How a product carbon footprint can help you stand out as a sustainability leader

• Rumi Jahani, Customer Success Manager, CarbonChain

As the economy transitions to net zero, aluminium is a hot commodity, with demand expecting to grow 40% by 2030. That means producing an additional 33.3 million metric tons of metal.

This presents an opportunity for producers and traders – beyond just ramping up supply.

Business-as-usual won’t satisfy growing demand: low carbon footprints will

The next race for the automotive industry is to reach zero-emissions car production; this means relying on aluminium as a key material, but also grappling with aluminium’s role as a secret emitter in electric vehicles. Electric cars may enable zero-emissions driving but they have large manufacturing carbon footprints, with emissions from materials 40% larger than traditional combustion engine cars.

Per tonne, aluminium is one of the most carbon-intensive materials in the world – more than steel and cement. But there’s also significant variation: emissions can range from around 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) to over 20 tonnes of CO₂e, depending on the energy sources and production methods used.

From automotives to power to consumer goods to ships, major industries are turning their attention to how to secure those lower-carbon options. Leading suppliers are showing it’s possible. And new data shows aluminium emissions decoupling from growth.

Regulation as an opportunity for transparency

With growing regulatory scrutiny on aluminium emissions like the EU CBAM, there’s an opportunity for producers and traders to measure emissions across the lifecycle with accuracy – and to use those calculations to share quantified product carbon footprints externally, and to inform net-zero strategies internally.

That way, customers and investors can recognise and reward existing low-carbon aluminium, while higher carbon suppliers can develop data-driven strategies to cut emissions and start capturing some of the low-carbon market share.

Transparency alone can be a differentiator too. Companies with accurate reports and targets are providing customers with intelligence to inform carbon pricing strategies and to prepare for tightening regulations and trade finance demands – even if they are still on their journey to low-carbon products.

Understanding product carbon footprints

A product carbon footprint (PCF) is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated throughout a product’s supply chain, expressed as a carbon intensity or total emissions. This encompasses all emissions from upstream activities (such as material extraction and processing) to downstream activities (including delivery, usage, and disposal). For example, a car’s carbon intensity might be quantified as # tCO₂e per vehicle, while a consignment of aluminium itself might be presented as # tCO₂e per tonne.

As part of their ongoing sustainability efforts, Niche Fusina Rolled Products (Fusina) uses CarbonChain’s software to provide detailed product carbon footprints for every custom-made aluminium product. Measuring supplier emissions with accuracy has enabled Fusina to pledge 100% low-carbon sourcing all of its primary alumimium as a key differentiator.

3 key stages to calculating PCFs

To get started with PCFs, the process involves, in brief:

1. Setting the system boundary: Deciding whether to use a “cradle-to-grave” approach (from source to end of product life) or “cradle-to-gate” approach (covers emissions before delivery to customer). This decision will be influenced by the product type and its lifecycle.
2. Collecting the data: Gathering both production process information and emissions data is essential. The quality of this data plays a significant role in the accuracy of the PCF.
3. Calculating the emissions, using the formula of activity multiplied by emissions factor for each process within the system boundary.

Read CarbonChain’s full detailed guide to product carbon footprints.

Carbon footprinting can now be accurate and automated

Businesses starting out on their product footprinting journey face a range of barriers, from sourcing asset-level emissions factors and gathering and verifying supplier data, to implementing complex carbon accounting methodologies that require significant expertise.

To avoid errors and automate the process, manufacturers, traders and commodity trade finance providers are turning to specialist tech solutions for verified carbon accounting.

In a move to make it easier to procure low-carbon metals, customers of thyssenkrupp Materials Services’ European materials distribution units can now access on-demand product carbon footprints via a digital tool for carbon traceability and intensity.

As demand grows for certified green aluminium, first-movers will gain a competitive advantage. That means making product carbon footprints a key part of your offering. It’s a fool-proof way to future-proof your product lines.

Stand out as a sustainability leader. Create automatic carbon footprints for every product, on quote or delivery. Book a demo with CarbonChain.