One answer, many buyers
The PACT Network lists more than 50 conformant solutions that exchange footprints over the same standard. A footprint you publish once can be read by any of them.
PACT conformant · Listed on the PACT Network
PACT conformant. Your buyer’s system asks for the footprint. Yours answers.
PACT, the Partnership for Carbon Transparency, is an initiative hosted by WBCSD: a methodology for product carbon footprints and technical specifications for exchanging them between software systems. Karbon360 passed the PACT conformance tests for Technical Specifications v3.0, so an EU customer’s system can request your product footprints per good instead of sending another spreadsheet.
Last updated: November 2026 · PACT Technical Specifications v3.0 and PACT Methodology v3
Conformance tests · v3.0
41/ 41
WBCSD PACT
41 / 41
Automated conformance tests passed against PACT Technical Specifications v3.0, November 2026.
v3
PACT Methodology version 3 — the methodology previously called the Pathfinder Framework.
1 kg
Declared unit of every footprint Karbon360 publishes: kgCO₂e per kilogram of product.
3 years
How long a PACT footprint stays valid after its reference period ends, unless a validity period is set.
Karbon360 is a PACT conformant solution
Karbon360 passed PACT conformance testing for Technical Specifications v3.0 in November 2026 and is listed on the PACT Network. Your customers’ PACT conformant systems can request product footprints from Karbon360 directly, in the same format.
About PACT
The Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) is an initiative that works to unlock decarbonization through transparency in value chains. It establishes a standardized methodology for product-level carbon footprints and the technology infrastructure to exchange them, and brings together companies, technology providers, industry initiatives, standard setters and regulators. PACT is hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), co-convenor of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
PACT website · PACT Network · PACT Methodology · PACT Technical Specifications
01 · What PACT is
The Partnership for Carbon Transparency, in plain terms.
The partnership
What PACT is
PACT, the Partnership for Carbon Transparency, is an initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It gives companies a common way to calculate a product’s carbon footprint and a common way to send it to the customers who ask for it. Data is exchanged peer-to-peer between companies’ own systems; PACT does not hold it on a central platform.
The methodology
From the Pathfinder Framework to PACT Methodology v3
The PACT Methodology, previously known as the Pathfinder Framework, describes how to calculate and exchange cradle-to-gate product carbon footprints using supplier data. It builds on the GHG Protocol and ISO standards and adds rules meant to make footprints from different companies comparable. Version 3 is the current version.
The exchange specifications
PACT Technical Specifications v3
The Technical Specifications define two things: a data model for a product footprint (the ProductFootprint) and an HTTP API for exchanging it. A buyer’s system authenticates with OAuth 2.0 client credentials, lists or fetches footprints through /3/footprints, and sends events such as a footprint request through /3/events. Footprints are never edited in place: a change creates a new footprint, the old one is marked Deprecated and its id is kept in precedingPfIds.
Conformance
What “PACT conformant” means — and what it does not
A solution is PACT conformant when it passes all of the automated tests in the PACT Conformance Tool, run by PACT against the Technical Specifications. Karbon360 passed all 41 tests for v3.0.
Conformance is about protocol: authentication, the data model, filtering, pagination, events and error handling, so that any conformant system can exchange footprints with any other. It is not an audit of how a footprint was calculated and it does not certify the numbers. Each footprint says which methodology produced it, and its values stand or fall on that methodology and on independent verification where it exists.
What Karbon360 publishes
One footprint per good, in the format your buyer’s system already reads.
For each CBAM good you export, Karbon360 can publish a product carbon footprint derived from the same calculation behind your CBAM figures: the specific embedded emissions per tonne of the good, expressed per kilogram, with direct and indirect emissions both included.
- Footprints published per CN code, versioned and append-only
- Requests from buyers’ systems answered through the PACT API
- Boundary stated on every footprint: the CBAM production boundary, direct and indirect
GET /3/footprints/{id} · 200
status "Active"
productClassifications CN 72142000
geographyCountry XK
declaredUnitOfMeasurement kilogram
pcfExcludingBiogenicUptake 2.690721
productClassifications CN 72142000
geographyCountry XK
declaredUnitOfMeasurement kilogram
pcfExcludingBiogenicUptake 2.690721
Demo installation
02 · Inside a footprint
What each Karbon360 footprint states.
