Executive Yuan EPA published the “Guide to assess the carbon footprint of products and services” in 2010, over 76 products have obtained Taiwan carbon footprint label in the 2011. All labeled products must be assessed and verifiedtheir carbon footprint calculation in accordance to relevant standard and guidelines, which allow these products to declare their carbon footprint information to consumer in a publicly transparent manner. The number of products that were assessed by other international carbon footprint guidelines (i.e. PAS 2050) have also been increased, carbon footprint assessment for products have gradully received greater acceptance by industries. Although considerable development of product carbon footprint cases have been established in electronic and food industries there are growing interest to assess carbon footprint in service sector. In recent years, wedding services have developed vigorously in Taiwan, the traditional wedding ceremony has many unique character that are comparable to common western style wedding, therefore assessing carbon footprint of wedding can generate useful carbon reduction guidelines for couples and the industries, and compare local data with data from other countries. In order to facilitate the use of carbon footprint in more diversified sectors, Executive Yuan EPA had decided to implement the 2011 Product Carbon Footprint demonstration and conasultation project. Five products were selected to complete their carbon footprint assessment and obtain carbon footprint label. Wide range of products were selected, for example, hand bags and carpets made with recycled plastic material and bicycle were selected to promote green lifestyle; EPA had also selected soya bean milk in cartons and traditional packed meal for the project, due to the fact that they are commonly consumed in local society. The results for the above showed that raw material acquisition was the main carbon footprint sources of their products in food industry, and for other industries, energy consumption in manufacturing stage have higher carbon footprint contribution. The result recommended that carbon footprint for food products can be reduced by promoting low carbon diet (i.e more vegetable and less meat). For all cases, more effort should be put on encouraging industry to reduce their carbon footprint through supply chain and on site energy conservation. This can be introduced by requiring carbon footprint label applicant to commit carbon reduction for their products during their application. The project had also assessed carbon footprint for two local wedding ceremonies. Three scenarios namely “ Low carbon, Mid carbon and High carbon weddings” were established for comparison study. The result showed that transportation by guest was the single largest source of carbon footprint (exceeds 50%), and it was also the main difference of carbon footprint between local wedding ceremonies (calculated result 2.4tonnes) and a typical wedding ceremonies in UK(reported by Climatecare for 14 tonnes), in which more aviation transportation had lead to higher footprint of the latter cases. The study suggested that wider study on supplementary services to wedding such as honeymoon travel, pre wedding gifts can further reveal the actual content of the carbon footprint in local wedding.

Carbon Footprint;Carbon Footprint Label;PCR