🛍️Product and Materials Data

If you're producing or sourcing certain types of materials and/or products, you can enter data at the product level to track and calculate product carbon footprints (PCFs).

The most efficient workflow for creating products to track and measure in Brightest:


Step 1 : Add Emissions Factors

The first step to calculate emissions for materials and/or products will be to upload or add emissions factors to your emissions factor library.

  1. Navigate to Settings, and select Edit ESG and Sustainability Settings

  2. In the Emissions Factors tab, you can add your own emissions factors or save emissions factors from Brightest's emission factor library.

Step 1: Navigate to Settings, and select "Edit ESG and Sustainability Settings"
Step 2: Add your own emissions factors or save emissions factors from the Brightest Emissions Factors Library

For more information on Emissions Factors, check out the articles below:

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Step 2 : Add Materials

Next, you'll need to add or upload your materials.

  1. In Settings, select Edit Sustainability and ESG Settings, and then select the Materials Tab

  2. In the Materials Tab, you can add or upload materials that your organization sources, produces, or works with.

  3. You can add materials manually by clicking the "+ Add New" button, or bulk upload materials via CSV (click "+ CSV Import" to download the import template).

  4. Fill out the materials form:

Field
Required?
Description

Name

Yes

Enter the name of the material.

Emissions Factor

No, but necessary if you would like to calculate carbon emissions

Select the name of the material's emissions factor that you uploaded or added to your Activity Emissions Factor Library in the previous step

Packaging

No

Toggle "on" if this material is used for packaging

Recyclable

No

Toggle "on" if this material is recyclable

Made from Recycled Materials

No

Toggle "on" if this material is made from recyclable materials

Recycled Content Percentage

No

Enter the percentage of the recycled content in this material.

Made from Sustainable Materials

No

Toggle "on" if this material is made from made from sustainable materials

Sustainable Content Percentage

No

Enter the percentage of sustainable material content

Certifications

No

Use the drop-down menu to select any certifications related to this material. Note: Certifications need to be uploaded in the Certifications tab of your Governance Dashboard in order to be visible in the drop-down menu.

Partners

No

Use the drop-down menu to assign this material to a specific supply chain partner. Note: Partners need to have been added/invited in the Partners Module in order to visible in the drop-down menu.

Meta Tags

No

Use the drop-down menu to assign tags to this material for easy filtering and organization. Note: Tags need to have been created in the tag management area in order to visible in the drop-down menu.

Documents

No

Upload any documents related to this material.

Origin Countries

No

Use the drop-down menu to select the origin country(ies) of this material. Note: Only countries where your supply chain partners are located will be available to select as "Origin Country" options.

  1. Click "Save"

If you need to edit the data for an existing material, select the icon next to the material.

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Step 3 : Add Products

To track and calculate product carbon footprints:

  1. Navigate to your Sustainability Module, and select the Products Tab

Navigate to the Products Tab in your Sustainability Module

Product Item Fields

Below are descriptions for the fields for the product add tool and CSV file template.

Field
Required
Description

Name

Yes

Name of the product

SKU

Yes

Unique identifier for the product - likely how you identify the product internally, but if you don't have a code for each product internally you could create a naming method

Description

No

You can add a description of product

Link

No

You can add an external link to product

Partners

No

You can link the product to a partner from your Brightest partner directory

Meta Tags

No

You can tag the product with any meta tags from your tag library

Assets

No

You can link the product to an asset in your asset library

Measurement Unit

Yes

You can decide how you want to measure the product emissions. You can measure by: - Units - Weight (g, kg, ton, MT, lb) - Volume (gallon, liter, ft^3, m^3, y^3) - Spend Amount (and option to select currency)

Weight Unit

Only if you're measuring your product in weight

Select the weight unit used to measure the product

Spend Currency

Only if you're measuring your product in the monetary amount spent

Select the necessary currency

Volume Unit

Only if your measuring your product in volume

Select the volume unit used to measure the product

Carbon Accounting Method

Yes

You can decide if you would like to measure emissions at the product level or the material level For instance, you may choose to assign an emissions factor to the entire product if you have completed an LCA, or you may assign factors to individual materials and specify the percentage each contributes to the product.