A PACT footprint is a structured record, not a PDF. These are the parts a buyer’s reviewer looks at first, and what Karbon360 puts in them.
Karbon360 product footprint, field by field
Tech Specs v3.0| Part of the footprint | What Karbon360 publishes |
|---|---|
| Product | The good, identified by its CN code — the same classification your importer declares under CBAM. |
| Declared unit | 1 kilogram. CBAM figures are in tCO₂e per tonne, which is numerically the same as kgCO₂e per kilogram. |
| Footprint value | Direct plus indirect specific embedded emissions of the good, including its precursors. Never the chargeable CBAM figure alone. |
| Geography | The country of the installation that made the good. |
| Reference period | The reporting year the calculation covers. |
| Boundary and method | The CBAM production boundary, direct and indirect emissions, calculated under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the EU CBAM method (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547). |
| Secondary data | Where a Commission default value stands in for a precursor, the footprint says so. |
| Verification | Stated only when that year’s figures have been verified by an independent verifier. |
| Versioning | Append-only. A republished footprint gets a new id; the previous one is deprecated and linked. |
03 · How a buyer gets your footprint
From a buyer’s request to a footprint in their system.
01
Access
Your buyer’s system receives its own client credentials and requests a token through OAuth 2.0.
02
List or fetch
It lists your active footprints, filtered by product, classification or geography, or fetches one by id.
03
Request
If a footprint is missing, it sends a request event; Karbon360 answers with the footprint or a stated rejection.
04
Stay current
When you republish, the old footprint is deprecated and the buyer is pointed at the new one.
04 · Why it matters to an exporter
Why a Balkan supplier would want this.
Same numbers as your CBAM data
The footprint is derived from the CBAM calculation you already maintain, so the figure in the buyer’s system matches the one their declarant files.
Honest about its boundary
Every footprint states that it covers the CBAM production boundary. A buyer can see exactly what it includes, and what it does not.
Questions
PACT questions we get from exporters.
What does WBCSD PACT stand for?
PACT is the Partnership for Carbon Transparency, an initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It publishes the PACT Methodology for product carbon footprints and the Technical Specifications for exchanging them.
Is the PACT Methodology the same as the Pathfinder Framework?
Yes. The PACT Methodology was previously named the Pathfinder Framework, and the network of conformant solutions was previously the Pathfinder Network. Version 3 is the current methodology.
Does “PACT conformant” mean the footprint values are verified?
No. Conformance testing checks that a system implements the Technical Specifications correctly, so it can exchange footprints with other systems. It does not check how a footprint was calculated. Verification of the underlying CBAM data is done by an independent accredited verifier.
Which methodology does Karbon360 use for its footprints?
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the EU CBAM method under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547. The footprint covers the CBAM production boundary, direct and indirect emissions. We do not present it as a full PACT Methodology or product-standard study, and the footprint says which method it used.
Can my buyer request a footprint we have not published yet?
Yes. Their system can send a request event through the PACT API. Karbon360 answers it with the footprint once it exists, or with a stated rejection, rather than leaving the request unanswered.
Which plan includes PACT footprints?
PACT product footprints are part of Compliance & Export, together with the CBAM module, and of Enterprise.
Sources and further reading
Keep reading
Product carbon footprintPCF, corporate footprint, LCA and CBAM embedded emissions compared.CBAM softwareThe calculation every published footprint is derived from.CBAM for Western Balkan exportersWhat the EU border mechanism asks of suppliers outside the EU.Supplier emissions questionnaireWhen a customer asks for data in their own format.MethodologyHow every Karbon360 figure is calculated and traced.PricingPACT footprints are in Compliance & Export.
Answer the next request once, in the standard format.
Publish a footprint per good from the CBAM data you already maintain, and let your buyer’s system ask for it directly.