When can I leave the biogenic and land-use part out of a Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) product footprint?

PACT says biogenic and land sector emissions may be excluded if the product's total mass contains less than 5% biogenic carbon, or if they fall below the exemption rules. Entirely fossil-based materials such as metals and minerals, and infrastructure or facility development, may exceed the threshold and shall calculate these emissions. Biofuels used in processing may need calculating.

What the part covers

Biogenic emissions come from living material, for example wood and crops. Land sector emissions come from changing or managing land. PACT sorts them into six groups: land use change, other biogenic emissions such as methane, fossil emissions, land removals, biogenic carbon in the product, and land tracking. Land use change shall be reported when it applies.

When it may be left out

Two tests. Either the product's total mass contains less than 5% biogenic carbon, or the emissions are below the exemption rules, which cap all exclusions at under 3% in total.

The two exceptions PACT names

• Entirely fossil-based materials, such as metals and minerals, and infrastructure or facility development can have substantial impacts on land use. Those sectors may exceed the threshold and shall therefore calculate them.
• Biofuels used in processing may carry significant biogenic and land sector emissions and removals that may require calculation.

Three cases, our reading

• A pressed-wood tray: a large share of its mass is plant carbon, so it fails the 5% test.
• A plastic part moulded with heat from a briquette boiler: the product passes the 5% test, but the biofuel exception means you should check.
• A steel bracket: the fossil-based materials exception applies, so do not assume it can go.

The 5% test, example numbers

• A plastic part with a paper label weighs 2.00 kilograms (kg) and holds 0.06 kg of biogenic carbon, all in the label
• 0.06 / 2.00 = 3.0%, under 5%, so this test is passed
• If it held 0.15 kg: 0.15 / 2.00 = 7.5%, so it is not passed

Numbers are examples. That the share is carbon mass over total mass follows PACT's wording "total mass contains less than 5% biogenic carbon". Reading it as the weight of carbon, not of plant material, is ours.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, including wood or briquette fuel you buy. Working out the plant carbon share of your product is your own step. Senseible builds figures in the PACT exchange format as a custom integration, on request.

• Two PACT figures with and without uptake
• How to leave out small inputs under PACT
• Briquettes and wood in the Higg energy questions

Sources: PACT Methodology Version 3.0, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Rule is from PACT Methodology 3.0, section 3.3.2.4, Table 7 and footnote 42. The three cases are our reading.