As a result of EIT Manufacturing´s Call for Innovation 2024, ChainTraced has, together with a consortium of partners, been chosen to execute an innovation project for environmentally sustainable manufacturing through circular business models and new technologies. The ChainTraced traceability solution will serve as an enabler for calculation and data exchange of CO2 emission data along the metallic value chain.
In early 2023 EIT Manufacturing announced a call, looking for projects and organizations ready to transform European manufacturing and meet the global demands of present and future generations. One of the defined areas was “Low Environmental Footprint Systems & Circular Economy for Green Manufacturing. Using new technologies to minimize use of resources, energy, and material in production systems to enable new circular business models.”
As a result of the call ChainTraced, together with a consortium of partners, has been chosen to execute an innovation project during the period of January 1st –December 24th. With the ambition of offering scalable and transparent practices within CO2 emissions tracking and data exchange. Besides ChainTraced, the consortium partners are the research and development non-profit foundation Chalmers Industriteknik who is also the leading entity in the project, voestalpine High Performance Metals International GmbH market leader for tool steel, high-speed steel, special material, TeachingFactory Competency Center providing education and innovation services the manufacturing industry, and Sidenore a leading producer of steel products in Southeast Europe.
The challenge and the importance of the steel industry
The steel industry, for which supply-demand has more than doubled since 2003, is today a large contributor to global emissions and according to different sources generates between 7-11%. As the industry is currently undergoing a large transformation, investing in energy transition and the shift of its production practices, it becomes of great importance that these investments are promoted and that traceability remains intact and reliable across value chains with varying complexity. From raw material of mining extraction and steel making process and all the way to end-product.
At the same time current accounting practices for emissions tracking pose a burden on the value chain's total cost of ownership. Manual and resource-intensive, these practices also leave great room for interpretation for what to include in the calculations as well as the lack of reliable primary data. To drive sustainability, collaboration, efficiency, and transparency, the manufacturing industry needs to adopt more scalable practices within sharing more accurate and reliable emission data.
The aim of the innovation project
The primary goal of the project is to launch a European lighthouse initiative that empowers secure and efficient Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) accounting practices, that accounts for characteristics of the steel industry.
ChainTraced´s digital platform is going to facilitate accurate and reliable emissions data exchange with the aim of reducing the value chains cost of ownership, increase accuracy of accounting practices, and foster learning and collaboration within key segments of the metallic value chain. The purpose is to bring stakeholders closer together to achieve net-zero targets, promote innovation, sustainability, and shared learning.
This innovation creates and establishes dynamic emission data sharing capability within the supply chain segment, supporting that different forms of emission data sources can be added to the traceability platform. Additionally, the project provides an ability to digitally visualize the data flow within supply chains for a given product for in-depth analysis of emission sources.
To address the challenge, the purpose definition of the innovation project is:
1. To define, align and implementCO2e reporting methods and frameworks that are unvarying and verifiable, which can be dynamically setup on a product as well as on a transactional level.
2. Prove the scalability of the solution developed in collaborate on within the consortium, and initiate scaling of the traceability platform to enable increased visibility of CO2e and material composition.
3. Scaled implementation will be conducted, and traction will be validated within current networks and marketed activities will be accelerated across the manufacturing value chain in Europe.
The innovation the project will offer is efficient and transparent sharing of CO2 emission data and material content data on transactional level throughout the product life cycle with high data security and accuracy. Further the innovation creates and establishes dynamic emission data sharing capability within the supply chain segment that supports adding different forms of emission data sources onto the platform. This paired with an ability to digitally visualize the data flow within supply chains for a given product, enables in-depth analysis of emission sources.
As a dedicated partner in this innovation call, we eagerly anticipate commencing the project in January 2024 together with our esteemed consortium partners and EIT Manufacturing. The significance of transparent and comparable product carbon footprint reporting within the steel value chain cannot be overstated—it is integral to enhancing visibility and expediting the decarbonization of the metallic value chain.
Victor Andersson, CEO of ChainTraced, encapsulates our commitment, stating, “This initiative marks yet another pivotal stride in our journey, aligning with our steadfast missions of fostering secure and sustainable value chains. We are poised to make a lasting impact and contribute to the transformation of our industries."
