From 2027, companies, solution providers and organizations outside WBCSD can join the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) and help shape how product carbon data is used across value chains.

PACT, hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), is opening its membership beyond WBCSD members for the first time. It comes as product carbon footprints (PCFs), the greenhouse gas emissions of a single product, move beyond sustainability reporting into how companies buy, sell and compete in the market.

From collecting data to using it

A few years ago, most companies were asking whether they could get PCFs from their suppliers at all. Today, the question is different: how do we turn all this data into commercial value? Answering it means being able to trust the data, compare it and use it in real business decisions.

Companies want data to help drive the decisions they already make: what to source, what to develop, what to prove to a customer, and where to invest. For low-carbon products, the PCF is often the main evidence that the reduction promised in a commercial agreement has been delivered. That puts it alongside cost, quality and performance as a product attribute.

Getting there is not simple, from fragmented methods and open questions on data quality to suppliers at very different stages of maturity.

PACT's focus for 2027

The PACT Methodology and Technical Specifications provide a common approach that lets product carbon data move between companies without being rebuilt each time. The PCF Usability Model maps where this data, even when imperfect, can already support business decisions. Today, 180+ downstream corporates, 5,000 suppliers and 60+ solution providers work with PACT, and more than 4 million PCFs were calculated in line with PACT in 2025. In 2027, PACT will build on that foundation in two areas:

• Interoperability: help sector methods align around a common core, so one footprint can serve more customers, and begin extending that core to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and market-based instruments, amongst others.
• Usability: define what "good enough" data looks like for each business use, and give suppliers who are just starting out a practical way in.

Long-term vision

Life cycle assessments (LCAs), environmental product declarations (EPDs), digital product data and CBAM all draw on much of the same data. PACT's longer-term goal is to become the neutral connective infrastructure that lets this data move across markets with its provenance intact.  PACT sets the common rules and specifications and never holds the data itself. The rules for this layer are being written now, and members will help write them.

Become a member

• Corporates shape the PACT Methodology in the working groups and get hands-on support bringing it into their own procurement and reporting.
• SMEs, suppliers and NGOs have a say in the rules before they are set, at reduced fees.
• Solution providers get early access to draft specifications, a test sandbox and a listing among conformant solutions.

Other ways to engage:

• Industry initiatives can build their sector approach on the PACT core, so their work connects across industries.

Register your interest or contact us directly and the team will set up a short call to see which tier and working groups fit. Applications open now for 2027:

• Register your interest in PACT membership →
• Contact PACT team at pact@wbcsd.org.

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