Product carbon footprint (PCF) calculator for Indian chemical makers

Your buyer wants kg CO2e per kg. Per product.

Your EU buyer wants a PCF on every product. Put it on the certificate of analysis before they guess with a database average.

What do you make?
Work out your PCFBook a 20-minute call
CERTIFICATE OF ANALYSISProduct B, agro intermediate · Batch B-114
Ref.
QC-COA-0114
Appearance
Off-white crystalline powder
Assay (HPLC)
99.2%
Moisture (KF)
0.18%
PCF period
FY 2025-26
PCF
10.28 kg CO₂e/kg
Raw materials
4.20 kg/kg
Plant gate
6.08 kg/kg
TfS method

Example. Illustrative products and plants.

The short answer

How do you calculate the carbon footprint of a chemical product?

Add your raw materials’ cradle-to-gate footprints per kg of product. Then add the steam, power and solvent losses your plant uses for that product, split by meters and batch hours, not by tonnes. Buyers ask for it in the TfS PCF Guideline format, which is compliant with ISO 14067.

Last verified 3 October 2026. Sources at the end.

Sound familiar?

Specialty, agro and pharma intermediates

The buyer’s form came in on Monday. They want kg CO2e per kg for 14 products. I have one site total.

Chlor-alkali and petrochemical units

Tell me by Friday if this unit is long or short this year. In rupees.

Ammonia, nitric acid and urea makers

The importer says send actuals or they’ll use the default. Which one is lower for us?

Paraphrased from our conversations with chemical makers.

Whose steam is it?

Three products share one boiler and one power bill. How you split them decides each product’s number.

77% of the chemical industry’s emissions are Scope 3.
Your molecule sits on someone else’s books.

Together for Sustainability (TfS), citing CDP, in its PCF Guideline update. That’s why buyers ask you, product by product.

Free PCF calculator for chemicals

One product, per kg.

Set raw materials, steam, boiler fuel, power and solvent losses. See kg CO2e per kg, and which lever moves it.

0

How this is worked out
  • Steam: 2.357 GJ a tonne (10 bar saturated, feedwater at 100°C) ÷ boiler efficiency × fuel factor.
  • Fuel: Indian non-coking coal 95.81 t CO2 per TJ (IPCC EFDB); natural gas 56.1 (IPCC 2006). Biomass CO2 reported separately.
  • Power: 0.675 t CO2 per MWh, India’s grid average for 2025-26 (CEA v22).
  • Solvent: methanol make-up 0.80 kg CO2e a kg (Methanol Institute, gas route) plus 1.375 when incinerated.
  • Raw materials and boiler efficiency (80% to start) are scenario inputs. Edit them. Feedwater at 100°C is a fixed assumption.
  • A calculated PCF for planning and buyer answers. It isn’t a third-party verified study.

Fill the buyer’s PCF form, product by product.

A TfS-style supplier request. Same question, two answers.

Supplier_PCF_Request_2026.xlsxSheet: Products · row 3 of 14
Row 3 For each product supplied, state the cradle-to-gate PCF in kg CO2e per kg, calculated per the TfS PCF Guideline v3.0. Give the reference period, primary data share, data quality rating and biogenic carbon content.

Wording modelled on TfS-style supplier requests.

  • Keep the contract. Answer all 14 products before renewal.
  • Win on your cleanest product. Meters, not tonnes, so it isn’t penalised.
Straight answer: this is a calculated PCF with the evidence behind it. If your buyer wants third-party verification, we’ll tell you what that takes. CBAM matters only if you ship fertilisers or hydrogen to the EU or UK.
Why now

Who’s asking, and by when.

v3.0

TfS is the format

BASF asks suppliers to calculate PCFs to the TfS PCF Guideline v3.0, cradle to gate.

1.39 kg

Buyers cut per kg

BASF aims for 1.39 kg CO2 per kg of raw material bought by 2030, down from 1.64.

31 Mar 2027

CCTS year closes

30 chlor-alkali and 11 petrochemical units must meet their 2026-27 targets or buy credits.

Top 1,000

BRSR Core widens

Listed companies in the top 1,000 need BRSR Core assessment or assurance from FY 2026-27.

How it works

From batch records to the buyer’s form.

Carbon-OS reads your ERP batch records, block meters and bills. One ledger gives PCFs, CCTS intensity and BRSR.

  1. Connect

    ERP batch records, block meters, boiler and power bills.

  2. Allocate

    Steam and power to products by meter and batch hours.

  3. Calculate

    PCF per product, CCTS intensity per unit, Scope 1, 2 and 3.

  4. Send

    Buyer forms in the TfS data model, BEE tables, BRSR Core.

