Vitesco Technologies is now a member of the Catena-X Automotive Network e.V. and will thus be part of the first comprehensive, collaborative and open data ecosystem along the entire automotive value chain. The company sees great added value in this network created by the automotive industry, for example in areas such as material compliance and social sustainability, but above all also for life cycle engineering. To optimize the environmental footprint of new products, Vitesco Technologies is currently rolling out this method in all of its development and production processes.
“As a member of Catena-X Automotive Network e.V., we now have access to much more numerical data and are able to provide informative data,” explains Khosrau Heidary, Head of Life Cycle Engineering at Vitesco Technologies: “This will enable us to examine our products even more closely in future with regard to their CO2 footprint and derive suitable measures for CO2 reduction based on the knowledge gained or hotspots identified.”
Calculating the product carbon footprint (PCF) requires data from all phases of the life cycle i.e., from the extraction of raw materials from the environment, through the production and use phases, to the end of a product’s life. Data exchange in the automotive value chain is currently difficult because there is no harmonized method for calculating PCFs, which means that the PCFs from different companies are not comparable. Moreover, there is no standardized data format for the exchange of PCF data that ensures the data sovereignty of the companies. A standardized interface for the exchange of PCF data has also been absent until now.
Catena-X Automotive Network e.V
Catena-X Automotive Network e.V. wants to solve these problems with a promising approach that is of great benefit not exclusively, but in particular for the automotive value chain. “Membership in this network is another important milestone for us,“ explains Ingo Holstein, who as CHRO of Vitesco Technologies is responsible for sustainability: “In addition to extensive data material, we are also contributing our proven expertise in the field of life cycle assessment in order to advance the decarbonization of the automotive sector in cooperation with other companies.”
