Your customer asked for carbon data. Walk the plant.
Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and formulation units get the same request from global buyers. Each area of your plant answers part of it.
Short words used below: carbon dioxide (CO2), financial year (FY). Scope 1 is what you burn on site. Scope 2 is electricity you buy.
Medicines are not on the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) list. Buyers ask through supplier questionnaires and contracts instead.
Tap a room. Follow the numbers, or jump anywhere.
What your buyer asks
- Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI) questionnaire: Scope 1 and 2 per site, solvents, refrigerants
- Energize renewable electricity: Bills, renewable share, Scope 2
- Product footprint: Per kg of API or per 1,000 tablets
1. Power and diesel
Scope 2, plus Scope 1 from diesel generators
Where the emissions come from
- Grid electricity in kilowatt hours (kWh), at 0.675 kg carbon dioxide (CO2) per kWh for financial year (FY) 2025-26.
- Diesel generator (DG) litres at 2.68 kg CO2 per litre.
- Market-based Scope 2 only if you buy renewable power or hold certificates.
Which buyer question it answers
- PSCI questionnaire: Scope 2 per site, location-based and market-based.
- Energize: Twelve months of bills per site, sanctioned load and your renewable share.
- Product footprint: The plant energy share inside each product figure.
Energize is a programme run by Schneider Electric with large pharma companies since November 2021, to help their suppliers buy renewable electricity. Joining is free for suppliers of the sponsoring companies. Ask your customer for the terms in writing first. It started with suppliers’ load in Europe and North America, so ask whether a group deal is open in India.
Example, not your numbers
- Electricity: 40,00,000 kWh x 0.675
- = 27,00,000 kg CO2
- DG diesel: 20,000 litres x 2.68
- = 53,600 kg CO2
Senseible gives you the per-site electricity baseline from your bills, location-based Scope 2 at 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh for financial year 2025-26, and market-based Scope 2 when you record the green tariff, open access or renewable energy certificate evidence.
2. Boiler house
Scope 1
Where the emissions come from
- Coal or briquettes, counted by weight.
- Thermic fluid heaters count the same way.
- Briquette CO2 is biogenic, so it is reported separately. Methane and nitrous oxide stay in Scope 1.
- Briquettes carry less heat than coal, so more tonnes burn for the same steam.
Which buyer question it answers
- PSCI questionnaire: Scope 1 per site: fuels in boilers, thermic fluid heaters and diesel generator (DG) sets.
- Product footprint: Steam hours or batch records decide each kg of API’s share.
Buyers ask whether briquettes come from farm residue or sawdust. Supplier invoices that name the feedstock help.
Example, not your numbers
- Coal for steam: 80,000 kg x 25% batch share
- = 20,000 kg
- 20,000 kg x 2.42
- = 48,400 kg carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Piped natural gas (PNG): 1,50,000 standard cubic metres (scm) x 2.05
- = 3,07,500 kg CO2
Senseible reads fuel invoices into a dated, fingerprinted record, so the coal, oil and briquette quantities before and after a switch trace back to the documents.
3. Solvent recovery and incinerator
Scope 1 on site, Scope 3 category 5 (waste sent off site)
Where the emissions come from
- Spent solvent burnt in your own incinerator is Scope 1.
- Sent to a common incinerator or cement kiln, it is Scope 3 category 5 (waste sent off site).
- Solvent you recover and reuse adds nothing. Only the steam and power to distil it count.
- Support fuel for the incinerator is Scope 1 on its own line.
Which buyer question it answers
- PSCI questionnaire: Solvent use, recovery and incineration. It can be a large source at API sites.
- Product footprint: Net solvent make-up per kg of API, plus incineration of spent solvent.
Example, not your numbers
- Toluene residue: 8,000 kg x 0.912
- = 7,296 kg carbon
- x 44/12 = 26,752 kg carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Methanol residue: 2,000 kg x 0.375
- = 750 kg carbon
- x 44/12 = 2,750 kg CO2
- Total Scope 1 from burning: 29,502 kg CO2, about 29.5 tonnes
- 27,000 kg recovered and reused is not counted.
- Assumes pure solvents and full burn.
Senseible reads your fuel and power invoices, so distillation energy and incinerator support fuel are covered. CO2 from burning the solvent itself needs your solvent mass and carbon content, from feed logs and manifests.
4. Cleanroom air handling
Scope 2, and Scope 1 for reheat fuel
Where the emissions come from
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) runs around the clock, busy or idle.
- Cleaner grades need far more filtered air. Grade B takes much more than Grade D.
- Split by air each suite needs, then by hours each product used the suite.
Which buyer question it answers
- Product footprint: A fair share of HVAC power in each 1,000 tablets.
- PSCI questionnaire: Site energy use, with the allocation rule written down.
Example, not your numbers
- Suite A, Grade B: 150 m² x 3 m x 40 air changes per hour
- = 18,000 m³ per hour
- Suite B, Grade C: 300 m² x 3 m x 20
- = 18,000 m³ per hour
- Suite C, Grade D: 500 m² x 3 m x 10
- = 15,000 m³ per hour
- Total air: 51,000 m³ per hour
- Suite A share of 6,00,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of HVAC power:
- 6,00,000 x 18,000 / 51,000
- = 2,11,765 kWh
Senseible reads the plant’s electricity and fuel bills. Sub-meter readings and the split between suites and products are entered by you and labelled as such.
5. Chillers and brine plant
Scope 2, and Scope 1 from refrigerant leaks
Where the emissions come from
- Power from a sub-meter, or measured kilowatts (kW) per tonne of refrigeration (TR) x TR x hours.
- These kWh are already in your electricity bill. Use them to share it out, not to add to it.
- Refrigerant topped up is Scope 1: kg charged x the gas’s warming factor.
- Ammonia has no warming factor, so only power counts there.
Which buyer question it answers
- PSCI questionnaire: Refrigerant top-ups in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
- Product footprint: Chiller energy given to the blocks and products it serves.
Example, not your numbers
- 100 TR brine plant, 70% load, 6,000 hours
- = 4,20,000 TR-hours
- At 1.8 kW per TR: 7,56,000 kilowatt hours (kWh)
- x 0.675 = 5,10,300 kg carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Refrigerant: 40 kg HFC-134a x 1,530
- = 61,200 kg CO2e
Senseible applies 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh for financial year 2025-26 to plant electricity from bills. Refrigerant top-ups are recorded as Scope 1 when you give the gas and the kilograms charged.
Most requests ask for two things
- Scope 1 and Scope 2 for April to March.
- A figure per batch or per 1,000 tablets for their products.
SEBI’s value chain rules for listed companies are voluntary so far, but a supply agreement can oblige you. SEBI is the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Try it on one power bill or pick your market