Know the carbon footprint of every cable you source from us
As your supplier, we understand that your own Scope 3 reporting depends on the data quality of your supply chain. That is why we calculate and publish Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data for our products — giving you verified, ready-to-use emissions figures you can integrate directly into your sustainability accounting.
Our PCF data covers greenhouse gas emissions from raw material extraction through manufacturing to warehouse dispatch, calculated in line with recognised international standards.
Why PCF matters — for you and for us
For HELU, calculating the PCF is essential to understanding and actively managing the environmental impact of our product portfolio. It helps us identify the key emission sources along our value chain and find concrete opportunities to reduce them — in product development, in materials selection, and in manufacturing.
For our customers and business partners, PCF data has immediate practical value: it can be integrated directly into your own Scope 3 accounting and CO₂ calculations — without additional estimation or conversion.
HELU has begun systematically calculating the Product Carbon Footprint of its products based on the cradle-to-gate approach. The calculations for some products have already been completed, and these results are available in the HELU Online Shop under the "Downloads" for the respective products. Further product groups will be added step by step.
How we calculate the Product Carbon Footprint
We use the cradle-to-gate approach: analyzing CO₂ emissions from raw material extraction through material processing to the moment the finished product leaves our factory. We document materials used, energy consumed in production, and relevant transport routes — then calculate the total CO₂ footprint per product in kilograms of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e).
Where precise primary data is not yet available, we use recognized average values and clearly documented estimates. We are committed to increasing the share of primary data over time, making our results progressively more accurate and meaningful.
FAQs
A Product Carbon Footprint describes the greenhouse gas emissions produced throughout the entire lifecycle of a product — from the extraction of raw materials, through manufacturing, to when the product leaves our warehouse.
Unlike the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF), which covers the emissions of an entire company, the PCF is specific to an individual product. It is especially relevant for procurement decisions, product development, and customer-specific sustainability evaluations.
CO₂e — carbon dioxide equivalent — is the internationally recognized unit for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. It is used because other gases such as methane and nitrous oxide also contribute to global warming, but at different rates.
To allow meaningful comparison, all gases are converted to CO₂ equivalents using their Global Warming Potential (GWP). For example, methane has approximately 80 times the climate impact of CO₂ over a 20-year period. CO₂e brings these different effects into a single, transparent, and comparable number.
Cradle to gate covers all emissions from raw material extraction (the cradle) to when the finished product leaves our factory (the gate). We use this boundary because it covers the area we can currently control and measure most reliably: materials, energy use, and transport up to dispatch.
A complete cradle-to-grave approach would also include the use phase and end-of-life disposal. These phases fall outside our direct influence and require additional data that is often difficult to obtain accurately. We are transparent about this boundary in all our PCF documentation.
Even small methodological differences can influence PCF results significantly — for example, different emissions factors from different databases, varying assumptions about transport routes, or different lifecycle boundaries (cradle to gate vs. cradle to grave).
PCF values are therefore most useful as a tool for understanding and improving a product's climate impact over time, rather than as a direct comparison between products from different suppliers. A meaningful comparison is only valid when the underlying calculation methods and assumptions are identical.
Do you have any questions regarding sustainability?
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