The United Nations ESCAP East and North-East Asia Office and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI), as co-secretariats, jointly organized the Asia Carbon Footprint Network (ACFN) Annual Network Meeting, Seminar, and Working Group Meeting in Seoul, Republic of Korea from 25-26 May, 2017.
The Network Meeting, attended by 22 representatives from 13 member organizations and 4 observers, was briefed on the past and current activities, particularly the joint research work with the Carbon Trust on “Common Product Carbon Footprinting Framework for Asia” and the pilot project on “Developing Common Product Category Rules for Carbon Footprint." It also reviewed the Terms of Reference and agreed with the revisions made except the article of the Financial Resources.
Held under the theme of "Promoting Green Buildings through Carbon Footprinting and Environmental Produce Declaration Schemes," the Seminar reviewed national schemes and progress in carbon footprinting and environmental product declaration schemes in connection with green buildings. The schemes are considered as a practical tool for both regulatory and market-based approaches to improving environmental performance of buildings which are responsible for more than one-third of global final energy consumption and the similar level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide.
In addition, the Office organized the Working Group Meeting on “Developing Common Product Category Rules (PCRs) for Carbon Emission Calculation Applied to Products” for identifying discrepancies in the beverage category rules and harmonizing PCRs between member agencies that are responsible for carbon labeling.
