Chemical Processing Notebook: Together for Sustainability Sharpens Its Carbon Math
The Trump administration’s efforts to deregulate industry and exit the Paris Agreement may have a minimal impact on manufacturers’ sustainability goals. Consider that the industrial sector has already invested a significant amount of money into new, climate-friendly technologies. Petrochemical giants like Exxon Mobil Corp. have already signaled they’re not backtracking from investments in battery processing operations.
Outside the United States, climate-related actions are proceeding as planned. The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive takes effect this year, requiring companies to disclose their environmental and social impact, including their Scope 3 emissions.
And, since 2011, several key players in the chemical industry have been working on sustainability standards across the supply chain. The initiative, called Together for Sustainability (TfS), has 55 global members, including Bayer, BASF and Henkel.
On Jan. 25, TfS announced updates to its product carbon footprint (PCF) guideline, a tool designed to streamline emissions reporting across supply chains. TfS has worked to standardize the PCF guideline with other industrial frameworks, such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s PACT Framework, the auto industry’s Catena-X and the Global Battery Alliance.
Peter Saling, director of sustainability methods at BASF and co-chair of the TfS PCF guideline work package, recently shared key changes to the guideline and some of his company’s efforts around sustainability.
What has changed with the new TfS guideline? Can you please explain the key updates?
Our PCF guideline draws from the expertise and knowledge from TfS members, suppliers and industry stakeholders. This updated version makes it easier for members to calculate GHG emissions of their products by improving clarity and aligning with key global frameworks like the WBCSD’s PACT Framework, Catena-X and the Global Battery Alliance (GBA). By doing so, we ensure that data-quality ratings and reporting practices stay consistent, which in turn helps companies meet new regulations, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.
The new guideline also features refined guidance and definitions for waste materials, mass-balance assessments or carbon capture and use calculations, making it simpler for our members to produce accurate and reliable PCF calculations. This means companies can better track and measure their supply chain emissions, tackling the challenges that they might currently face in their reporting.
Importantly, the guideline will be kept open source. This decision supports broader adoption and encourages collaboration across industries. Overall, these updates provide a clear, standardized framework that simplifies PCF calculations and improves data quality, so companies can manage their sustainability efforts more effectively.
The chemical industry is becoming increasingly involved in battery materials processing. How does alignment with the Global Battery Alliance help the industry ensure it’s processing these materials in the most sustainable way possible?
Chemicals are in many products and are used in the automotive industry as well as in the battery production for automotive industry. These industries also focus on the reduction of GHG emissions along supply chains and need PCF data of high quality from the chemicals industry. For batteries, there was a specific rulebook developed by GBA that considers specific elements for batteries. Many elements of such a rulebook are like the PCF guideline of TfS. Where a harmonization was possible and meaningful, TfS worked together with GBA and aligned the documents. One example for this harmonization is the commonly agreed definition of cut-off criteria or the application of data quality ratings.
The updated PCF guideline focuses heavily on waste materials and management. What challenges in the chemical industry led to prioritizing these clarifications?
The chemical industry is under a lot of pressure to decarbonize, especially when it comes to scope 3 emissions that occur along the entire value chain. A large amount of the industry's greenhouse-gas emissions comes from areas beyond a company’s direct control, so having clear, accurate data on a product-by-product level is essential. This data helps companies figure out where they can cut emissions and improve their overall climate strategies.
That’s why the updated PCF guideline has clarified the definition of waste materials and management. In the past, there was some confusion around how to define and measure waste materials and management but by clearing up these definitions and methods, the guideline can make it easier for companies to get reliable data. This clarity not only helps in tracking emissions more accurately but also highlights opportunities for improvement throughout the value chain.
For multi-output processes the term “waste” and the definition of what is waste and what is a co-product was clarified as well. This is an important element on harmonization we achieved together with the Catena-X and PACT frameworks.
With Scope 3 emissions accounting for 77% of the chemical industry's greenhouse gas emissions, how do you see the PCF Guideline helping companies identify and prioritize the most impactful areas for reduction?
The PCF guideline can help companies focus on the biggest sources of emissions by giving them a clear framework for identifying and prioritizing high-impact areas. The guideline recommends starting with an initial screening to estimate the GHG emissions for each activity in Scope 3.1. This lets companies rank different purchased goods and services from the largest to smallest emission contributors.
Once they have that ranking, the guideline advises prioritizing activities based on their estimated emissions. It suggests differentiating between production-related products and non-production-related ones, which can help align with existing procurement practices and make data collection more efficient. In cases where it’s hard to estimate emissions directly, companies might look at the financial spend as an indicator — though with a caution that high spending doesn’t always mean high emissions. In short, by following these steps, companies can focus on the areas that drive emissions and set their decarbonization strategies on the right path.
If companies calculate primary PCF data for their products, they can be easily used by their customers and can be reported in the Scope 3.1 category in a harmonized manner. That increases significantly the quality of the corporate reporting of companies and support them in their transformation to GHG emission reductions along their supply chains.
Looking specifically at BASF's implementation of the guideline, what have been some key learnings or challenges in applying these standards across your global supply chain?
BASF uses the TfS guideline to calculate their PCF in a harmonized approach, creating a high level of acceptance amongst their customers and increase trust in the data provided. The new Version 3.0 of the guideline helped us to clarify some open questions in the modeling, e.g. in multi-output processes by using mass balance in our products. The clear description of calculation rules for mass balance will support the implementation of this innovative approach in industry and supports the transformation of the industry in the coming years. This helps BASF in the promotion of this future solutions. The upcoming topics in CCU or in using recycled materials as a feedstock are additional elements where BASF has not a clear guidance for the PCF calculations so far.
Challenges are often that some supplier data is not calculated according to the TfS guideline. Through a process of training and capacity building these elements will improve over time. The acceptance of PCF data by our downstream industries continues, and we are happy that the automotive industry with the Catena-X project endorsed the TfS guideline. We hope that many other industries are following, and we can generate and exchange more accurate and high-quality data in future.
Anything else you would like to add?
The collaborative work of experts from more than 50 companies in TfS to produce a PCF Guideline with such a high level of acceptance, enables the industry to further harmonize PCF calculations. The chemical industry gives a very good example, how with an activity like this, a new level of PCF calculations can be reached in all regions of the world.
We at TfS are continuously working on the training, support of companies, interacting with other sectors, NGOs and the public to show transparently a way that industries can contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions. A harmonized and well accepted PCF Guideline supports the calculation of PCFs of products as well as an accurate corporate reporting.
