sustamize

Summary reviewed by sustamize

sustamize provides a large emission factor database for engineering materials that has been developed bottom-up from core underlying materials, energy use and processes. Its Materials and Packaging Database covers over 3,200 metals, 1,000 composites, 160 polymers, sintered materials, and chemical elements, across 133 regions.

We offer sustamize data through our Data Studio, API, Excel add-in, and Google Sheets extension. sustamize factors are also available for PCF calculations through our PCF API and Studio and Autopilot when included in your plan.

Overview of sustamize

sustamize is a German climate-tech company that provides CO2e databases and digital tools for product and value chain carbon footprint automation. The company draws on over 20 years of industry know-how in materials engineering and manufacturing processes.

The database available through our platform includes over 296,000 emission factors across 133 regions and more than 11,000 distinct activities. It is structured into several sub-databases:

For each material, emission factors are expressed in kgCO2e per kg and are available across multiple material shapes (granulates, hollow profiles, solid profiles, etc.), enabling precise modeling of how materials are actually used in products.

When sustamize adds value

sustamize is the right choice when you need:

• Material-specific PCFs for manufactured products. If your product is built from metals, alloys, polymers, or composites and you need to calculate its carbon footprint with material-level precision.
• Design-phase emissions comparison. Comparing the carbon footprint of alternative materials (e.g. aluminum vs. steel, or average vs representative) during product development, when 80% of environmental impact can still be influenced by design decisions.
• Procurement and supplier benchmarking. Evaluating the emissions intensity of the same material sourced from different regions to inform sourcing decisions.
• Scope 3 reporting for manufacturing companies. When your purchased goods are primarily raw materials and semi-finished products (metals, polymers, composites), sustamize provides more accurate factors than generic LCA databases or spend-based sources.
• CSRD compliance. Supporting audit-ready data for materials covered by EU regulations and corporate sustainability reporting requirements.

When sustamize is not the right fit

If your calculation involves chemicals, plastics formulations, or full chemical value chains, Carbon Minds provides deeper coverage for that sector. If you need broad cross-sector LCA data (agriculture, food, energy, transport, waste, construction), ecoinvent is the more appropriate choice. sustamize is focused on engineering materials and manufacturing; it does not cover services, energy, transport, food, or other sectors.

For high-level corporate footprinting based on expenditure data, use EXIOBASE or CEDA for a spend-based screening first, then refine your material-intensive categories with sustamize.

Methodology

Bottom-up, activity-based

sustamize is an activity-based database. All emission factors are expressed in physical units (kgCO2e per kg of material) and are built using a bottom-up approach: starting from raw material extraction and tracing through processing steps to produce the final material form. The database is constructed from primary data, published LCA studies, and validated engineering calculations.

This bottom-up methodology means that each material’s emission factor reflects the actual production processes, energy inputs, and regional energy mixes involved, rather than relying on economic models or top-down sector averages.

Material shapes and forms

A distinctive feature of sustamize is that emission factors are available for multiple material shapes and forms. For example, the emission factor for a given aluminum alloy will differ depending on whether it is in the form of hollow profiles or solid profiles, because the manufacturing processes and energy required to produce each form are different.

This level of detail is important for accurate PCFs: the carbon footprint of a product depends not only on what material it uses, but also on the physical form in which that material was purchased and processed.

Region definition

sustamize covers 133 regions, reflecting regional variations in production processes and energy mixes. For a given material, the emission factor for production in China will differ from production in Germany or the United States, because the underlying energy mix used in production varies across regions.

When your supplier’s region is known, use the corresponding country-specific factor. When it is unknown, fall back to a broader regional or global average and document this as a data quality limitation.

Scope and coverage

The current version available through our platform is V3.2.0 (released 2025). The database focuses on materials and manufacturing and is compliant with the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard.

