Catena-X PCF Exchange Across Five Supply Chain Levels: What the First Multi-Tier Pilot Means for Your Supplier Data

Why now: On 4 November 2026, a press release on the first Catena-X PCF pilot spanning five supply chain levels reported product carbon footprints up to 18.4% lower than database estimates once primary data replaced industry averages.

Your OEM customer has just sent a request: share the PCF of your part through Catena-X, calculated to the Rulebook, with a data quality rating attached. You know your plant energy. You know your bill of materials. What you do not have is the carbon data of the resin, the steel coil or the cell that sits three levels below you.

That gap is exactly what the first multi-tier Catena-X pilot set out to close. Here is what it proved, what it did not, and how a tier-2 or tier-3 supplier gets ready.

What happened in the first five-tier Catena-X PCF pilot?

Five South Korean companies exchanged primary-data PCFs from raw material to vehicle maker over Catena-X infrastructure, and every level reported better data quality. According to Cofinity-X's July 2026 announcement, the chain ran from LG Chem (raw materials) through New Material Industry and Shinsung Autotech (processing) and LG Electronics' Vehicle Solution company (vehicle components) to KG Mobility (OEM), covering cluster components for KGM's Musso (Q270) pickup. Glassdome led the pilot and provided the PCF software.

The 4 November 2026 results release reports three findings:

• Lower values: PCFs recalculated with primary data under the Catena-X PCF Rulebook were up to 18.4% lower than earlier estimates based on industry databases.
• Better quality: the Data Quality Rating (DQR), a 1 to 5 scale where lower means more precise, improved at every tier. The release gives no per-tier values.
• Contained visibility: each company dealt only with its direct upstream and downstream partner, using a certified EDC-based connector app.

Catena-X's managing director called the inclusion of suppliers "down to Tier 4" a "real breakthrough" in the Cofinity-X announcement.

How does Catena-X PCF exchange work across tiers?

It works like a relay, not a broadcast. Each company receives PCFs from its direct suppliers, uses them as inputs in its own cradle-to-gate calculation, and passes a new PCF for its own product to its direct customer. No central database holds the whole chain.

The mechanics, per the Tractus-X PCF exchange FAQ:

1. Identity and relationship. Only partners with a valid supplier-customer relationship and a Business Partner Number (BPN) can request a PCF dataset.
2. Connector. Data flows through the Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDC). You can use a ready-to-use PCF app with a hosted connector, a managed EDC service, or run your own.
3. Request and response. The customer requests a PCF for a specific product, and the supplier responds. Asynchronous exchange remains the primary mode.
4. Common data model. PCFs travel in the Catena-X PCF data model, which the FAQ describes as interoperable with the PACT PCF data model.

The calculation rules come from the Catena-X PCF Rulebook version 4, released in September 2025. It requires calculation in accordance with ISO 14067, states it is closely aligned with the WBCSD Pathfinder Framework (PACT), and accepts the Together for Sustainability (TfS) PCF Guideline as a sector guideline with additional requirements. Its transition period runs until the end of 2027.

What moves through the network and what stays private?

Your PCF result and its quality metadata move. Your recipe, volumes and supplier list stay with you. This is the part that tends to reassure commercial teams.

What moves to your direct customer:

• PCF value per declared unit for the product they buy.
• Metadata describing how the PCF was calculated, including data quality (Catena-X).
• Optional verification or certification attributes (framework v2, September 2025).
• Detailed or aggregated values, depending on what you choose to share.

What stays private (or stays one hop away):

• Your full bill of materials and recipe.
• Plant-level energy bills and production volumes.
• The identity of your own suppliers and their individual PCFs.
• Anything you have not explicitly offered through your connector.

In the pilot, this structure meant each participant saw only its neighbours.

Do primary data PCFs come out lower than database estimates?

Often, but not always. Database factors are averages, so a supplier running cleaner processes than the average will see its PCF fall when it switches to measured data. A supplier running older equipment or a coal-heavy grid will see the opposite.

Three caveats before you quote "18.4%" internally:

• It is one pilot, one component family. "Up to" marks the best case, not an average.
• The effect dilutes upward. The release notes that the reduction shrinks closer to the OEM, because measured data covers only a small share of a vehicle with 30,000 to 100,000 parts.
• Accuracy is the real prize. A PCF that rises with primary data is still more defensible in a tender, an audit or an EU regulatory declaration than a lower figure built on proxies.

The point for your business is credibility. A rulebook-compliant PCF with a strong DQR is one your customer can use in its own footprint without second-guessing it.

How does a tier-n supplier get ready for Catena-X PCF exchange?

Start with your BOM and your data, not your connector. Onboarding to the data space needs lead time, but clean, rulebook-compliant PCFs are usually the harder part.

Readiness checklist for a tier-n supplier

1. Map the request. Confirm which part numbers your customer wants, the declared unit, and whether it expects Rulebook v4 compliance and a DQR.
2. Structure your BOM for carbon. Link each finished part to its materials, semi-finished inputs and the sites that make them. Multi-level BOMs (a battery module down to cell, cathode and precursor, for example) need every level, not just the top.
3. Screen for coverage. Rulebook v4 lets you exclude inputs only if together they are below 3% of the PCF, documented in a screening that shows 97% coverage (Rulebook v4, section 4.3).
4. Fix your allocation approach. The Rulebook says allocation shall be avoided whenever possible. Where it cannot be, it applies physical allocation when the economic value ratio between co-products is five or lower, and economic allocation above that.
5. Prioritise primary data upstream. Rank inputs by carbon contribution and ask the top suppliers for their own PCFs. Average industry data does not qualify as primary data under the Rulebook.
6. Choose your connection route. A hosted PCF app, a managed EDC service or a self-managed connector. Budget lead time for onboarding, BPN registration and certificates.
7. Plan for verification. Decide whether you will add third-party verification using the Catena-X and TfS framework.
8. Set a recalculation rule. Rulebook v4 requires recalculation if a screening shows a 10% increase. Your PCFs are not one-off documents.

For many suppliers, the first PCF request becomes a project, and the tenth exposes that a spreadsheet cannot scale across hundreds of part numbers. If you are at that point, our supplier data exchange approach shows how PCFs flow between customers and suppliers without manual rework.

What does this look like in practice?

Exchange is achievable today for a single supplier, and the scale problem sits in the data behind it.

An automotive battery manufacturer we work with recently completed its first live PCF exchange through Catena-X, set up with CO2 AI as part of a proof of concept.

Why does this matter beyond Catena-X?

Because regulation is heading the same way, even if the dates keep moving. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (the EU Batteries Regulation) requires a carbon footprint declaration for electric vehicle batteries. That obligation only starts 12 months after the delegated act on calculation methodology enters into force, and as of late September 2026 that act had not yet been adopted. Battery suppliers who build multi-level, primary-data PCFs now will not be scrambling when it lands.

CO2 AI, an AI-powered carbon management platform used by enterprises such as Volvo Group and Reckitt, computes product carbon footprints at scale with rulebook-aligned methods, lets you drill down through every BOM level, exports PCFs in a PACT-conformant format, and engages sub-tier suppliers to collect primary data. Learn more on our automotive industry page.