Carbon footprinting should not be oversold

摘要

With some 100 carbon footprints and life-cycle assessments to his name, Eric Johnson, director of Atlantic Consulting, warns that the techniques should not be overstressed. Johnson has studied automobiles, consumer goods, industrial products and not least fuels - fossil fuels, biofuels and renewable energy in transport, heating and power generation. Whilst a good tool for advising policy, carbon footprinting is not a science and should not he sold as such. Johnson, nonetheless, still argues for the technique to be recognised as an accounting tool and adapted so as to be as useful as possible for policy makers.