The first of its kind – CO2e calculator reveals the big picture

  • null

The first of its kind

CO2e emissions calculator reveals the big picture

It takes a lot of data to register over 19 million tons of CO2e emissions along the entire supply chain. And a comprehensive computational model to account for these emissions on the basis of the corresponding shipment items. The Product Carbon Footprint calculator from thyssenkrupp Materials Services brings the two together in a single tool that offers a clear view.

The Product Carbon Footprint calculator (PCF calculator for short) enables us to determine the CO2e footprint of every product in our portfolio at the levels of order and shipment item. This is a first, in particular for the metalworking industry, which with the calculation method developed specially by thyssenkrupp Materials Services is now obtaining reliable and current carbon footprint data for the first time. To sustainably reduce the ecological footprint of their own products, companies will in the future need to be able to calculate and account for it along the entire supply chain. With the new tool, thyssenkrupp Materials Services is putting in the hands of its customers this exact data – and with it, the urgently needed key to decarbonizing their own supply chains.  

At the same time, our company-wide introduction of the PCF calculator by mid-2023 will create transparency with regard to the total level of our own emissions. And with that, a clear picture of the 19 million tons of CO2e emissions which we produce annually in our value chain according to current estimates.

Full transparency: Scope 1 to 3

Scope 1 to 3 designates all direct and indirect emissions generated through our daily actions. Direct emissions include those of our company locations and vehicle fleet (Scope 1), as well as those arising from external energy sources (Scope 2). Indirect emissions comprise all of those generated indirectly through our business activities (Scope 3), in steps such as production, delivery, and disposal. These emissions are significantly higher than those resulting directly from our business activities. The reason for this can be found at the core of our business: in materials.

Calculation stages for the product carbon footprint

Cradle to gate – from manufacturing to the gate of the customer

Specific input values such as supplier and material data, data on our warehouse locations, and transport data are taken up in the complex calculation of the product carbon footprint. The PCF calculator thus not only ensures transparency, but through this transparency also enables the optimization of processes – ultimately on both sides of the customer’s gate.

The PCF calculator is a milestone on the way to achieving our own climate targets, but also those of our customers, because the data derived from it gives them precise baseline values for their own PCF calculations. On this basis, we can advise them to, for example, use products from other manufacturing processes with lower CO2e values in the future – products such as the so-called green steel from the Swiss Steel Group, which we are already using at our own subsidiary thyssenkrupp Aerospace. In this way, we’re making an important contribution to the climate neutrality of our customers’ products.

Frank Thelen
Head of Governance and Procurement bei thyssenkrupp Materials Services

Green light: the model has been certified

Having gained certification by the international classification society DNV, the PCF calculation approach is now also being taken up in the SAP system of thyssenkrupp Materials Services around the world. This will enable the data generated according to the internationally recognized standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to be printed on the bill of delivery for each order and specified for each shipment item. The process is to be introduced in all MX companies by spring 2023.

Thelen says in conclusion: “For the development team, various levels of activity led to this rollout. In order to be able to model the high complexity in the product portfolio, the decision was made to pursue multiple approaches to gathering the data. On the one hand, we use emissions values that are freely available on the market, while, on the other, we also purchase CO2 emissions factors from specialized companies. And these are already being replaced by data that our suppliers worldwide transmit to us, as well as numbers that we compile ourselves within the thyssenkrupp Group. These growing databases allow us to register emissions ever more precisely and eliminate blind spots.”