By: AJ Van de Voort, Intertek and co-chair, Open Footprint Forum, Sammy Lakshmanan, PWC and co-chair, Open Footprint Forum, Heidi Karlsson, The Open Group, Director Open Footprint Forum, Jim Hietala, The Open Group, VP, Sustainability and Market Development
The Open Group Open Footprint® Forum is pleased to announce the availability of our Open Footprint Data Model Snapshot. This data model is intended to be applicable to all companies, in all industries, and provides a consistent means with which to manage scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions data. Our expectation is that the data model will greatly ease internal as well as scope 3 emissions data sharing issues, once widely adopted.
This snapshot is published with the intent to gather input from potential users of the data model, including from reporting companies, from 3rd party standards organizations, from regulators, and from others in the emissions data ecosystem including software companies, consultants, academics, and auditors. If after reviewing the snapshot you have input for the forum to consider, please submit your comments to: ogspecs-snapshot-feedback@opengroup.org . The snapshot will be valid for a period of six months from publication, after which our intention is to publish a data model standard.
For companies that are just beginning or that are struggling on their emissions data management and reporting journey, and in particular in the area of accounting for and aggregating data from extended value chains on both sides of their business, the existence of a standard data model will bring tremendous value.
The Open Footprint Data Model is intended to provide standard data element definitions for the various areas that comprise an organization’s emissions footprint, including:
- organization
- organization boundary and inventory
- location, facility, and equipment
- product lifecycle
- emission calculation and recording
- reporting
The Open Footprint Data Model will be key to enabling emissions data assurance, as data governance, data security and auditability fields and controls are built into the data model.
We believe that a consistent, standard data model is also fundamental to enabling reporting companies to more easily comply with and report against the global set of applicable regulations such as CBAM and CSRD from the EU, the SEC rule in the USA, the State of California emissions laws (SB253 and SB261), as well as standards like the ISSB, and the WBCSD/PACT product carbon footprint framework. The Open Footprint Data Model will ease the transition from voluntary reporting using voluntary standards to reporting to achieve regulatory compliance against current and future regulations. In effect, using the Open Footprint Data Model can help to future-proof your emissions data management and reporting to deal with the ever-changing regulatory environment.
The Open Footprint Data Model Snapshot may be downloaded from The Open Group library, at this link (free registration required): https://publications.opengroup.org/s242
If you’d like more information about the Open Footprint Forum including learning how to get involved, drop us an email at memberservices@opengroup.org, or visit the forum web page at: https://www.opengroup.org/openfootprint-forum.
The Open Footprint Data Model Snapshot is the result of over 3 years of dedicated work by all of the members of the Open Footprint Forum, including those who developed the data model, provided thought and information on key regulatory and non-regulatory use cases, are developing implementation tools including reference APIs, and developed the data model snapshot publication itself. Our thanks to all of our member organizations and to the committed staff members from each.
For the Open Footprint Data Model Snapshot, our specific thanks to the dedicated authors and reviewers of the document listed below, and to their member companies for their support of the Open Footprint Forum:
Authors of the Snapshot:
- Cynthia Schwendeman, BP
- John Lewsey, Capgemini
- Shannon Hughes, ExxonMobil
- Martin Schulz, Fujitsu Ltd.
- Arjen van de Voort, Intertek
- Sandeep Roy, Planckton Data
- Gommar van Strien, Shell
- Susan Harper, The Open Group
- Bertrand Rioux, Two Ravens Energy & Climate Consulting Ltd.
Reviewers of the Snapshot:
- Chris Gabriel, Amazon Web Services
- Chloe Whalley, BP plc
- Bogdan Batrinca, BP plc
- Millie Washington, BP plc
- Arnt Vegard Espeland, Capgemini
- Shaddick Keagy, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., acting through its Chevron Energy Technology Division
- Derek Newton, ConocoPhillips
- Jagadish Maddiboyina, EPAM Systems
- Kateryna Kurach, EPAM Systems
- Ashley Volante, ExxonMobil
- Shruti Diwan, ExxonMobil
- Murali Chekuri, ExxonMobil
- Paul Miekstyn, ExxonMobil
- Wade Kuipers, ExxonMobil
- Pete Eskit, ExxonMobil
- Eric Friedman, EY
- Elena Anderson, EY
- Toru Katagiri, Fujitsu
- Hideki Hara, Fujitsu
- Mark Hall, IBM
- Sethupathi Arumugam, Infosys
- Anandh Krishna, KPMG LLP
- Rajesh Ghorla, KPMG LLP
- Arminder Singh, KPMG LLP
- Stefan Brie, OpenText
- David Crowther, OpenText
- Nurshazareena Zait, PETRONAS
- Hin Wong Lee, PETRONAS
- Sammy Lakshmanan, PwC
- Heidi Karlsson, The Open Group
- Jim Hietala, The Open Group
