Contents I. Introduction
The global climate crisis pushes companies to use products and components more efficiently, e.g., in the form of the circular economy, which requires cross-organizational exchange of information like carbon emission and energy consumption. Manufacturers are facing the challenge of transparently collecting and reporting the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) along the value chain [1]. Digitalization offers promising solutions for documenting and sharing sustainability information across company boundaries. Despite this potential, existing frameworks such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO 14044 predominantly offer broad guidelines for PCF calculation, without delving into the specifics required for practical implementation. This lack of detailed guidance can lead to discrepancies in PCF calculations when different standards or methodologies are applied. The extent of detailed activity data required for accurate PCF calculation remains unclear, as does the degree of digitalization necessary within a manufacturing system to procure this data effectively. Moreover, the precision of PCF calculation relative to the level of digitalization has yet to be established, posing a challenge to the reliability and accuracy of these sustainability metrics.
