Standardising lifecycle carbon footprinting in offshore wind
Offshore wind industry product carbon footprinting guidance
Offshore wind has a measurement problem. Developers have been working from the same international standards - ISO 14040/44, ISO 14067, the GHG Protocol - but interpreting them differently.
The result is carbon footprint data that can’t be meaningfully compared between projects, progress that’s hard to verify, and limited stakeholder confidence across the supply chain.
Carbon Trust’s Sustainability Joint Industry Programme (SUSJIP) set out to resolve that. The consolidated offshore wind Product Carbon Footprinting (PCF) guidance gives the industry a single, evidence-based methodology using real activity data - a common basis for assessing environmental impact that didn’t exist before.
NCC’s role
NCC contributed as a member of the SUSJIP Expert Working Group, reviewing the guidance and providing feedback on its technical rigour and alignment to best practice.
Our involvement drew on capability built across programmes where NCC has developed a track record in lifecycle analysis and environmental impact assessment for composites and offshore energy systems. This includes SusWIND, TURBO, and the Joule Challenge.
Other co-reviewers included ORE Catapult, Norsus, UCL, CNR-STIIMA and PSL.
What the guidance delivers
For the first time, the offshore wind industry has a shared framework for carbon footprinting:
- Consistent assessment: projects can be evaluated and compared on a level playing field, regardless of developer or geography.
- Established baselines: emission sources across a full offshore wind farm development have been catalogued and quantified, with sectoral decarbonisation pathways identified for each.
- Stakeholder clarity: key actors across the value chain - developers, supply chain, governments, financial institutions - are mapped, with a clear case for coordinated action.
- Practical actions: detailed, stakeholder-specific guidance gives decision-makers a framework to act on, not just a target to aim at.
- Verifiable progress: standardised carbon footprinting builds credible, comparable evidence of decarbonisation - the kind that holds up to scrutiny from investors, regulators, and supply chain partners alike.
Why it matters
Decarbonising offshore wind is an engineering challenge. Proving it is a measurement challenge. Without consistent data, engineers can’t identify where emissions are genuinely concentrated. Developers can’t compare design choices with confidence. Investors can’t assess whether sustainability claims are credible.
This guidance doesn’t solve decarbonisation. It gives the industry the tools to measure it honestly - which is where serious progress starts.
Who should read this
Wind farm developers
Supply chain and sustainability leads
Policy and innovation teams
Lifecycle analysis practitioners
Talk to our sustainability team about what this means for your projects.