Whether in pharma or consumer goods, today’s machinery investments look far beyond performance and output rates. Sustainability ratings, CO₂ transparency, and the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) have become strategic decision-making factors. As a result, the way machine manufacturers develop, design, and assume responsibility is changing. Sophia Ehrmann, Sustainability Manager at Optima, explains how her company is leveraging this shift — from PCF calculations according to ISO 14067 to recyclable designs and the goal of integrating sustainability directly into engineering.
What sustainability and CO₂-transparency (PCF) requirements are your customers already asking for today?
Our customers increasingly request sustainability information and CO₂ transparency at both the company and product levels. This includes data on greenhouse gas emissions as well as sustainability ratings such as EcoVadis or the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Many customers link these requirements to their own science-based climate targets (e.g., following the Science Based Targets initiative, SBTi) and therefore expect robust emissions documentation and compliance.
At the product level, the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) is often requested — especially for resource-intensive processes in the pharmaceutical sector — before a project is awarded, in order to assess expected emissions during the operation of machines and systems. In the consumer goods industry, the focus is mainly on the recyclability of packaging, but the PCF is also gaining strategic importance here.
Regional differences are difficult to generalize, as they depend strongly on individual climate targets. In principle: there is no legal requirement for PCF reporting anywhere in the world; demand is driven primarily by customer initiatives and sustainability goals.
How do you currently calculate the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) of your machines—are there already internal or industry-wide standards?
The PCF of our machines is calculated across the entire life cycle (manufacturing, transport, use, end of life). The methodology is externally verified according to ISO 14067:2019, ensuring an internationally comparable and reliable calculation basis. The data foundation includes machine bills of materials and transport information, supplemented by modelled assumptions for the use and end-of-life phases. Sustainability management works together with internal departments — and in the future also with suppliers and customers — to continuously improve data quality.
