The carbon footprint of a product is the total amount of direct and indirect greenhouse gases released by a product (or service) during its entire life cycle (often referred to as cradle to grave, i.e. from extraction and processing of raw materials, to production and packaging, marketing, use, reuse and product maintenance, to recycling and final waste disposal).

The main greenhouse gases accounted for include: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and hexafluoride (SF₆).