Sustainability metrics
A number is not evidence until you can say where it came from
Every figure here carries its methodology, its boundary and its issuer. That is the difference between a footprint you can put in a passport and one you can only put in a brochure.
- Footprint
- ISO 14067
- Circularity
- ISO 59020
- Held at
- Product level
Definition
How is a product carbon footprint recorded in a passport?
The figure is calculated in a life cycle assessment tool under ISO 14067 or the GHG Protocol, then recorded against the product together with its methodology, system boundary and functional unit. Storing the number without those three makes it incomparable, and therefore useless as evidence.
That is also what CSRD reporting eventually needs from the product layer: not a corporate total, but figures whose derivation can be shown.
Substantiation
What has to accompany each figure
| Figure | What must accompany it | Who asserts it |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon footprint | Methodology, system boundary, functional unit, calculation date | The LCA practitioner or tool operator |
| Recycled content | Mass basis, material scope, chain of custody model | The resin supplier or converter |
| Certification | Certifying body, scope, certificate identifier, validity period | The certification body |
| Product lifetime | Basis — tested, modelled or warranted — and the test standard | The manufacturer |
| Recovery rate | What was recovered, from what mass, at which facility | The treatment facility |
Capabilities
What the platform holds
Footprint with methodology
The figure, its boundary and its functional unit, so two products can be compared honestly.
Recycled content
By mass and by material, asserted upstream and signed by the party that knows it.
Certification evidence
Body, scope, identifier and validity period, with revocation checked at read time.
Circularity indicators
Lifetime, reuse, repair and recovery — the inputs ISO 59020 measurement requires.
Portfolio views
Which product lines carry the impact, and which supplier drives it.
Threshold checking
Flag products below a regulatory recycled-content threshold before they ship.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
Does CirculeID calculate our carbon footprint?
No. Footprints are calculated in a life cycle assessment tool under a recognised methodology such as ISO 14067 or the GHG Protocol. CirculeID holds the resulting figure against the product it belongs to, together with the methodology and the evidence, so a reader can tell whether two figures are comparable.
Why does the methodology need to travel with the number?
Because a footprint without its boundary and functional unit is not comparable to anything. Two products can differ by a factor of three purely on whether use-phase emissions were included. Recording the methodology alongside the figure is what turns a number into evidence rather than a marketing claim.
How is recycled content substantiated?
By the party that knows it. A resin supplier or converter issues the figure as a Verifiable Credential signed with its own key, so the brand can show a market surveillance authority who asserted it and when. A brand-level self-declaration with no upstream evidence is what substantiation regimes are designed to catch.
Can this feed our CSRD reporting?
It supplies the product-level inputs that corporate disclosure aggregates. CSRD reporting itself happens in your sustainability reporting system; what changes is that the underlying figures have an attributable source and a methodology attached rather than being estimated from spend categories.
What circularity indicators are available?
The inputs ISO 59020 measurement asks for: recycled content by mass, product lifetime, reuse and repair events, and material recovered at end of life. These are by-products of running a passport programme, which is usually the first time an organisation can compute them from records rather than estimate them.
Next step
Take the claim you would least like to defend
Bring one sustainability figure your team currently hedges. We will show you what it looks like with its methodology and its issuer attached.