Source: sources/standards/2026-10-29-pact-methodology-v2-framework-2023/2026-10-29-pact-methodology-v2-framework-2023.md
(Markdown twin of 2026-10-29-pact-methodology-v2-framework-2023.pdf, retrieved
2026-10-29 from wbcsd.github.io/tr/2023/framework-20232601/framework.pdf,
supplied by Martin Pompéry). Full title: “Pathfinder Framework — Guidance for
the Accounting and Exchange of Product Life Cycle Emissions”, Version 2.0.
78 pages. PDF metadata: Adobe InDesign 18.2, creation date 2023-04-17; the
URL path and the citation convention date it January 2023.
This is the document Martin introduced with: “die PACT Methodologie V2, an der wir mitgearbeitet haben” — the version SINE co-worked on. It is the direct predecessor of PACT Methodology v3.0 (2025), which renamed the document from “Pathfinder Framework” to “PACT Methodology”.
⚠ Conversion note. Marker garbled three image-tables into word-salad paragraphs: Figure 17 (assurance roadmap, p. 46), Figure 19 (key values of PACT, p. 56) and Table 2 (summary of guidelines, pp. 13–15). Do not cite those paragraphs. Figures 17 and 19 were recovered by rendering the PDF pages as images and are transcribed in full below; Table 2 was checked and only restates guidance given in the body. Marker also silently dropped “Version 2.0” from the title page — the string is in the PDF text layer but not in the Markdown twin. Figures 1–16 and 18 survive only as extracted images and are not transcribed.
What kind of document this is
A voluntary guidance document — in its own words, “designed to be a guidance document and is therefore voluntary in nature”, “published openly for everyone to freely access and use”, and “a supplement to the existing methods and standards … [to] be used in conjunction with these”. It is a blueprint for cross-industry application, explicitly expecting sector-specific guidance to be layered on top.
Addressees named in §2.1: businesses, auditors, technology companies creating solutions for the calculation or exchange of such carbon footprints, industry initiatives, and policy makers.
Structure (§2.2): three parts — emissions accounting, creating integrity, data exchange — plus a glossary and appendices.
What v2 added over v1 (November 2021)
§2.3 lists six areas of added clarity, each of which maps to a wiki concept page:
- Hierarchy for the application of product category rules (PCRs)
- Quality safeguards for PCRs and secondary data sources
- More specific PCF accounting guidance on exemption rules, allocation and biogenic emissions
- Data quality indicators
- Assurance and verification roadmap
- Incorporation of PCFs into Scope 3 inventories
Endnote 38 marks as new in v2: biogenic PCF, biogenic carbon content, IPCC GWP version, standards used, DQ indicators and assurance information.
§2.3 also pre-authorises its own revision: “As the development of consistent rules requires some trial and error, additions or adjustment revisions may be necessary”. ⟨Inference: this is the clause v3 later exercises when it resets the DQR deadline — see the delta section below.⟩
SINE’s role in this document
Three separate mentions, all consistent, none of them incidental:
- Foreword (Dominic Waughray, EVP WBCSD): “Thank you to those who provided valuable feedback and insights, as well as McKinsey & Company, our knowledge partner, and SINE, our tech collaborator.”
- Page 2 collaborator spread (image, recovered): 50 company and institution logos, then two separately labelled lines — “Knowledge partner: McKinsey Sustainability” and “Technology partner: SINE”.
- Back matter, “About PACT”: “PACT is hosted by WBCSD and supported by its knowledge partner, McKinsey Sustainability, as well as its technology partner, SINE Foundation.”
So the role title is stable across the document and unchanged from the Vision Paper (June 2022) — no demotion, no dilution. One asymmetry worth noting: the Disclaimer credits only McKinsey (“provided analytical insights and support to the Partnership for Carbon Transparency”) and does not name SINE. ⟨Inference: the disclaimer covers analytical content authorship, which is McKinsey’s lane; SINE’s contribution was the technology track, specified elsewhere (see §6 and Appendix B lineage).⟩
SINE’s own self-description, January 2023
The back matter carries an “About SINE Foundation” box — SINE’s own wording, in a WBCSD-published document, at the date of publication:
The SINE Foundation is a tech for good organization founded by progressive entrepreneurs, academic experts, and software engineers. SINE designs and implements the foundation for lasting data collaboration—delivered as ready-to-use governance tools and open-source software. The nonprofit foundation supports global organizations to identify, initiate, and maintain use cases for data collaboration within complex multistakeholder environments.
Note what the self-description does not claim: no cryptography, no privacy-enhancing technologies, no confidential computing. The offer is governance tools and open-source software. See SINE Foundation and open task 19.
The collaborator circle
50 logos on page 2 (up from 38 in the June 2022 Vision Paper), listed alphabetically as recovered from the image: ArcelorMittal, Arkema, Avery Dennison, BASF, Bayer, BMW Group, CATARC, Catena-X, CDP, Chevron, CircularTree, ClimateWorks Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive, Continental, CSR Europe, Deloitte, Dow, Drive Sustainability, Eaton, ecoinvent, EcoVadis, EPD International, Equinor, Givaudan, Green x Digital Consortium, Honda, IBM, iPoint, JEITA, KPMG, Microsoft, Nestlé, NRI, Novartis, Open Footprint Forum, P&G, PRé, Quantis, RMI, SAP, Siemens, Sika, Smart Freight Centre, Solvay, Systemiq, Takeda, Together for Sustainability, Unilever, Volkswagen, WRAP. Plus McKinsey Sustainability (knowledge partner) and SINE (technology partner), listed separately.
