For most businesses, Scope 3 emissions (those from suppliers, logistics, and materials) make up the largest share of their carbon footprint.

While tracking office or factory emissions is relatively straightforward, the real challenge lies in the supply chain, where every product, material, or service carries its own carbon footprint.

Until now, product-level emissions data has been fragmented, inconsistent, and nearly impossible to exchange between suppliers. This lack of visibility has been one of the biggest barriers to credible, scalable decarbonisation. That’s where PACT (the Partnership for Carbon Transparency) comes in.

PACT is a globally recognised initiative that standardises the way businesses calculate and share Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs).

What is a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)?

A Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) measures the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product across its life cycle, from raw material sourcing to production, distribution, use, and end-of-life (disposal).

PCFs provide a granular, comparable view of emissions at the product level, helping businesses identify high-impact areas in their supply chain and make informed decarbonisation decisions.

Take the example of a juice producer. The company can track emissions from its factory operations easily, but the real footprint comes from oranges from multiple farms, sugar from regional suppliers, glass bottles from overseas, and the logistics moving each ingredient. Every component contributes to the overall PCF, which collectively forms the bulk of the company’s Scope 3 emissions.

Without a standardised methodology, collecting reliable product-level data from all these suppliers is almost impossible. This is where PACT comes in.

The Partnership for Carbon Transparency: A global initiative for carbon transparency

Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) seeks to unlock decarbonisation through real transparency in

value chains by establishing the global and standardised product-level carbon footprint calculation methodology and technology infrastructure for accurate, primary and verified Scope 3 emissions measurement and data exchange.

To do that, PACT provides a forum for stakeholders to jointly tackle this challenge, uniting businesses from across industries, technology players, industry-focused initiatives, standard-setting bodies, reporting organisations and regulators in their shared mission.

PACT is hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) – the leading voice of business for sustainability and developed with leading stakeholders from across the entire carbon ecosystem leveraging its role as co-convenor of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.