Methanol carbon footprint tool and guidance

For: IMPCA – the International Methanol Producer & Consumer Association

[October 2021 – April 2022]

The International Methanol Producer & Consumer Association (IMPCA) represents many stakeholders in the global methanol market. IMPCA maintains the most commonly used international methanol quality standard and organises international business and knowledge sharing events for methanol stakeholders.

IMPCA wants to increase awareness about climate impact and carbon footprint calculations in the methanol market. It signals an increasing interest in green methanol with a smaller carbon footprint and it would like to explore and stimulate the role of methanol as a renewable fuel and as a green platform chemical.

Therefore, studio Gear Up assisted IMPCA with the development of an interactive methanol carbon footprint calculation tool. The tool allows value chain actors to calculate the lifecycle greenhouse gas emission performance for different methanol production pathways, starting from either fossil or renewable feedstock. The design and development of this tool involved interviews with IMPCA members. The tool contains default pathways, where all parameters can be changed. After the user completes the inputs and reviewing the results, the tool generates a calculation report that summarises the inputs and the results.
The tool builds on the carbon accounting methodologies of ISCC and the European Renewable Energy Directive, while the data in the pathways is partly based on our earlier work for the Methanol Institute (MI). 

The tool and the accompanying guidance can be found here.

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