Brenntag incentivizes GHG reductions by piloting transparent supply chain strategies
02 Dec 2022 --- As the industry is accelerating toward actualizing global net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, Brenntag is providing Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data to its customers. This is part of the chemical company’s sustainability strategy to promote and enhance transparency about GHG emissions and incentivize reductions across supply chains.
“We can provide transparency to our customers on their Scope 3 emissions and support them in achieving their own sustainability targets,” Dr. Andreas Kicherer, VP of sustainability at Brenntag, tells PersonalCareInsights. Scope 3 includes emissions further down value chains that a company is indirectly responsible for.
The company aims to foster changes in the industry to improve the ESG strategies of its partners. “We offer our business partners the opportunity to assess the products and services they buy from us even better and thus effectively support them in achieving their sustainability goals,” says Christian Kohlpaintner, CEO at Brenntag.
Kohlpainter claims the company’s almost 190,000 customers worldwide are taking stronger environmentally conscious purchasing decisions. This trend is widely observed across the personal care industry and players like Unilever, Symrise and Revieve delve into ways to cater to their consumers on this front.
PCF pilots
Brenntag’s solution is based on a database that offers high-quality PCFs for several items and it has begun to give consumers access to data in the form of pilot cases.
Brenntag discloses opportunities for emission reductions in relation to logistics and transportation following the 7% increase in GHG emissions the EU transport industry saw.“We have access to a complex database with country and technology-specific calculated data for a large share of products regarding the information on product carbon footprints. If available, we refine this master data with information that we obtain directly from our suppliers,” shares Kicherer.
For every product, these master data are gradually improved with additional information from vendors. To promote automation and scale, particular service offers are built in tandem with the integration of these data.
“Our own product-related transport, warehousing and handling emissions are added, so that the customer receives a cradle-to-gate carbon footprint calculation, including information about the quality of the data.”
He says that, as far as pilot cases are concerned, Brenntag has already started to support customers in individual regions and individual industries with PCF data, which, apparently, “was met with great interest and enthusiasm.”
Kicherer says the next steps are to discuss with customers Brenntag’s GHG reduction plan and to offer products with a reduced carbon footprint. This is part of the company’s Step for Change Program.
He tells us that the company is continuously working to enhance this system by further improving the data quality as well as the number of available data points.
Scoping the supply chains
The PCF data is calculated by Brenntag based on the various supply chain stages. The first section covers Brenntag’s upstream Scope 3 emissions, which include the period from resource extraction through product manufacture and up to the supplier’s plant gate.
Customers worldwide are taking stronger environmentally conscious purchasing decisions.
In this, Brenntag works together with vendors and data sources like Carbon Minds. Then, the percentage of Brenntag’s own emissions (Scope 1 and 2) is added. Scope 1 is direct emissions and Scope 3 is indirect emissions from energy.
The European Environment Agency reports that the EU exceeded its 20% GHG reduction target for 2020 across various sectors. EU GHG emissions were 32% lower in 2020 than they were in 1990, exceeding the target by 12 percentiles, as per official figures submitted by member states in 2022.
Bucking the trend, the transport sector had a 7% increase in emissions over the same period, according to the World Economic Forum.
Brenntag, therefore, discloses opportunities for emission reductions not only in relation to the production of the products but also in relation to logistics and transportation.
“Our concept of providing extensive PCF for our portfolio provides highly valuable answers of how much GHG emissions are associated with a product along its entire life cycle,” Kicherer says.
ESG maneuvers
Brenntag’s rigorous ESG strategy has climate preservation as a key goal. One of the sustainability goals is to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. For instance, this calls for converting the entire business fleet to green energy by 2025 and gradually replacing its combustion engines with low-carbon substitutes.
The company has also joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Net-Zero Standards effort and the Science Based Targets program. Brenntag promises to create and present science-based targets for decreasing GHG emissions as part of his commitment to SBTi.
By Mieke Meintjes
