What is the carbon footprint of formaldehyde?
Formaldehyde is made by oxidising methanol, and the reaction gives off heat that often makes steam. So most of the footprint is the methanol you buy, in Scope 3. Your own emissions are power for blowers and pumps, any start-up fuel, and the off-gas burner.
Where it comes from
- Methanol feedstock: the biggest share.
- Electricity for air blowers and pumps.
- Off-gas incineration and start-up fuel.
Credit for steam?
Steam used on site lowers your fuel bill, so it already shows up as less fuel. Do not subtract it a second time. Steam sold to a neighbour is shown separately.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads the plant's electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and fuel invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record, the plant-level input to a per-unit figure. Bought-in materials go to the supplier evidence trail; product reports are self-declared drafts.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-22.