Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) ADD-ONADD-ON
This feature is currently in preview. That means that we believe the feature is good enough to start using, but:
- There might still be bugs or edge cases we haven't covered.
- The documentation and error messages might be less detailed.
- We might need to make further changes in the API surface.
We need the ability to iterate quickly on preview versions, so we offer less guarantees of stability. When we make changes to the preview version, we will release a new version, and you must migrate to this new version within three months. Read more about API versioning at Climatiq here.For this reason, preview endpoints are not available without explicitly opting in. If you would like to opt-in to this preview feature, please contact us.
Climatiq's Product Carbon Footprint feature helps automate the emissions associated with product manufacturing, covering material sourcing and factory production.
The PCF feature is designed for scenarios where you are manufacturing a physical product and have the following data available:
- The location of manufacturing site
- A detailed bill of materials (BOM) for the final manufactured product, including the origin of each component
- The energy uses for the manufacturing of the final product
For the limitations of the current version of the feature, see limitations.
Estimate
POST This endpoint allows you to calculate a Product Carbon Footprint for a product using your manufacturing and component data.
The Product Carbon Footprint estimate includes:
- Component production emissions: Calculates emissions associated with the production of components and materials. Emission factors are automatically determined using the Autopilot feature. If you have a premium data license for e.g. ecoinvent, these factors will also be considered as candidates.
- Logistics emissions: Estimates emissions from transporting components using the Freight feature.
- Manufacturing electricity emissions: Calculates emissions from electricity consumption during the final manufacturing step, using the Energy feature. If you have a premium license for IEA data, these emission factors will also be used.
- Data Quality Rating: A numerical score is returned to indicate the accuracy of the results.
https://preview.api.climatiq.io/pcf/v1-preview1/estimateRequest
This endpoint accepts the following parameters:
- productrequired string
The kind of product that is being produced. Currently, this field is used for descriptive purposes. In future updates, Climatiq may integrate the Autopilot feature to automatically map products to emission factors. See here for what a good input to this field is.
- manufacturingrequired object
Details about the manufacturing process, including year, location, and energy data.
manufacturing.manufacturing_yearrequired integerThe year the product was manufactured.
manufacturing.locationrequired objectThe location where the product was manufactured. Accepts QueryLocation, IataCodeLocation, UNLocodeLocation or CoordinateLocation.
The amount of electricity-based energy that was consumed to manufacture the final product.
- componentsrequired array of objects
The input components that are used to manufacture the final product. At least one component must be provided.
components.categoryrequired stringThe category of component that is being used. Climatiq uses the Autopilot feature to match this string to appropriate emission factors. See here for what a good input to this field is.
components.originrequired objectThe location where the component was manufactured or purchased. Accepts QueryLocation, IataCodeLocation, UNLocodeLocation or CoordinateLocation.
The weight of the component.
components.transport_mode"air","road","sea"or"rail"If known, specify the primary transportation mode. If omitted, Climatiq estimates the most probable mode based on component origin and destination.
curl --request POST \ --url https://preview.api.climatiq.io/pcf/v1-preview1/estimate \ --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLIMATIQ_API_KEY" \ --data '{ "product": "Wooden chair", "manufacturing": { "manufacturing_year": 2023, "location": { "query": "Ontario" }, "energy": { "energy": 1.64, "energy_unit": "kWh" } }, "components": [ { "category": "Wood", "origin": { "query": "Quebec" }, "weight": { "weight": 8, "weight_unit": "kg" } }, { "category": "Wood glue", "origin": { "locode": "IN-BOM" }, "weight": { "weight": 0.15, "weight_unit": "kg" }, "transport_mode": "air" } ]}'Response
The response includes a detailed breakdown of the CO2e estimate and related data.
- co2e_kgfloat
The total greenhouse gas emissions associated with this product, expressed in kg of co2-equivalents.
- co2e_calculation_methodstring
Which calculation methodology that was used for the calculation. The value of this is either
"ipcc_ar4_gwp100","ipcc_ar5_gwp100","ipcc_ar6_gwp100"or"ipcc_mixed_gwp100". Learn more about calculation methods here. - data_quality_ratingfloat
The data quality rating for the calculated PCF. This gives an indicator of how high quality we judge the result to be. This value is a float between 1 and 3, where 1 is the best quality and 3 is the worst.
