Every environmental claim on Kairos carries its footnote. This page is the record — what we can measure well, what we measure cautiously, and the five peer-reviewed studies underneath.
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We rely on peer-reviewed life-cycle assessments (LCAs), recognized certification standards, and — where no study exists — clearly-labelled first-principles reasoning. We state the scope of every figure, because environmental numbers change dramatically with what’s counted and where.
Burial, cremation, and aquamation have peer-reviewed LCA data. Where certified (e.g. Green Burial Council product certification), we cite the certification.
Human composting is newer, with less peer-reviewed data. Reefs, space burial, and memorial diamonds have essentially no published LCA — our assessment rests on stated physical reasoning (energy use, give-back, materials), labelled as such, not on studies that don’t exist.
Industry & consumer summaries · US context
Industry and consumer summaries of cremation emissions (~535 lb / ~245 kg CO₂ US estimates), mercury emissions, and embalming-fluid volumes. Directional; not peer-reviewed. Used to substantiate US-context figures where European LCAs may not apply cleanly.
TNO · Netherlands · ISO-aligned LCA (CML methodology)
Life-cycle assessment comparing burial, cremation, cryomation, and resomation (aquamation), Netherlands. Finds aquamation likely lowest-impact; reports “average” cremation at ~79.9 kg CO₂-equivalent within its assumptions. Notes the funeral “pre-phase” (guest travel, venue, refrigeration, cards) can exceed the disposition method itself in impact. This is our anchor citation for the “ceremony may outweigh the method” finding.
Green Burial Council
Including the caution that “saves one ton of CO₂” composting claims are relative to cremation, not an absolute figure, and that composting releases methane and N₂O. GBC is the certification body underneath the natural & conservation burial claims across the site.
Green Burial Council
Product-certification and cemetery-certification standards (hybrid / natural / conservation), and the GBC-certified product list (includes Setas MyCoffin, Passages International, Life Forest shrouds). When a product on Kairos carries a Certified tag, this is what it points at.
Keijzer, E. et al. · International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (Springer) · 2016
Peer-reviewed. Finds no significant difference between burial and cremation in five impact categories; burial’s total “shadow price” ~30% higher than cremation, driven mainly by the debated land-use category; without land use, burial ~25% lower than cremation. This is our anchor citation for the “burial vs. cremation is closer than most people assume” finding.
Planet Mark · United Kingdom
Natural-gas cremation listed at 126 kg CO₂e. Used to illustrate how system boundaries and energy grids change the number relative to the TNO Netherlands figure of ~80 kg. Not a peer-reviewed LCA — a public reference figure used to bound the range we report.
First-principles reasoning · UN SDG 14 basis
No peer-reviewed LCA exists for memorial reef habitat creation. Our grading rests on stated physical reasoning: (a) reef structures create measurable marine habitat consistent with UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, and (b) the disposition requires flame cremation upstream, whose footprint is real. We grade the give-back and the carbon separately, and label the reasoning as first-principles — not as if a study exists.
Sources current as of research date. Environmental data and the FTC Green Guides are evolving areas. We update figures as better data becomes available — and we would rather correct a number than defend it. If a claim on the site doesn’t match what its source actually says, that’s a bug, and we want to know.
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