On December 5, 2025, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), in collaboration with six other national ministries, released the Working Guideline on the Construction of Product Carbon Footprint Factor Database, as a significant step to strengthen its climate governance framework. This document, referred to as “the Working Guideline,” aims to systematically advance the development of a foundational database for product carbon footprint factors. It provides clear direction for local governments, industries, research institutions, enterprises, and other social entities to engage in related data development and database initiatives.
The Working Guideline establishes explicit phased objectives for this national project. The primary goal is to establish a preliminary product carbon footprint factor database by 2027. This effort is set to culminate by 2030 with the basic completion of a comprehensive database characterized by wide coverage, high data quality, and substantial international influence.
To ensure the database’s robustness and practicality, the Working Guideline elaborates on detailed approaches and measures across multiple critical dimensions. These include clarifying the overarching construction methodology and establishing a mechanism for sharing and integrating data. It further standardizes the research and development process for factor determination, specifies requirements for data sources and regular updates, and institutes a framework for data quality evaluation. The document also emphasizes strengthening data security protections and defines the database’s fundamental composition and architecture. Importantly, it seeks to unify the naming, classification, and coding systems for factor data while encouraging the innovative application of cutting-edge technologies in database construction.
For foreign stakeholders, this Working Guideline represents another concrete action in China’s ongoing specification of its management systems for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission control, reduction, and carbon footprint tracking. It follows earlier key initiatives such as the establishment of the National Greenhouse Gas Emission Factor Database (https://data.ncsc.org.cn/factories/index) and the issuance of the Working Guidelines of Formulating Standards on Product Carbon Footprint Accounting in January 2025. This progression underscores the country’s sustained determination to achieve its Dual Carbon goals of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2060.
A notable aspect of the Working Guideline is its design for multi-stakeholder collaboration. It actively encourages various entities to contribute data to the national database. Submitted data that meets relevant standards may be incorporated as reference material or help inform future working goals and requirements, fostering a collaborative ecosystem for data development.
Chinese source of the article: https://wap.miit.gov.cn/xwfb/gxdt/sjdt/art/2025/art_18b3ddb893034d07bdf32e6bb8da13b7.html
