carbon Footprint?

In the relevant standards issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a product carbon footprint is defined as "the sum of greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas removals in a product system, expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂eq)", which aims to quantify and report the total greenhouse gas emissions and removals generated by a product during the full or partial life cycle stages of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, sales, use, disposal and recycling, as well as the impact on climate change.

In terms of scope, the product carbon footprint includes not only the production stage of the product, but also the greenhouse gas emissions and removal processes associated with each stage of the product life cycle within the entire value chain (including upstream and downstream processes), which starts with the extraction of resources and the procurement of raw materials, and extends to the production, use and final disposal of the product.

According to the standard of carbon footprint type rules for a particular product, the product carbon footprint accounting and reporting process generally includes "system boundary confirmation", "data collection" and "quantity accounting". After the product carbon footprint is quantified, the product carbon footprint performance needs to be continuously tracked to promote the continuous reduction of product carbon emissions. When appropriate, carry out footprint information exchange with internal and external stakeholders in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

Taking common polyester textile products as an example, it is first necessary to clarify the system boundary of product carbon footprint accounting. When taking the partial life cycle stages from "raw material acquisition" to "product manufacturing" as the boundary, the accounting boundary of polyester textile products includes three life cycle stages: raw material acquisition, raw material transportation and product production. Secondly, after the boundary is confirmed, it is necessary to collect the actual consumption data of the main raw materials for the production of polyester products (PET resin), as well as liquefied gas, natural gas, diesel and other energy consumption in stages, and the collection period is generally one year. Finally, the greenhouse gas emissions and removals of each stage are calculated and aggregated to obtain the carbon footprint of polyester textile products. Due to the difficulty of upstream process data collection, when primary data is not available, the product carbon footprint needs to be calculated based on secondary data in the background database.

At present, different countries, regions and organizations have proposed different standards for product carbon footprint accounting. China is speeding up the formulation of standards related to product carbon footprint, and actively promoting the construction of background databases. In November 2023, the basic general national standard for product carbon footprint, "Requirements and Guidelines for the Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Product Carbon Footprint", was released for public comment. In addition, a localized basic background database based on the life cycle approach and a product carbon footprint background database in subdivided fields are under construction, laying a foundation for China to accelerate the establishment of a product carbon footprint management system, promote the green and low-carbon transformation of related industries, and help achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

(The author, Yang Zehui, is the director of the Certification and Accreditation Research Department of the Certification and Accreditation Technology Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and was interviewed by Lin Lili, a reporter from the People's Daily)