Major material groups covered include:

• Ferrous metals: carbon steels, stainless steels, tool steels, cast irons
• Non-ferrous metals: aluminum alloys, copper alloys, titanium, zinc, nickel, magnesium
• Metal powders and sintered materials: iron-based, steel-based, bronze-based sintered parts
• Polymers: thermoplastics (PE, PP, PVC, PA, PET, ABS, PC, etc.), thermosets, elastomers
• Composites: carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP), and others
• Elements: raw chemical elements used as material inputs
• Packaging: cardboard, plastics, and other packaging materials for logistics emissions

Update frequency

The sustamize database is updated twice a year to reflect changes in production technologies, regional energy mixes, and new materials. We integrate updates into our platform as they become available through our data versioning system.

Advantages of sustamize

• Largest material-specific coverage available. 296,000+ emission factors across metals, composites, polymers, sinters, and elements. No other single database provides this breadth for engineering materials.
• Shape and form-level detail. Emission factors differ by material form (granulates, sheets, profiles, etc.), enabling more precise PCFs than databases that only provide generic per-kg values.
• 133 regions. Country-specific factors reflecting local energy mixes.
• Bottom-up methodology. Built from process data and engineering calculations, not economic models. This means factors reflect actual production realities rather than sector averages.
• Twice-yearly updates. More frequent than most LCA databases, ensuring the data tracks changes in energy mixes and production methods.
• GHG Protocol compliant. Suitable for scope 3 reporting, PCFs, and regulatory compliance (CSRD).
• Available at scale through Climatiq. Search, filter, and use sustamize factors through our API, Data Studio, Excel/Sheets, Autopilot, and PCF Studio.

Limitations

• Data quality variation. Some emission factors carry a quality flag noting that the data quality rating is either not evaluated or reported as poor by the source. Check quality flags in the Data Studio before using a specific factor in high-stakes reporting.
• Cradle-to-gate. Emission factors cover material production up to the factory gate. Use-phase and end-of-life emissions are not included. Supplement with other sources for full lifecycle assessments.
• Granularity. As this database is very granular, you need to have a good understanding of the materials used in your product.
• Does not account for regional production technology differences. sustamize differentiates regions based on energy mix, but does not model differences in production routes between countries. For example, for steel, the mix of blast oxygen furnace (BOF) and electric arc furnace (EAF) production varies significantly by region, but sustamize does not account for this.

Best practices

Use sustamize for your material inputs, ecoinvent or Carbon Minds for the rest. A good approach for PCFs in manufacturing is to use sustamize for the bill of materials (metals, polymers, composites), Carbon Minds for chemical inputs, ecoinvent for energy and non-material processes, and our Energy endpoint for electricity. It is good practice to use the most appropriate dataset that provides the best match for each material.

Match material form to your actual inputs. If your bill of materials specifies ‘stainless steel - hollow profile’ then use the specific emission factor for ‘hollow profile’. This is one of sustamize’s key advantages; using it to its full potential improves accuracy.

Use country-specific factors when you know the supplier region. The carbon footprint of the same alloy can vary significantly by production country due to differences in energy mix. Using region-specific data is always preferable to global averages.

Check data quality flags. Before using a specific factor in external reporting, verify its quality rating in the Data Studio. For materials with a “poor” or “not evaluated” quality flag, consider whether an alternative factor from ecoinvent or BEIS/DEFRA might be more defensible for your use case.

Document your material selections. Record the material name, alloy/grade, form, region, and database version for each input in your calculation. This is essential for audit readiness, PCF reproducibility, and year-on-year comparability.

Reserve sustamize for where it adds value. For spend-based scope 3 screening, use EXIOBASE or CEDA. Use sustamize specifically for the material-intensive components of your scope 3 or PCF calculations where its depth makes a difference.

Browse sustamize emission factors in the Data Studio. For more on how we use premium data in product carbon footprinting, see our PCF Studio and PCF API and Studio documentation.

For licensing and access, visit the data licensing page or contact us.