Traceability Emerges as the Low-Carbon Game Changer
A new industry analysis released this week reveals that material traceability has become a central force in the world’s low-carbon transition, redefining how companies measure, report and prove their climate impact. Material traceability is rapidly becoming central to credible corporate climate action far beyond traditional emissions reduction strategies. It is now being recognized as a world-class enabler of low-carbon economics and measurable sustainability performance across global industry value chains.
According to the report, material flows across manufacturing, recycling, and supply chain operations have long been responsible for significant but untracked carbon emissions. The introduction of advanced traceability technologies including digital identifiers, real-time tracking, and end-of-life material mapping is now enabling companies to understand and verify the true carbon footprint of every product and component.
Key Statistics that Show the Scale of the Traceability Gap
- 90% of emissions sit in Scope 3, yet remain largely invisible.
- Less than 20% of companies have end-to-end material traceability.
- Traceability improves carbon accounting accuracy by 20–30%.
- 60% of recyclable materials are lost due to missing end-of-life tracking.
Experts highlight that traceability is closing one of the biggest gaps in global climate action: the inability to accurately quantify Scope 3 emissions and the carbon impact of waste, recycling and resource recovery. By tracking materials from extraction to reuse, businesses can now demonstrate measurable carbon savings and prevent high-emission resource extraction.
The findings make one point clear: industries cannot cut carbon emissions without full visibility into how materials are sourced, used and recovered. Traceability exposes hidden Scope 3 emissions, verifies real carbon savings and transforms waste streams into measurable climate assets. By providing a single, auditable record of a product’s lifecycle, traceability turns sustainability from assumption into evidence.
In a low-carbon world, traceability is not a choice, it’s the only path to credible climate action.
