Version 2.0 of “Pathfinder Framework: Guidance for the Accounting and Exchange of Product Life Cycle Emissions” has been launched by The Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT), powered by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

In order to take a cross-sectoral approach to support organisations improve and exchange primary-data-based product carbon footprints (PCFs) across the value chain, the Pathfinder Framework consolidates the longstanding collaboration with the World Resources Institute under the GHG Protocol. The guidance was originally launched at COP26 in Glasgow. The requirements aim to further enhance data dependability and consistency across industries and value chains, for instance, via the inclusion of a verification and assurance roadmap.

To ensure the data-exchange protocol meets the updated Pathfinder Framework requirements, a revised version of PACT Network Tech Specifications which enables solutions to connect to each other from a technology perspective will be shortly released.

In improving business decision-making and helping companies meet their net zero targets, the Pathfinder Framework and Network enable them to better understand carbon emissions on a granular level.  

Dominic Waughray, Executive Vice President at WBCSD, said: “In order to achieve transparency, we need detailed guidelines to consistently calculate and account for emissions at the most granular level, as well as infrastructure to exchange the resulting verified primary data across value chains. As both a global business membership-based organization and co-convenor of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, WBCSD has long understood these challenges and recognized the critical need for Scope 3 emissions transparency. That’s why, in collaboration with 50 leading stakeholders including standard setters, regulatory bodies, and industry initiatives, we have developed the Pathfinder Framework.” 

Additional details on PACT can be found here. For more information on the Pathfinder Framework, please contact Anna Stanley-Radière, Director Climate Transparency at WBCSD.

Source: WBCSD