Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) sets foundations for standardized emissions data exchange Organizations are increasingly recognizing the need to tackle their Scope 3 emissions, i.e., those that occur along a supply chain, yet many are still struggling to create sufficient transparency. A core hurdle is the difficulty in accessing data across the value chain. As a result, organizations are employing carbon accounting and emissions exchange technology solutions. While this constitutes an important step in the right direction, these solutions lack one essential feature: interoperability, i.e., the ability to connect to one another, exchange information and understand the information exchanged (or “speak the same language”). In practice, this means that any organization aiming to access data from its product value chain or a potential supplier has to use the same solution. This is akin to only being able to send emails to people using the same email provider – unimaginable. The first PACT tech specifications – consisting of a data exchange protocol and data attributes – seek to resolve this challenge. The data exchange protocol enables solutions to connect to each other from a technology perspective. The data attributes, in turn, ensure data is formatted identically, enabling the data to be understood by different solutions. Ultimately, this reduces the risk of data remaining in (technical) siloes.