- co2e_breakdownobject
A further breakdown of where the final
co2e_kgnumber comes from.co2e_breakdown.component_production_co2e_kgfloatThe amount of the
co2e_kgfield that comes from the production of the input components, expressed in kg of co2-equivalents.co2e_breakdown.component_freight_co2e_kgfloatThe amount of the
co2e_kgfield that comes from the shipping of the input components to the manufacturing location, expressed in kg of co2-equivalents.co2e_breakdown.manufacturing_co2e_kgfloatThe amount of the
co2e_kgfield that comes from the final manufacturing process of the product, expressed in kg of co2-equivalents. - manufacturingManufacturing object
This object contains a breakdown of the emissions associated with the final manufacturing of the product
An object with estimates for the location-based electricity consumption associated with the manufacturing of the product. This covers the same scopes as the energy feature, which means both the generation, upstream and T&D emissions are included.
- componentsarray of Component objects
An array of components with their individual CO2e contributions. The components are returned with the same name, and in the same order as the input parameters.
{ "co2e_kg": 5.728, "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_mixed_gwp100", "data_quality_rating": 2.072, "co2e_breakdown": { "component_production_co2e_kg": 2.548, "component_freight_co2e_kg": 2.947, "manufacturing_co2e_kg": 0.2331 }, "manufacturing": { "electricity": { "consumption": { "co2e": 0.193, "co2e_unit": "kg", "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_ar6_gwp100", "source_trail": [ { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Emissions Factors 2024", "year": "2023", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" } ], "co2_biogenic": null, "constituent_gases": { "co2": 0.193, "ch4": 0, "n2o": 0 } }, "well_to_tank": { "co2e": 0.02968, "co2e_unit": "kg", "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_ar6_gwp100", "source_trail": [ { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Life Cycle Upstream Emission Factors 2024", "year": "2023", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" } ], "co2_biogenic": null, "constituent_gases": { "co2": null, "ch4": null, "n2o": null } }, "transmission_and_distribution": { "co2e": 0.009039, "co2e_unit": "kg", "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_ar6_gwp100", "source_trail": [ { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Emissions Factors 2024", "year": "2022", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" }, { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Emissions Factors 2024", "year": "2023", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" }, { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid: T&D losses", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Emissions Factors 2024", "year": "2022", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" } ], "co2_biogenic": null, "constituent_gases": { "co2": 0.009039, "ch4": 0, "n2o": 0 } }, "well_to_tank_of_transmission_and_distribution": { "co2e": 0.00139, "co2e_unit": "kg", "co2e_calculation_method": "ipcc_ar6_gwp100", "source_trail": [ { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Emissions Factors 2024", "year": "2022", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" }, { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Life Cycle Upstream Emission Factors 2024", "year": "2023", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" }, { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Electricity supplied from grid: T&D losses", "source": "IEA", "source_dataset": "IEA Emissions Factors 2024", "year": "2022", "region": "CA", "region_name": "Canada" } ], "co2_biogenic": null, "constituent_gases": { "co2": null, "ch4": null, "n2o": null } } } }, "components": [ { "category": "Wood", "co2e_kg": 2.705, "production": { "estimate": { "co2e": 2.501, "co2e_unit": "kg", "co2e_calculation_method": "ar5", "co2e_calculation_origin": "source", "emission_factor": { "name": "Wood (Primary material production)", "activity_id": "timber_forestry-type_wood_primary_material_production", "id": "6a029466-ecc8-4e85-86a0-76322e2d9e2e", "access_type": "public", "source": "BEIS", "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023", "year": 2023, "region": "GB", "category": "Timber and Forestry Products", "source_lca_activity": "cradle_to_gate", "data_quality_flags": [] }, "constituent_gases": { "co2e_total": 2.501, "co2e_other": null, "co2": null, "ch4": null, "n2o": null }, "activity_data": { "activity_value": 0.008, "activity_unit": "tonne" }, "audit_trail": "enabled" }, "calculation_details": { "confidence": "high" }, "source_trail": [ { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Wood (Primary material production)", "source": "BEIS", "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023", "year": "2023", "region": "GB", "region_name": "United Kingdom" } ] }, "transport": { "co2e_kg": 