Figure 17 — Assurance roadmap overview (recovered transcription)
This is the single most consequential table in the document for the wiki’s promised-vs-built thread. Three horizons, eight dimensions:
| Dimension | Short-term 2023–2025 | Medium-term 2025–2030 | Long-term 2030 onwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage (granularity of data to be assured) | Corporate level | Representative product or PCF system | Representative product or PCF system |
| Conformance (basis for the assurance) | Any recognized standard | PCR or sector-specific guidance, if followed; if not, Pathfinder Framework | PCR or sector-specific guidance, if followed; if not, Pathfinder Framework |
| Boundary (depth of data) | Gate-to-gate; Scope 1 and 2 for corporate-level | Cradle-to-gate | Cradle-to-gate |
| Level (degree of confidence) | Limited assurance | Limited assurance | Reasonable assurance |
| Provider | Independent third party | Independent third party | Independent third party |
| Process cycle | Annual | 3 years, or earlier if variance >10% | 3 years, or earlier if variance >10% |
| Evidence | Evidence pack guidance (Appendix D) — spans all three horizons | ||
| Application to SMEs | Phased in: all requirements apply identically but with a 2-year time lag |
The reasonable assurance from 2030 commitment is dated, specific, and made by WBCSD in a document SINE is named on.
Figure 19 — Key values of PACT (recovered transcription)
| Value | Definition as printed |
|---|---|
| Inclusivity | All members jointly shape the Partnership by providing expertise, resources, data, and active participation in targeted working groups |
| Equality | The Partnership reflects the different ambitions of its members and ensures no member on their own is able to direct the initiative down a particular path |
| Data confidentiality and sovereignty 🔒 | Data owners have the flexibility to exchange different levels of data granularity with adjustable access rights and can approve each exchange |
| Openness | Methodological and technological solutions are designed to allow for interconnectivity, interoperability, and integration |
| Scalability | The Partnership creates an interoperable network of networks compatible across sectors and supply chains, serving multiple business needs |
| Reach | Synergies with other initiatives focused on emissions transparency are fostered and leveraged as much as possible |
Read against the Vision Paper’s five design principles (June 2022) and the Data Commons three values, this is a moving value set — see Pathfinder Network for the three-way comparison. The headline: “Data quality and integrity” drops out of the value set between June 2022 and January 2023, and Inclusivity and Reach are new.
The padlock icon on “Data confidentiality and sovereignty” is doing rhetorical work the definition does not support: the definition is adjustable access rights plus per-exchange approval — an authorization model, not a cryptographic one.
Confidentiality and cryptography: the negative finding
A full-document grep for encrypt | cryptograph | zero-knowledge | privacy-enhancing | multi-party | anonymi | pseudonym | differential privacy | secure comput returns zero hits across all 78 pages.
“Confidential” appears three times, all in §6.2, in the framing sentence: “it is equally essential to enable straightforward and confidential cross–value chain and cross-industry exchange of such data.” §1.3 likewise speaks of “the secure exchange of product-level emissions data”. Neither is operationalised anywhere in the document.
The one technical control named is in Appendix B:
Digital record signature | Digital signature covering the full PCF. The technical specifications specify details on company identification and digital signature verification. | Mandatory: No
Optional, and it addresses authenticity, not confidentiality. A grep for
signature in Methodology v3.0 returns
no hits — the attribute does not survive into v3.
This is the fifth and most precise instance of open task 19: PACT’s confidentiality promise is carried by vocabulary and an icon, and implemented as access control. SINE is the named technology partner in the same document, and SINE’s own self-description in that document is “governance tools and open-source software”, not PETs. ⟨Inference: this supports a sequencing reading — the confidentiality layer was a later ambition, not an unmet 2023 requirement — over a “the technology wasn’t known” reading.⟩
Lineage to the Technical Specifications
Appendix B’s header points directly at the next source in this ingest:
Please refer to full technical specifications —
https://wbcsd.github.io/data-exchange-protocol/v2/
§6.1.1 additionally cites the older “Pathfinder Network Technical
Specifications for Use Case 001” at carbon-transparency.com. Together
these give a citable chain: Vision Paper (2022) → Framework v2 (2023) →
Tech Specs v2.x → Methodology v3 (2025). Endnotes 14 and 25 both add:
“The Pathfinder Network will help facilitate direct access to these.”
Endnote 2 is worth keeping for terminology hygiene: “Any reference in this document to the term ‘technology’ shall be taken to refer to IT (as opposed to production technology).”
Regulatory framing
The Foreword names CSRD and ISSB as the drivers making Scope 3 transparency non-optional. ⟨Note: v3 (2025) shifts the headline driver to EU CBAM effective 2026 — the regulatory anchor moves from disclosure regimes to a border tariff.⟩
v2 → v3 deltas (summary)
Detailed on the concept pages; the headline findings:
| Item | v2 (Jan 2023) | v3 (2025) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assurance roadmap | 3 horizons, reasonable assurance from 2030 | 2 horizons, “reasonable assurance” appears nowhere; limited assurance only | Retreat |
| DQR mandatory from | 2025 | 31.12.2027 | Slip |
| DQR indicators | 5 (technological, geographical, temporal, completeness, reliability), scale 1–3 | 3, scale 1–5 | Narrowed |
| Exemption rule | <1% per individual process and <5% aggregate | <3% aggregate only | Tightened |
| Digital record signature | optional attribute, Appendix B | absent | Dropped |
| Document name | ”Pathfinder Framework" | "PACT Methodology” | Rename |
The mixed direction matters: this is not a one-way story of weakening. The exemption rule got stricter while the assurance ambition shrank.