Gabriele Unger, General Manager at chemical industry initiative Together for Sustainability (TfS), shares what the chemical sector is doing to tackle supply chain emissions in the run up to the COP28 climate summit this November.
The countdown to the COP28 climate summit is on, and much of the world’s attention will focus on the “Global Stocktake” – a first attempt to assess whether collective efforts to meet the Paris Agreement are on track, and if we now have the solutions in place to tackle climate change at the pace and scale required.
Companies addressing their total emissions face a challenge: they can directly manage Scope 1 and 2 emissions but lack control over emissions originating from their supply chains, known as Scope 3 emissions. These Scope 3 emissions typically constitute more than 70% of a company’s carbon footprint, illustrating the scale of the “Scope 3 problem”. Effective climate action is therefore conducive to tackling these emissions head-on, and as soon as possible.
The chemical sector and Scope 3
The chemical sector makes a variety of products that shape the food we consume, the way we travel, the technology we use and much of the global economy. This equates to very long and complex supply chains.
For the chemical sector, addressing Scope 3 emissions by significantly lowering emissions across the supply chain (“decarbonising”) is crucial to meeting climate goals – a staggering 77% of the sector's emissions originate in its supply chains.
Unfortunately, however critical, decarbonising chemical supply chains is a multifaceted and complex challenge. It involves technical, economic, regulatory and logistical complexities that require collaboration across industries, governments and regions to achieve meaningful reductions.
A simple chemical such as methanol (a building block for hundreds of household products such as inks, resins and adhesives), can be made using different processes, technologies or raw materials, possibly including biobased or recycled materials, and requires energy throughout the production process which may be generated in a variety of ways.
The chemical solution unveiled
To tackle the Scope 3 challenge, Together for Sustainability (TfS) introduced the Scope 3 GHG Programme, an industry-wide approach to monitor, manage and reduce emissions throughout the chemical supply chain.
The cornerstone of this initiative is the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Guideline, a globally recognised, publicly available tool for achieving transparency and simplicity in emission calculations within the chemical sector. Launched in 2022 and the first of its kind, the Guideline has emerged as a gold standard for carbon footprint calculation of chemical raw materials.
The Guideline provides step-by-step guidance for chemical suppliers and adjacent industries to calculate the carbon footprint of their products, providing chemical producers with the data they need to set tangible emissions reductions targets and drive decarbonisation across chemical supply chains from pesticides to paints.
Equipped with this data, chemical producers can lay the foundation for tangible emissions reduction targets, and as a result reduce emissions within their supply chains.
Prior to the PCF Guideline, corporations were left grappling with estimations, often based on generalised information or global emission factors or on no data at all. The Guideline offers the way to high-quality, product-specific carbon footprint data – a game-changer in monitoring and incentivising emissions reduction across suppliers. In addition to this, the TfS PCF Guideline is accessible globally as an open-source resource and is available in multiple languages.
Bridging the knowledge gap
The success of reducing emissions across a multitude of chemical suppliers is dependent on a diverse spectrum of knowledge and maturity. To help mitigate this – in addition to the Guideline – TfS leverages and disseminates its knowledge and experience through the TfS Academy.
The Academy aims to upskill procurement teams of TfS member companies and their suppliers on the intricacies of sustainability and decarbonisation. Resources include webinars, e-learnings and learning plans that enable industries globally to upskill – whatever their level of experience – enabling more effective and collaborative action to reduce emissions.
The chance to change
As we approach the Paris Agreement’s 2030 milestone to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45% by 2030, with the overall goal of net zero by 2050, the urgency to meet climate targets intensifies.
Looking ahead to COP28, the pivotal role that the chemical sector plays in addressing its Scope 3 emissions cannot be overstated. At TfS, we will continue to champion discussions and actions around supply chain decarbonisation. We strongly encourage our members to translate the PCF Guideline into concrete actions aimed at reducing their Scope 3 emissions across their global supply chains.
