Does a product carbon footprint under the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) method include my machines, factory building and staff travel?
Mostly no. The PACT method says making production equipment, buildings and other capital goods, staff business travel, commuting and research should not be in a product footprint unless materially significant, meaning above its exemption rules, the limit on what may be left out. A secondary database that already includes capital goods may be used as it is.
What a product carbon footprint counts
A product carbon footprint (PCF) is the greenhouse gas total for one unit of one product, the way the calorie count on a packet is for one serving. PACT counts it cradle-to-gate, which means from digging up the raw material to the moment the product leaves your factory gate.
What PACT says to leave out
PACT words it as "should not be included within the boundary of the PCF, unless materially significant", and defines that as above the exemption rules. Its reason is that these activities do not tend to be specific to any given product. A bakery prices a loaf by the flour, gas and power in that batch, not by what the oven cost.
- Manufacturing of production equipment.
- Buildings and other capital goods.
- Business travel by personnel.
- Travel to and from work by personnel.
- Research and development activities.
When they come back in
PACT gives two cases where they may matter: wind or solar power, where building the panels and turbines may not be negligible per kilowatt hour over the equipment lifetime, and service footprints, where business travel may be a material share. It also says product or sector rules on this point come first. If a secondary database already includes capital goods, PACT says it may be used as it is.
Where they still count
They are not forgotten. In your company-wide inventory under the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, the Scope 3 Standard lists capital goods as category 2, business travel as category 6 and employee commuting as category 7. They belong there, not in the per-product figure.
Screening a press and staff travel, example numbers
- Press, spread over its life: 600,000 kilograms (kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) / (20 years x 400,000 parts a year) = 600,000 / 8,000,000 = 0.075 kg per part
- Staff travel, example: 0.050 kg per part
- Left out together: 0.075 + 0.050 = 0.125 kg per part
- Part footprint with them added back: 6.00 + 0.125 = 6.125 kg. Share: 0.125 / 6.125 = 2.0%, under 3%
Every number is an example, not machine data. Dividing by the footprint with the items added back is our reading of how to test the 3% limit; PACT says all exclusions together shall stay under it. Disclose and justify what you leave out.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, the fuel and power your site uses to make the product. Senseible builds figures in the PACT exchange format as a custom integration, on request.
- How to leave out small inputs under PACT
- What PACT is and who needs it
- Capital goods in the year of purchase
- Cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave
Sources: PACT Methodology Version 3.0, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, list of categories
Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Rule is from PACT Methodology 3.0, section 3.3.1.1. Check the version your buyer names, and any product or sector rule it follows.