Carbon Footprint of Different Kinds of Footwear - a Comparative Study

The carbon footprint of a product (CFP) approach is one of the most important tools which gives a possibility to estimate the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the whole life cycle of consumer goods. A lot of attempts have been undertaken to elaborate methodology for CFP calculation. Because GHG emissions may occur at each stage of the life cycle, the calculation procedures are characterised by a high level of complexity. This is due to the use of a broad range of different materials in the case of the whole footwear manufacturing process. Owing to this fact, a lot of wastes, sewages and toxic gases may be generated at every step of the production process. For each kind of material used, a lot of determinants should be laid down, such as the source of the material as well as distances and means of transportation between manufacturers and consignees. It causes that estimation of total carbon footprint values is not possible, especially in the case of a long and multi-stage supply chain. With the use of the SimaPro LCA software package, the authors calculated the carbon footprint for seven types of outdoor footwear. The CFP was calculated for each step of the life cycle. Based on the calculations, the correlation dependences were revealed and stages with huge emissivity indicated. Then, with the use of a multivariate regression model, the regression function, which determines the total emissivity at each stage, was estimated. This approach gives qualitative indicators which can be taken into account in making decisions about corrective actions.