ISCC and Circularise pilot blockchain technology with 10 companies to complement mass balance certification

THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS, Sept. 13, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Today, Circularise publicly announced a ground-breaking joint project with certification scheme ISCC, materials suppliers Asahi Kasei, Borealis, Neste, Trinseo and Shell, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). ), notes Arcelik,
Philips Domestic Appliances and EVBox, as well as trading companies Marubeni and Itochu, where partners tested a blockchain system to complement the ISCC Plus certification. These batches were collected by Circularise and Marubeni. This is the first time that 10 chemical industry players and appliance companies came together to test a blockchain-based digital system to complement a sustainability certification process of complex value chains.

Circularise’s blockchain-based digital system was tested with the ISCC Plus certification to streamline auditing by certified parties, and to strengthen the integrity of certified data. Participants used a public blockchain that enabled authentication, decentralization and encryption of data verifying material flows and related sustainability attributes. This innovative approach differs from other blockchain projects where companies use a private blockchain operated by pre-selected participants, such as members of a consortium. Instead, Circularise and project partners used a public blockchain, making it virtually impossible for companies to appear more sustainable than they really are by reusing the proof of a sustainability claim across assets. This principle forms the basis for trust in data integrity.

“Blockchain technology is revolutionizing how data is stored and shared. Now companies don’t need to keep a balance of goods and transactions in Excel individually. Instead, they can use blockchain and smart contracts to store balances, record transactions and apply bulk balance rules. Each transaction is fully traceable. Auditors can therefore rely on the blockchain for parts of the audit, says Mesbah Sabur, Circularise’s founder. “We are excited to bring our know-how in supply chain traceability and data management to project partners to test a public decentralized blockchain with the ISCC Plus certification.”

Material traceability and verification of data at individual sites and across the value chain was guaranteed by ISCC Plus certification of each operator site, which requires site-specific audits, certification and mass balance calculations to provide reassurance of sustainable content. The data was uploaded to the Circularise software to improve mass balance accounting and reporting.

“Certification will become more digital in the future. It will allow certification schemes to simplify the audit process of supply chain actors and reduce the risk of errors. Companies want an easier way to show compliance and comply with the audit rules, says Jan Henke from ISCC. “We are delighted to have tested Circularise’s traceability software on ISCC proceedings.”

Mass balance approach for sustainable chemical transition
Currently, the chemical sector is engaged in significant sustainability transformation work, including rethinking the use of raw materials, circularity and climate impact from operations and entire value chains. This transformation is largely built on obtaining new, more sustainable raw materials, while maintaining efficient processes, a viable economy and high credibility.
Certification schemes that provide an opportunity to use the mass balance system can facilitate a gradual transition towards increasing the replacement of fossil raw materials and materials with renewable and recycled raw materials, while enabling the use of existing infrastructure and equipment instead of building parallel plants and value chains. In the mass balance system, data storage and data integrity are key elements to verify sustainability and compliance with certification requirements.
One of the biggest challenges facing the mass balance approach in the plastics and chemical industry is awareness and understanding. Through this project, the collaborators were able to deepen their knowledge of the subject, align internal processes with ISCC Plus requirements and test a new future-proof way of accounting for mass balance credits, while easily sharing them across organizations. Overall, this allowed value chain actors to better substantiate sustainability claims and improve collaboration. Beyond this project, blockchain technology will play a critical role in complementing supply chain certification to enable certification schemes to simplify the audit process of supply chain actors, reduce the risk of errors and accelerate the sustainable transition.

Find all quotes from participating partners here.
About Circularise
Circularise is a supply chain traceability provider founded in the Netherlands in 2016. Circularise’s software system helps suppliers in chemicals, plastics, battery materials, metals and other industries track materials and share their environmental footprint without risking their sensitive data. By extension, it helps brands gain visibility into their own Scope 3 emissions and other metrics, which are in line with regulatory pushes around digital product passports, the German Supply Chain Act and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

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About ISCC
ISCC is a global multi-stakeholder, sustainability and greenhouse gas certification scheme for circular and biogenic raw materials. It covers entire value chains from the point of origin of waste and residues or farms and plantations to final products. Through independent third-party audits, requirements for sustainability, traceability and chain of custody must be successfully certified. ISCC has system users in more than 100 countries and is governed by the ISCC multi-stakeholder Association with more than 200 members. The scheme is continuously developed in an open multi-stakeholder approach.

Consult:
ISCC for Circular Economy: https://www.iscc-system.org/about/circular-economy/
LinkedIn:

Julia Semenko
Circulate
[email protected]