A regulatory term referring to index, based on radiative properties of GHGs (3.1.2.1).
Global warming potential is the conversion logic that allows different greenhouse gases to be translated into a common climate-change unit relative to carbon dioxide. It is therefore a comparability mechanism, not a greenhouse gas itself.
ISO 14067:2018 - Greenhouse gases — Carbon footprint of products
index, based on radiative properties of GHGs (3.1.2.1), measuring the radiative forcing following a pulse emission of a unit mass of a given GHG in the present-day atmosphere integrated over a chosen time horizon, relative to that of carbon dioxide (CO2)
Reference: 3.1.2.4
This term originates in ISO 14067:2018 and/or ISO 14044 LCA methodology. It is used in EU product regulation — particularly under the EU Battery Regulation (PEF method for carbon footprint) and ESPR (environmental footprint) — because both regulations require lifecycle-based quantification of environmental impacts. Practitioners applying these regulations should be familiar with these LCA/PEF concepts to correctly scope, conduct, and verify product-level environmental assessments.
This term matters when non-CO2 greenhouse gases have to be converted into CO2-equivalents so that a single product-footprint result can be calculated and compared. Different gases cannot simply be added together without this conversion logic.
For Minespider, global warming potential is not just a background scientific parameter; it is part of the interpretive logic behind every CO2e figure. If users do not understand that conversion layer, they can over-trust the apparent precision of footprint numbers.