Method and boundary

PCF method
TfS PCF Guideline v3.0, compliant with ISO 14067. Cradle to gate, per kg.
Data exchange
Output aligned to the TfS PCF data model and WBCSD PACT fields.
Allocation
Meters and batch hours first. Mass only as a labelled fallback.
CCTS
Unit fence, per the GEI Target Rules. t CO2e per tonne, four decimals.
CBAM
Embedded emissions for ammonia, nitric acid, urea and hydrogen: direct, N2O and precursors.
Fuels and grid
Grid × CEA v22. Coal by lab GCV. Biogenic CO2 as a memo item.
Factors
More than a million emission factors, including CEA, IPCC and DEFRA.
From the field

What chemical teams ask us first.

Export heads

“Is CBAM our problem?”

For most specialty makers, no. The pressure comes from customers, product by product. CBAM touches only fertilisers and hydrogen.

Plant heads

“Which product is really the dirty one?”

Split steam by tonnes and you can’t tell. Split it by meters and batch hours, and the answer changes.

Glossary

Eight terms, in plain words.

PCF
The carbon footprint of one product, in kg CO2e per kg.
TfS
Together for Sustainability, the chemical buyers’ group whose guideline sets PCF rules.
PACT
WBCSD’s framework for swapping PCF data between companies.
Cradle to gate
From raw material to your factory gate. Use and disposal left out.
Primary data share
The part of a PCF built from your own measured data.
Allocation
How you split shared steam and power between products.
GEI target
Your unit’s CCTS intensity target, in t CO2e per tonne.
Embedded emissions
CBAM’s term for the CO2e in an imported good, precursors included.
Where are you today?

Three questions. Your first steps.

See where we'd start with you.

Who asked for a carbon number most recently?

What do you make?

What data do you have today?

Questions chemical makers ask.

What is the TfS PCF Guideline?

The chemical industry’s rulebook for product footprints, from Together for Sustainability. BASF asks suppliers to use version 3.0. It’s compliant with ISO 14067.

What boundary do chemical buyers want?

Cradle to gate: raw materials through to your factory gate, per kg of product.

Why does my buyer care about my number?

You’re in their Scope 3. BASF aims to cut CO2 per kg of raw material bought by 15% by 2030, against 2022.

Can I use a database average for a PCF?

As a start, labelled. Buyers ask for your primary data share, so a measured number scores better.

Which chemical plants are under CCTS?

30 chlor-alkali units (October 2025) and 11 petrochemical units (January 2026). Fertiliser targets were still pending as of March 2026.

How big are the chlor-alkali CCTS cuts?

From 0 to 8.9% by 2026-27 against 2023-24, by our reading of the gazette.

What if a chemical unit misses its CCTS target?

It buys credits for the gap. If it doesn’t, it pays environmental compensation at twice the average traded credit price.

Does CBAM cover specialty chemicals?

Not today. It covers fertilisers such as ammonia, nitric acid and urea, plus hydrogen, iron and steel, aluminium, cement and electricity.

What is India’s CBAM default for ammonia?

3.280 t CO2e a tonne for 2026, plus a 1% mark-up for fertilisers.

Why does N2O matter for nitric acid?

Nitric acid plants emit it. At 7 kg a tonne and a warming potential of 273, that’s about 1.9 t CO2e a tonne. Abatement cuts it sharply.

What’s the biggest carbon lever in a batch chemical plant?

Usually the boiler. In our default case, steam is about a third of the footprint.

Is a Climes PCF third-party verified?

No. We calculate it to the TfS method with an evidence trail. If your buyer wants third-party verification, we’ll scope it.

Bring one product’s batch records. We’ll work out its PCF.

Twenty minutes. Your steam, your power, your solvents. You leave with kg CO2e per kg.

Book the 20-minute callor write to carbon-os@climes.io

Sources

  1. BASF, supplier PCF guidance: TfS PCF Guideline v3.0, cradle to gate
  2. BASF Report 2024: 1.64 to 1.39 kg CO2 per kg by 2030
  3. TfS, PCF Guideline update: 77% of emissions are Scope 3
  4. GHG Emission Intensity Target Rules, 8 October 2025: 30 chlor-alkali units, compensation at 2x
  5. G.S.R. 25(E), 13 January 2026: 11 petrochemical units
  6. ICAP, 30 March 2026: fertiliser targets pending
  7. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621: India defaults for ammonia, nitric acid, urea
  8. SEBI circular, 28 March 2025: BRSR Core to the top 1,000
  9. IPCC 2006 Volume 2, Chapter 1: natural gas factor
  10. Methanol Institute: methanol footprint
  11. CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 22: grid 0.675

Facts on this page last verified 3 October 2026. Interactive figures are illustrative unless a source is named.

PCF per productBook a call