Companies are increasingly focusing on the emissions associated with their supply chains to reduce overall emissions. Integrating both the supplier’s organizational and product specific emission factors is key to understanding the company’s environmental situation as well as how to drive change.

The Best of Both Worlds: Product and Organizational Data

By integrating product-specific carbon data with broader organizational emissions figures, companies can achieve a granular understanding of their environmental impact. This means organizations should pay attention to detail in the collection and analysis of data for product-specific emissions, starting from raw material extraction up to end-of-life disposal. For example, Volvo, a luxury car manufacturer, has agreed to buy near zero emission steel from H2 Green Steel from their new factory in Sweden starting in 2026. They have also partnered with Norsk Hydro to supply and increase use of near zero aluminum before 2030. This product data is just as important as more holistic emission metrics of the supplier and is vital for painting a complete picture of an organization’s environmental impact. 

Organizational data includes not just the direct emissions from company-owned or controlled sources, but also the indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, and, importantly, all other indirect emissions that occur in the company’s value chain, such as those from business travel, transportation, and waste generated in operations. For example, Nestlé, a global food corporation, moved half its shipping operations to use low-carbon fuels made from waste such as cooking oil. This switch will reduce around 200,000 metric tons of CO2 which is equal to 500,000 barrels of crude oil. This type of data gives a bigger picture of the suppliers’ progress to reducing their company-wide carbon footprint. 

Integration

The integration process typically employs digital tools and platforms designed to manage and analyze large datasets. This comparison between product and service emission data through these technologies will help make it very easy and, in turn, guide the organization to understand high-impact areas that need immediate attention. This will also allow the data within the supply chain to be combined, hence realizing a full organizational view of the carbon footprint.

Using These Data to Reduce Emissions

By integrating these emission data, companies can improve sustainability among suppliers. An organization that thoroughly understands what the carbon footprint of its products and services is empowers it to engage suppliers meaningfully in conversation about sustainability and is ready to actually make change.

This includes setting clear, measurable sustainability targets and using the integrated data for tracking progress towards them. The data allows organizations to easily determine the areas on which their reduction efforts need to be focused—process improvements, material substitutions, or other sustainability initiatives. 

DitchCarbon’s API can find both product and organization data when queried. This integrated data is used for supplier engagement and emission reduction, which reduces your Scope 3 emissions.

Learn how DitchCarbon can provide both product and organizational data on your suppliers!

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• Source: https://ditchcarbon.com/blog/integrating-supplier-product-emission-factors/