The carbon footprint of natural fibres such as flax, hemp, jute or kenaf is much lower than their counterparts glass and mineral fibres. The production of 1 tonne of glass fibres shows a carbon footprint of about 1.7–2.5 tonnes CO2-eq per tonne of fibre, whereas natural fibres only have a carbon footprint of about 0.35–0.55 tonnes CO2-eq per tonne of fibre (until the factory gate). This is an 80% lower carbon footprint than that of glass fibres.

The carbon footprints of the different natural fibres (flax, hemp, jute and kenaf) are not significantly different. In the range of uncertainty, the carbon footprint to the factory gate of the European nonwoven producer in the automotive or insulation sector is about 400 kg of CO2-eq per tonne of natural fibre for all four natural fibres,

When CO2 uptake is considered, which is responsible for the carbon in the fibre, the GHG emissions for the natural fibres is greatly reduced. At the entry gate of the non-woven producer the numbers are even negative, indicating that the CO2 removed from the air is larger than the GHG emissions up to that point.