What is PCF:
It is the quantity of greenhouse gas that was emitted to manufacture a product. It can also include emissions during use and end of life.
It is expressed in CO2e, meaning CO2 equivalent, as other GHG are counted.
Here we are talking about cradle to gate footprint, meaning we are targeting emissions from our raw materials purchased or the extraction of our fossil energies up to the gate of our plants, meanning of course that we include the emissions to transform our raw materials into finished products.
Why is it important for Solvay to calculate its PCFs ?
Our clients and the final consumers are asking for lower impact products.
So we need to measure our products’ impact to be able to improve it and share it with our clients. We also want to progress towards a sustainable by design innovation and sustainable portfolio management.
Why do we need a digital initiative to calculate our PCFs?
Today the PCF is an output of Life Cycle Assessments, which are performed manually by R&I experts. They require weeks to months of work and one paint point is the data availability.
With our initiative we want to automate the PCF calculations and make it available to our SD Champions, and even to our clients.
PCF breakdown by scope:
| Scope number | Scope name |
|---|---|
| Scope 1 | Direct energy emission (Electricity, Steam, Gas, Fuel) |
| Scope 2 | Indirect energy emission (link to energy production) |
Scope 3.1 | Raw materials |
| Scope 3.3 | Energy emission upstream (Ressources before the energy production, for exemple carbon footprint produce by the truck to get uranium) |
| Scope 3.4 | Transportation of intermediate |
| Scope 3.5 | Waste produce during the End to End production of the finish product |
| Scope 1 other GHG | Other Green house Gas |