BASF to license its digital solution and methodology for Product Carbon Footprint calculation to partners

August 9, 2021

BASF starts sharing its proprietary digital solution and methodology for Product Carbon Footprint calculation to third parties active in the software space via licensing agreements. Based on BASF’s methodology, the partners will develop a software for implementation at other industry players. 

Steering the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions towards net zero requires the identification of reduction potential in value chains. Gaining transparency with carbon footprint on product level is an essential precondition to work towards that goal. Therefore, BASF has developed a proprietary digital solution to efficiently calculate product-related cradle-to-gate carbon footprints (PCF) leveraging primary data. PCFs are a measure for the climate impact of a product, summarizing the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that is associated with a product throughout different phases of its life-cycle. BASF’s solution enables the company to provide accurate and granular product-specific data on greenhouse gas emissions.

The digital solution has proven its usability for calculating transparent emission data for the entire portfolio of approximately 45,000 products in the complex chemical value chains. Currently, BASF is in the final steps of its validation phase and plans to make PCF data available to its customers by the end of 2021. TÜV Rheinland has certified that BASF’s method to calculate Partial Product Carbon Footprints is in line with the relevant international standards.

“In the development phase of our digital solution, we recognized that the existing standards for PCF calculation leave room for interpretation and allow different ways of emission allocation. As a result, even PCFs for the same product are sometimes not comparable,” says Christoph Jäkel, Head of Corporate Sustainability at BASF. “BASF is therefore working with various partners and associations to promote standardization of PCF methodologies and create a level playing field.”

To offer a pragmatic solution to interested industry players, BASF has decided to make its automated PCF calculation approach available in the market via an ecosystem of partnerships. In a first step, licensing agreements will enable IT companies to translate BASF’s methodology and in-house solution into a marketable software.

BASF also extends its support for PCF calculation and standardization to its suppliers. The company has launched a Supplier CO₂ Management Program to engage its suppliers and create transparency on the PCFs of its raw materials.

“Carbon transparency is a backbone for steering towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Our ecosystem of partnerships will accelerate the calculation, reporting and exchange of PCF data among actors along value chains,” says Alessandro Pistillo, Director Digital Strategic Projects at BASF.