Background
The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) is an international sustainability certification system for supply chains across agricultural biomass, biogenic wastes and residues, non-biological renewable materials and recycled carbon-based materials. Its mission is to mitigate climate change and increase traceability in global markets.
To strengthen its system and improve transparency, ISCC approached Meo Carbon Solutions (MCS) to support the development of a Carbon Footprint Certification (CFC) scheme. This voluntary scheme verifies the product carbon footprint (PCF) of goods in CO₂ equivalents through a standardized, reproducible and transparent methodology that enables companies across sectors to report these values clearly and consistently. The methodology includes tailored guidance for technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) and renewable energy.
The Challenge
Companies are facing growing pressure from regulators, investors and consumers to disclose PCFs in a clear, consistent and verifiable way. At the same time, industries, politicians and scientists are calling for standardized methodologies and reliable data to support climate claims and guide decision-making. Existing frameworks—such as ISO 14040/44/67 and the GHG Protocol—offer general guidance but leave room for interpretation and variation.
Our Solutions
MCS helped develop the CFC scheme by guiding the stepwise creation of a standardized methodology. Through pilot projects, stakeholder engagement, technical input and auditor training, MCS continually helps shape a certification system that builds on existing standards and provides clearer guidance for PCF reporting.
Our Approach
MCS has supported ISCC in developing the CFC scheme since 2023. To build a methodology that was both technically sound and practical, MCS conducted 14 pilot projects with ISCC system users and certification bodies. Initial pilot certifications covered the production of silicon metal with renewable energy and the production of base chemicals using CCU and CCS, with pilot audits conducted in North America, Europe and Asia. Although the chemical sector currently accounts for the largest share of CFC certificates, MCS supported ISCC in developing a generic CFC methodology that provides the flexibility to certify PCFs in other sectors.
MCS also helped shape the technical content of the CFC scheme through these pilot projects by providing detailed guidance on methodological choices and on integrating mitigation measures into PCF calculations. The methodologies developed also cover certification concepts and are published alongside audit procedures to ensure identical adoption by all CFC system users. These pilots help test and identify LCA methodological gaps in real-world settings, which MCS addresses by ensuring the methodology remains reproducible, transparent, and comparable.
To ensure broad applicability and stakeholder acceptance of the new scheme, MCS coordinates working groups and public consultation periods and gathers input from the scientific community at key conferences. This iterative process helps ISCC build a certification system grounded in both scientific rigor and practical relevance.
To support ISCC in running CFC like other established ISCC schemes, MCS also works with ISCC to develop a dedicated training program that enables auditors to certify against the CFC methodology without requiring additional pilot phases. To date, more than 80 ISCC CFC auditors have been trained.
The Results
While pilot projects are still ongoing, the ISCC CFC scheme has already issued 14 certificates. Interest in the voluntary certification scheme continues to grow, as demonstrated by strong attendance at a joint ISCC–MCS webinar with several hundred participants. MCS remains actively involved in expanding the methodology and welcomes new partners to contribute to future pilot projects and ongoing development.