Your Customer Requires a PCF under Catena-X, TfS or PACT: What Does That Mean?

As of: 25 October 2026

Key points at a glance

• Catena-X (automotive), TfS (chemicals) and PACT (cross-industry) do not compete with ISO 14067 – they make it more specific: they define how PCFs are calculated and exchanged in the supply chain so that customers can compare and reuse them.
• All three require a cradle-to-gate PCF and are aligned with each other.
• For Catena-X, the transition phase of the current Rulebook (version 4) ends at the end of 2027. After that, data quality and the primary data share must be reported.
• Always ask your customer about the standard, version, exchange format and deadline before you start calculating.

The request often arrives by email from purchasing: “Please provide the product carbon footprint for the following items by the end of the quarter – in accordance with the Catena-X PCF Rulebook.” Or: “…according to the TfS PCF Guideline.” Or: “…PACT-compliant.” For many manufacturers, this is their first encounter with these frameworks. This article explains what lies behind the three standards, how they differ and how to answer such a request in a structured way.

Why industry standards for PCFs exist

Every PCF is based on ISO 14067 and the Product Standard of the GHG Protocol. Both, however, leave room for interpretation, for example on the system boundary, on how emissions are split between several products (allocation), on cut-off criteria or on how electricity and recycled material are accounted for. Two PCFs correctly calculated under ISO 14067 can therefore lead to different results.

For a customer who takes over the PCFs of hundreds of suppliers into their own accounting, this is a problem. Industry standards close these gaps: they set binding calculation rules and define a uniform data format for exchange.

Catena-X PCF Rulebook (automotive)

What it is: Catena-X is a data ecosystem of the automotive industry involving manufacturers, suppliers and software providers. The PCF Rulebook governs how suppliers calculate and exchange PCFs for automotive components.

Current status: the fourth edition has applied since September 2025. ISO 14067 remains the foundation; the Rulebook specifies how its options are to be applied uniformly in the automotive supply chain.

• System boundary: cradle-to-gate is mandatory.
• Transition phase until the end of 2027: version 4 extended the transition phase until the end of 2027, mainly with smaller suppliers in mind. Basic rules such as the system boundary, documentation of cut-off criteria, calculation rules for electricity and recycling and the structure of data exchange already apply today.
• Primary Data Share: shows what percentage of the result comes from measured values of the company and its suppliers – and how much from average values from databases.
• Data Quality Rating: indicates how well the data used fits the product: the technology used, the reference period and the region. Both indicators are still voluntary during the transition phase and become mandatory afterwards.

Relevant for: automotive suppliers, including those further down the supply chain, such as manufacturers of plastic and metal parts, electronics or drive components.

TfS PCF Guideline (chemical industry)

What it is: Together for Sustainability (TfS) is an initiative of major chemical companies for sustainable supply chains. The TfS PCF Guideline governs PCF calculation for chemical products and intermediates.

Current status: version 3.0 from December 2024.

• System boundary: cradle-to-gate, i.e. without use phase and end of life.
• Allocation: a binding hierarchy for how emissions are split between main and co-products – crucial in chemicals with its coupled processes. The rules are aligned with Catena-X and PACT.
• Use: customers feed the PCFs into Scope 3 category 1 (purchased goods).

Relevant for: suppliers to chemical companies, i.e. manufacturers of raw materials, intermediates, additives or packaging.

PACT Methodology (cross-industry)

What it is: the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) is run by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It develops a cross-industry methodology and technical specifications for exchanging PCF data. The methodology was formerly called the Pathfinder Framework.

Current status: the PACT Methodology V3 was published on 30 April 2025 and applies to all new PCF calculations. PCFs calculated under version 2 may in principle still be used for three years from calculation.

• System boundary: cradle-to-gate.
• Data exchange: in addition to the methodology, PACT defines a technical data format and an interface through which software systems can exchange PCFs automatically.
• Role: PACT is the cross-industry framework; industry standards such as Catena-X and TfS are aligned with it, and the Catena-X Rulebook is explicitly endorsed by PACT.

Relevant for: companies in all industries, especially when customers request PCFs via software platforms or do not specify an industry standard.

The three standards compared

• Industry
  • Catena-X: automotive
  • TfS: chemicals
  • PACT: cross-industry
• Current version
  • Catena-X: PCF Rulebook v4 (September 2025), transition phase until the end of 2027
  • TfS: PCF Guideline 3.0 (December 2024)
  • PACT: Methodology V3 (April 2025)
• Common ground
  • cradle-to-gate as the system boundary
  • based on ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol Product Standard
  • mutually aligned rules, with a focus on data quality and primary data

Because the three frameworks are aligned with each other, a well-structured PCF can usually be adapted to another standard with manageable effort. The differences lie mainly in the details, such as allocation, electricity accounting or data format.

Assurance and verification

Catena-X and TfS have jointly introduced a verification framework with three trust levels. At the middle level, a company demonstrates through independent certification that it can calculate PCFs according to a recognised industry standard. Whether and at what level your customer expects verification should be clarified early. Read more in our article on verification under ISO 14067 and the GHG Protocol.

How to answer your customer’s request

1. Clarify open questions

• Which standard, in which version?
• For which items or variants, and for which reference year?
• In which format: Excel template, supplier portal, Catena-X data exchange or PACT-compliant interface?
• Is assurance or verification expected?
• By when – and will more products follow?

2. Check your data basis

• Complete bills of materials with materials and weights
• Energy consumption and process data for your sites
• Emission data from your suppliers where available, otherwise suitable emission factors from databases
• Information on recycled content and electricity sourcing

3. Calculate and document

Calculate the PCF according to the rules of the required standard and document the system boundary, cut-off criteria, allocation and data sources in a traceable way. Report the primary data share even while it is still voluntary: customers increasingly ask for it, and it becomes mandatory after the Catena-X transition phase at the latest.

4. Plan for scale

It rarely stays with one product. If you build your first PCF so that variants and further items can be calculated with little extra effort, you are prepared for the next request.

Telusio’s view

Catena-X, TfS and PACT make PCFs more comparable – and at the same time raise the requirements for the data basis. With the primary data share and data quality rating, it becomes visible how much of a PCF is based on actual data and how much on assumptions.

For many manufacturers, this is the real hurdle: in our PCF Study 2026, the response rate for supplier data is only around 16%, and missing supplier and master data are among the biggest challenges. If you have a customer request on your desk now, you should therefore start not with the formula but with the product data.

Your customer requires a PCF under one of these standards? Get in touch – we will show you how to arrive at an auditable product carbon footprint even with incomplete product data.