A new working group, WG11, has been formed by the International Standards Organisation to develop ISO draft 16759. It is hoped the new standard will be complete by Drupa 2012.

ProPrint columnist Phillip Lawrence, who is a member of the working group, said local printers should see this as an opportunity.

“It gives them a framework to actually come up with a carbon number that they can compare accurately from one printer to another.

“Currently, you have a situation where printing companies are coming up with their own models so the buyers are getting confused. Working to a standard lets them compare one printer to another more accurately,” said Lawrence.

Industry consultant Laurel Brunner, convenor of WG11, told ProPrint‘s UK sister title PrintWeek: “There is no single carbon footprinting standard for the print industry, and as a result, there is no consistent way to measure the carbon footprint of print media.

“We are writing a standard that establishes a framework for measuring the carbon footprint of print.”

She added that the work would have a long-lasting impact on the industry’s international competitiveness.

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