New Digital Product Calculates Carbon Footprint

BASF Coatings has launched a new digital solution to calculate product carbon footprints (PCF) across its global sales portfolio, establishing a real-time, auditable CO₂ data foundation for approximately 120,000 products.

Transition to system-based carbon accounting
The new PCF solution replaces an internally developed application previously used by BASF Coatings to provide CO₂ data to customers. The updated system enables uniform and consistent calculation of greenhouse gas emissions across all products, supported by centralized data management and automated processing.

All relevant emissions are accounted for along the product value chain, including raw material procurement, inbound transport, and energy use during production. This approach is particularly relevant for complex, multi-variant products such as automotive and industrial paints, where numerous formulations and color variants require consistent and traceable emissions allocation.

Data integration across materials and production sites
A central component of the new solution is the integration of CO₂ data for more than 25,000 raw materials sourced globally. These data are combined with detailed energy flow information from over 30 BASF Coatings production sites worldwide. By linking material-specific emissions with site-specific energy consumption, the system enables precise calculation of emissions at product and variant level.

Beyond CO₂, the platform incorporates additional environmental impact categories. This extended scope provides further analytical insight and supports the development of targeted measures to improve sustainability performance, both internally and in collaboration with customers.

Global rollout and digital infrastructure
The global implementation of the PCF solution was carried out in stages across BASF Coatings production sites, in coordination with SAP. BASF Coatings is adopting SAP Sustainability Footprint Management (SFM) as the underlying system, establishing a standardized and scalable digital infrastructure for sustainability data management.

This system-based approach supports auditability and consistency, which are increasingly required by customers and regulators for credible carbon accounting and reporting.

Process-level assessment with GLASS and EcoImpact tools
In addition to product-level PCF calculation, BASF Coatings provides complementary digital tools to support customer sustainability initiatives. The GLASS (Global Life Cycle Assessment of Automotive Surface Solutions) tool is used by automotive OEMs to analyze environmental impacts across the entire painting process. For bodyshops, the EcoImpact Assessment tool offers a similar process-oriented evaluation.

These tools enable modular and holistic life-cycle analysis, extending beyond the BASF Coatings product itself to include application processes. By combining product data with process insights, customers can identify opportunities to optimize efficiency, quality, and emissions across the full application chain.

Strategic role in climate targets
The deployment of digital sustainability tools forms part of BASF Coatings’ broader climate strategy. The company targets a 40% reduction in its own CO₂ emissions by 2030 compared with a 2018 baseline. Achieving this reduction involves measures across the value chain, including sustainable raw material sourcing, optimized transport, increased use of renewable energy, and the application of renewable or recycled feedstocks through certified mass balance and ChemCycling approaches.

Within this context, the new PCF calculation platform and process-level assessment tools provide the data transparency required to support measurable emissions reductions and informed decision-making across complex, global product portfolios.