Carbon Footprint Mode: model and report product carbon footprints in XYCLE

Run a product carbon footprint in XYCLE

Carbon Footprint Mode focuses XYCLE on climate change. It hides non-carbon impact categories and promotes an ISO 14067 aligned Carbon Breakdown chart. It also enables a GHG Protocol aligned scope export. Use it when you’re interested in studying a product carbon footprint (PCF) rather than a full LCA.

When to use Carbon Footprint Mode

Use Carbon Footprint Mode when you want to:

Model and report climate change impacts to ISO 14067 or GHG Protocol without other impact categories creating noise
Produce an ISO 14067-aligned PCF result breakdown—fossil, biogenic, land-use and aviation components—without exporting to a separate tool
Export a GHG Protocol report from an output item once scopes are complete
Import carbon-only background data into My Database

What Carbon Footprint Mode includes

When enabled, the mode:

Shows only IPCC 2021 climate change columns (fossil, biogenic, land-use, aviation and carbon-content) in the LCIA table—all other columns are hidden until you exit
Adds a Carbon Breakdown chart tab to the results panel, showing the ISO 14067 component waterfall for the selected output
Filters the results contribution chart to climate change impact categories only
Flags carbon-only datasets in My Database—datasets that contain climate change data but no other impact-category values
Restores your previous column visibility when you exit

N.b. The Carbon Breakdown chart tab is available to all users regardless of whether Carbon Footprint Mode is on.

What Carbon Footprint Mode does not include

Non-climate-change impact categories (acidification, water use, eutrophication, etc.)—these are hidden during the mode, not deleted, and are restored on exit
Declared unit or partial vs full study classification
Changes to Monte Carlo simulations
New characterisation methods
Electricity modelling guidance

N.b. Carbon-only datasets in My Database produce no characterisation results for non-climate-change categories in full LCA mode. XYCLE warns you about any affected datasets when you exit.

How to enable Carbon Footprint Mode

Select your name or avatar in the top-right navigation bar.
Toggle Carbon Footprint Mode on. The LCIA table updates immediately.

To exit, open the same menu and toggle Carbon Footprint Mode off. Confirm in the dialog—XYCLE restores your previous column preferences.

How to view the Carbon Breakdown chart

Open a project and run results for an output item.
In the results panel toolbar, select Carbon Breakdown.
The waterfall displays ISO 14067 components for the selected output. Components with no data are hidden from the chart; their legend entries are greyed out.
The bars are clickable—taking you to the waterfall breakdown of the specific impact category for more detailed analysis.

How to export a GHG report

In the LCIA table, right-click an output row.
Select Prepare GHG Report.
Fill in the reporting period, facility and functional unit, then submit.

N.b. GHG export requires every inventory item in the project to have a value and an assigned database (Ecoinvent 3.11, 3.12 or Carbon Minds). If any items use other data sources, XYCLE shows a warning before submission—results for those items will not appear in the GHG report.

Compatibility

ISO 14067—the Carbon Breakdown chart displays the required component breakdown directly in XYCLE.

GHG Protocol—the GHG export produces a report sheet aligned to GHG Protocol scopes when all scope data is present in the project.

My Database—carbon-only datasets are importable and labelled in the interface so you can identify them at a glance.

Troubleshooting

The Carbon Breakdown chart shows no data The selected output has no IPCC 2021 climate change results. Check that the background datasets assigned to the project support IPCC 2021 characterisation.

"Prepare GHG Report" does not appear in the context menu The option only renders for output (reference product) rows. Left-click an output row’s three dots—not an input, emission or waste row—to access it.

Columns are missing after enabling Carbon Footprint Mode Only IPCC 2021 and carbon-content columns are shown in this mode. Exit Carbon Footprint Mode from the user menu to restore your full column set.

Warning about carbon-only datasets on exit Datasets that contain only climate change data will produce no results for other impact categories in full LCA mode. If you do not need other categories, you can proceed safely. Re-enable Carbon Footprint Mode at any time from the user menu.