Digital Catapult is looking to address 2 challenge areas that, combined, offer companies of all sectors, tiers and sizes the ability to adopt the use of Product IDs in line with the new Unique Resource Names (URN) whilst using their existing data models and technology platforms. We believe this will drive widespread adoption of high-quality PCFs so the real work of Co2 reduction can begin in earnest. Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company renowned for its vast array of household and personal care products. With a rich history spanning over a century, it has grown into one of the world’s largest and most influential corporations. Unilever’s diverse portfolio includes well-known brands such as Dove, Lipton, Knorr, Hellmann’s, and many more, touching the lives of billions of people globally. As a leader in the industry, Unilever continues to innovate, adapt, and uphold its mission of making sustainable living commonplace.
The PACT community has developed a common language to exchange standardised PCF information between organisations. This common language, the PACT Technical Specifications for PCF Data Exchange, enables organisations to exchange the product ID to which the given PCF information relates. This product ID must be specified with a URN (Uniform Resource Name). Although there are proposals under review to further standardise the formatting of this URN to support the interoperability of product IDs, the product ID mapping challenge remains for organisations using different and non-standardized identification systems for the same product.
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition and Ice Cream products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 3.4 billion people every day. Unilever is part of the “Implementation Program” for PACT Members who commit to requesting suppliers to share their emissions data via the PACT standard, ultimately laying the foundations for scalable value chain transparency globally. One of the major challenges for Implementation Program participants throughout 2023 was the ability to scale the provision of digital PCF exchange solutions. For Unilever, the solution needs to address the needs of all stakeholders and so are supporting the design of an industry solution, not one that will only work for Unilever.
GS1 UK is one of 118 local, neutral and not-for-profit membership organisations operating around the world for the benefit of its members, industry and wider society. Today, GS1 standards are used by over two million companies, found on over a billion products and power over 10 million transactions each day.
GS1 is the only authorised provider of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) – the number under barcodes used extensively in FMCG (also known as an EAN or UPC) that’s unique to that product. Their GTINs and barcodes are used and accepted by retailers and marketplaces across the world – making it easy to sell products anywhere.
As part of the International Supply Chain Accelerator: Product Carbon Footprint Measurement Challenge, the GTIN will be used as the unique identifier for products that will be populated within the Common Data Store, in line with the data structure endorsed by PACT members.
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