Columbia-PepsiCo Collaboration Creates Powerful Software Tool for Carbon Footprinting

Researchers at Columbia University, working in collaboration with PepsiCo, have developed new software that can rapidly calculate the carbon footprints of thousands of products simultaneously.

The methodology could greatly reduce the time and expense associated with carbon footprinting, helping companies accurately label products and design ways to reduce their environmental impacts.

Up until now, life cycle analysis has mostly been performed one product at a time. This imposes large requirements for personnel, expertise, and time, and few companies have enough employees with specialized expertise.

A new study, published online in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, describes how researchers used a life cycle analysis database covering 1,137 PepsiCo products and created three interconnected techniques that enable the calculations of thousands of footprints within minutes, while eliminating manual mapping of a product’s ingredients and packaging materials.

Learn more about the carbon footprint tool at Sustainable Brands.