0.2038, "co2e_breakdown": { "vehicle_operations_co2e_kg": 0.1528, "vehicle_energy_provisioning_co2e_kg": 0.02428, "hub_equipment_co2e_kg": 0.02672 }, "route": "[Quebec, QC, Canada] => Road transport(0.255km) => [Sea Port at QUEBEC] => Sea transport(827.5353590000001km) => [Sea Port at TORONTO] => Road transport(6.368km) => [ON, Canada]" } }, { "category": "Wood glue", "co2e_kg": 2.79, "production": { "estimate": { "co2e": 0.04689, "co2e_unit": "kg", "co2e_calculation_method": "ar5", "co2e_calculation_origin": "source", "emission_factor": { "name": "Wood (Primary material production)", "activity_id": "timber_forestry-type_wood_primary_material_production", "id": "6a029466-ecc8-4e85-86a0-76322e2d9e2e", "access_type": "public", "source": "BEIS", "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023", "year": 2023, "region": "GB", "category": "Timber and Forestry Products", "source_lca_activity": "cradle_to_gate", "data_quality_flags": [] }, "constituent_gases": { "co2e_total": 0.04689, "co2e_other": null, "co2": null, "ch4": null, "n2o": null }, "activity_data": { "activity_value": 0.00015, "activity_unit": "tonne" }, "audit_trail": "enabled" }, "calculation_details": { "confidence": "high" }, "source_trail": [ { "data_category": "emission_factor", "name": "Wood (Primary material production)", "source": "BEIS", "source_dataset": "Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023", "year": "2023", "region": "GB", "region_name": "United Kingdom" } ] }, "transport": { "co2e_kg": 2.743, "co2e_breakdown": { "vehicle_operations_co2e_kg": 2.422, "vehicle_energy_provisioning_co2e_kg": 0.3206, "hub_equipment_co2e_kg": 0.00036 }, "route": "[Mumbai (ex Bombay)] => Road transport(19.523km) => [Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport] => Air transport(12493.648365000001km) => [Lester B. Pearson International Airport] => Road transport(29.954km) => [ON, Canada]" } } ], "notices": []}Data Quality Rating
The data quality rating provides an indication of the reliability of the carbon footprint estimation. It is a number between 1 (best) and 3 (worst) and considers multiple factors:
- Technological Representativeness: How well the data used reflects the actual technology being used.
- Temporal Representativeness: How well the data used aligns with the year the product was produced.
- Geographical Representativeness: How well the data aligns with the actual geographic location.
- Completeness: How well the data covers the entire process related to the product manufacturing.
- Reliability: How much of the data is based on assumptions versus reliable and verified measurements.
The final Data Quality Rating is a weighted average of the data quality ratings of all the estimates that make up the total CO2e value. As the PCF feature uses secondary data for e.g. the components, often the expected data quality ratings will lie between 2-3. For more information, see the UEIL PCF Data Quality Rating methodology (opens in a new tab).
Response Location
The location that is returned to you in the API response will contain the following properties
| Response Location attributes |
|---|
| name string A human-readable name of the location. |
| latitude string or null The latitude of the location. This is only returned if you have access to view coordinates. Please contact us if you need this enabled. |
| longitude string or null The longitude of the location. This is only returned if you have access to view coordinates. Please contact us if you need this enabled. |
| confidence_score float A confidence score between 0 and 1, determining how certain we are that the location matches your query. Only exists if the input location was a QueryLocation. |
Notice
The notices array provides warnings or informational messages to help interpret the results. These notices may indicate potential inaccuracies or provide additional context about the calculation.
The objects in the notices array may contain the following attributes:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| severity | Either warning or info. warning indicates possible inaccuracies; info provides context. |
| message | A human-readable explanation of the notice. |
| code | A programmatic identifier for the notice. |
The different possible values for code are as follows. You should not treat this list as exhaustive as more values may be added with time:
- The notice codes from the electricity endpoint might be returned. See the related documentation for what these codes might be.
Limitations
This endpoint provides an estimate of a product’s carbon footprint. These estimates may have significant uncertainties, and users should validate the output values.
The current limitations of the endpoint are:
- Emissions from industrial heating and cooling processes are not yet supported.
- Direct emissions from chemical reactions (e.g., in cement production) are not supported.
- Different selected emission factors for the components may have variations in LCA boundaries.