Multiply Factor Unit

No

If you would like to measure your product in more than one way, you can select the secondary measurement unit you would like to use. For example, if your main measurement unit is 'Unit,' you can additionally define a weight unit, allowing you to measure the product by weight as well.

Multiply Factor

No

If you've chosen to measure your product in a secondary way, here you'll enter the factor used to make that calculation. For example, if your primary unit of measurement is "Unit," but you've also chosen "kg" as the "Multiple Factor Unit," in this field, you'll enter the number of kilograms in one unit of the product.

Documents

No

You can upload any relevant documents to the product

Emissions Factor

Yes

Select your emissions factor if you are using the product for the carbon accounting method *Note: The emissions factor choices in the drop-down menu are dependent on the measurement unit. If the emissions factor that you selected does not have the same measurement unit, it will not appear in the menu. If you are using the individual materials for carbon accounting, you'll need to add the material(s) that make up the product and assign the percentage of the material present in the product.


Using the Add Tool

  1. Select the green "+ Add Product" button to open the product item form.

  2. Fill out the form with all relevant and required information. Once you click "Save" the product will be added to your products library.

Step 1: Select "+ Add Product"
Steps 2: Fill out the form and select "Save"

Uploading Products via CSV

  1. Select the gray "+ CSV Import" button to open the CSV importer.

  2. Download the CSV file template and fill it out.

  3. Upload the filled out template to the CSV importer and follow the steps for field mapping and data review. Once you click "Save" the data will be saved to your products library.

When filling out the CSV template, you can add more columns for materials, material percentage, and material emissions factor to accommodate products with multiple materials.

Step 1: Select "+ CSV Import"
Step 2: Download the CSV Product Template and fill out the information
Step 3: Upload your CSV file, follow the steps for data mapping and review, and then select "Save"

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Step 4: Add or Upload Product Footprint Data

  1. Select "Create or Edit Footprint" in the Footprint Column of your products library.

  2. In the "Edit Footprint" Tab: you can add the amount of products produced or sold throughout the year, as well as basic financial information.

    1. Product Footprint Data Fields:

Field
Required?
Description

Amount

Yes

Amount of product sold or manufactured during this period. Note: This is the amount that will be used to calculate carbon emissions

Month

Yes

Year

Yes

Units Sold

No

Enter the number of units sold during this period.

Retail Price

No

Average retail selling price (ASP) during this period

Whole Sale Price

No

Average wholesale price of the product during this period

Whole Sale Percentage

No

Percentage of units sold through wholesale channels vs. retail

Unit Cogs

No

Cost of goods sold per unit

Packaging Cost

No

Average packaging cost per unit during this period

  1. Click "Save" or "Update"

You can also bulk upload product footprint data via CSV. To do this, click the "CSV Upload" button, download the Brightest template, add your data, then upload.

  1. Assign GHG Allocation Percentages – In the GHG Allocation tab, assign the appropriate percentage of product emissions to each relevant emissions scope category, based on your emissions factors and carbon accounting structure. Brightest provides the same default percentages for all products, but you should update these to reflect your own products and data.

Product GHG scope categories:

  • Emissions from purchased goods and services

  • Upstream transportation and distribution emissions

  • Downstream transportation and distribution emissions

  • Processing of sold products

  • Use of sold products

  • End-of-life treatment of products

Step 1: Select "Create or Edit Footprint" in the products library
Step 2: Add the number of products produced or sold in the Edit Footprint Tab
Step 2: Or bulk upload data via CSV
Step 3: Assign emission scope category percentages to the product in the GHG Allocation Tab

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Product Insights

In the Insights tab of the Sustainability Module, you can find graphs and analytics related to your product data.

In the Insights > Products Tab, view charts related to your product emissions.

In the Insights > Financial & ROI Tab, view sustainability information for your product(s) based on the material data you entered (Step 2), as well as financial analysis if you entered basic finacial information with your product footprint data (Step 4).

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