Carbon Minds

Bayer aims for net zero across its value chain by 2050 at the latest, with significant reductions in line with Science-Based Targets criteria by 2030. Its supplier decarbonisation team found that supply chain data was hard to get, and that coverage, quality and consistency were all problems, while good data is needed for assessments, supplier discussions and tracking reductions. After screening the market, Bayer worked with Carbon Minds to map the goods it purchases to the Carbon Minds PCF library. The PCFs now feed Bayer's new central GHG Data Model, the backbone of its GHG accounting and reporting, and are also used in its own PCF calculations. The licence keeps the data up to date as sector data quality improves.

• Purchased goods mapped to the Carbon Minds PCF library
• PCFs integrated into Bayer's central GHG Data Model
• Data kept up to date through the licence

Henkel buys a very broad range of raw materials, and its value chains differ strongly between regions because of feedstock availability and market demand. Its industrial customers want to know the emissions of what they buy, but reliable data on raw materials was scarce. Henkel adopted the cm.chemicals database, whose regional and technology-specific modelling reflects these complex value chains. The team gained visibility on supply chain emissions across chemicals, regions and technologies, identified key reduction levers, and now calculates PCFs automatically for more than 60,000 Henkel Adhesives products to share with customers.

• Supply chain emissions visible by chemical, region and technology
• Key reduction levers identified

LANXESS uses PCF data to find emission hotspots in its products and to report credibly to customers, stakeholders and regulators. Ideally that data comes from suppliers, but not all of them could provide it, which left gaps across the raw material portfolio. LANXESS matched Carbon Minds data with its own raw material information, covering a significant share of its materials and reducing the need for approximations, and took part in an in-house Carbon Minds training to build LCA and PCF expertise. The wide range of datasets and regional coverage improved the coverage and accuracy of its carbon footprint data, which now supports its annual reports, ESG disclosures and customer communication.

• Better carbon footprint coverage across the raw material portfolio
• Fewer approximations in PCF calculations
• In-house LCA and PCF expertise built through training

Avient wanted to publish specific carbon footprint values for its products, to steer product development towards lower-carbon solutions, find emission hotspots and give customers transparent information. The obstacle was a lack of trusted carbon footprint data for major polymers and chemical compounds: suppliers often could not provide accurate figures because of complex processes, and values had to reflect different technologies and production regions. Avient identified the raw materials without footprint data and filled the gaps with third-party-verified Carbon Minds data, combined with its own data in a cradle-to-gate calculation method compliant with ISO 14067:2018.

• Cradle-to-gate calculation method compliant with ISO 14067:2018
• Raw material data gaps filled with third-party-verified data
• Product footprints shared with customers and the public

Master Fluid Solutions, maker of the TRIM and WEDOLiT metalworking fluids, aims to assess its entire European product portfolio cradle-to-gate by the end of 2026. Supplier data was often missing, incomplete or not validated, matching additives added complexity, and the team lacked the capacity to calculate PCFs at scale. With Carbon Minds, it applied a methodology aligned with ISO 14067:2018 and the UEIL/ATIEL PCF guidelines for lubricants, then ran a pilot on six products, closing data gaps by combining primary data with Carbon Minds secondary data and Scope 3.1 emission factor mapping. A workshop trained sales, procurement, management, operations and IT. The company can now answer customer PCF requests, and the next phase semi-automates calculations across the portfolio.

• Methodology aligned with ISO 14067:2018 and UEIL/ATIEL guidelines
• Customer PCF requests answered on demand
• Clear path to the full European portfolio by end 2026 (target)

More and more Brenntag customers and partners were asking for transparent, comparable information on the climate impact of the products they buy. Brenntag needed a robust methodology compliant with ISO 14067:2018 and the TfS PCF Guideline, but its LCA practice was still developing and it had no experience with TÜV's new certification process. Carbon Minds helped write the methodology document, ran an in-house LCA training, supplied life cycle data and guided the TÜV certification. Brenntag has provided PCFs through its CO2Xplorer tool since 2022, and TÜV Rheinland Energy GmbH has certified its methodology, making it, by its own account, the first global chemical distribution company to do so for a semi-automated PCF tool.

• Methodology certified by TÜV Rheinland (ISO 14067:2018 and TfS)
• PCFs provided to customers through CO2Xplorer since 2022
• In-house LCA know-how built quickly through training