Reliable tracking of environmental footprint data is a growing global priority for corporations, governments, and consumers alike. Accurate data on emissions, material usage, and energy consumption is essential for mandatory compliance reporting, meeting transparency demands, taking meaningful action to avoid, reduce, and offset emissions, and deriving value through risk reduction.
Organizations today face significant challenges managing their environmental footprints, including:
- Increasing requirements for reliable environmental disclosure to customers, regulators, and society
- Consistency in data measurement, compatibility, and interoperability throughout supply chains
- A lack of a recognized emissions data standard for recording and processing environmental footprint data
- Inability to leverage AI on non-standardized data to identify risk reduction priorities, and to and spot the best emissions reduction opportunities
The Open Footprint® Forum has developed the Open Footprint® Standard — a standard emissions data model covering all types of emissions and consumptions (including water, land, and greenhouse gases), along with standard units of measure and base calculations to normalize and aggregate data.
Download the Open Footprint Standard, Edition 1.0 here.
Download the JSON schema files which accompany the Open Footprint Standard, here.
View the Case Study: Using the Open Footprint Standard (and OSDU) to Develop a Central Emissions Database for Norwegian Continental Shelf Emissions on YouTube here.
Download the Open Footprint Data Model Standard, Data Sheet here.
Until now, there has been no widely adopted data model standard for greenhouse gas (GHG) for storing, defining, and accessing GHG Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data — including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O). The absence of a recognized emissions data model standard has significant business implications.
Consider a multi-company supply chain: when the end recipient needs to calculate the total carbon footprint of their product, it becomes nearly impossible if each participant has collected and stored data using its own definitions and calculations. Without standardized reference values, data relationships, and definitions, organizations are forced to share data via spreadsheets and endure significant manual conversion efforts — wasting time and money.
Scope 3 indirect emissions are just one example. Universally adopted standards are urgently needed across all areas of emissions data management — from consistency among business units within a single company, to emissions data sharing for all of scopes 1, 2, and 3 in joint ventures.
The Open Footprint® Forum provides an open, vendor-neutral environment where members from across the emissions ecosystem collaborate to develop sustainability data model standards. The goal: a single, unified set of data and metadata definitions — the Open Footprint Standard.
When organizations implement the Open Footprint Data Model, they share common definitions, enabling emissions data to be exchanged more easily and carbon values to be aggregated far more efficiently. This frees organizations to focus on applications that derive real business value from emissions data — enabling differentiation, innovation, and AI-powered insight.
Beyond the emissions data model itself, the Open Footprint Forum has delivered:
- A vendor-neutral environment where members across the emissions ecosystem collaborate and accelerate value from emissions data
- A business guide, describing where and how the Open Footprint Standard fits in the overall emissions ecosystem
- A comprehensive sustainability data model standard supporting the WBCSD/PACT framework, GHG Protocol Scopes 1/2/3, and other audit and reporting standards (ISSB, GRI, PCAF, and others). The Open Footprint Standard is published in two parts:
- The Open Footprint® Standard, Edition 1.0, Part 1: Data Model General Requirements
- The Open Footprint® Standard, Edition 1.0, Part 2: Data Element Dictionary
- The Open Footprint® Standard, Edition 1.0, Part 1: Data Model General Requirements
- JSON schemas to facilitate implementing the Open Footprint Data Model in your target IT environment
- An ongoing, member-led collective effort to evolve the standard emissions data model as sustainability regulations change — translating regulatory requirements into data definitions and entity relationships, and ensuring that the Open Footprint Standard addresses current and future sustainability compliance regulations
- Full documentation for all deliverables
A key feature of the Open Footprint Standard is that each implementing organization retains full control over who may access their data and what elements they are permitted to view.
The Open Footprint Forum welcomes all organizations interested in shaping the future of the emissions data standard — including business, sustainability, and IT subject matter experts from end-user organizations across all industries, software providers, academia, consulting firms, audit companies, and government regulatory agencies.
By joining the Open Footprint Forum, your organization will:
- Be recognized as a leader in the development of the Open Footprint Standard and interoperable environmental measurement solutions that benefit companies and society
- Help drive down the cost of measuring and managing your environmental footprint — across your organization and your supply chain
- Ensure the Open Footprint data model standard and other Forum deliverables meet your organization's specific needs
- Gain early access to emerging standards and deliverables
- Become a foundational part of the environmental footprint data measurement ecosystem
Without the Open Footprint Forum, organizations would be left acquiring or building incompatible, expensive custom solutions that fail to interoperate across supply chains, and that fail to deliver real business value.
For a list of our current members please click here.
The Open Footprint® Forum regularly presents at third-party industry events and those hosted by The Open Group. Upcoming events include:
- Sustainability Data & Reporting Europe (Reuters) — London | June 2–3, 2026
- The Open Group Conference — Quito, Ecuador | July 27–29, 2026
- The Open Group Summit — Houston, Texas | October 26–29, 2026
Get Involved and Gain Influence in Defining Open Standards and Certifications
Membership in The Open Group gives organizations early access to the latest developments in open standards and best practices, and enables participation in our highly influential Forums and Work Groups. Member representatives can:
- Network with a world-class community of peers, experts, and industry leaders
- Gain early access to industry developments and emerging standards
- Inform future decisions with insight from major customers and technology suppliers
- Influence outcomes that directly benefit their organizations
- Grow professionally and enhance industry credibility
- Receive education in best practices
If your organization is not yet a member of the Open Footprint Forum and would like to help shape the future of the Open Footprint data model standard, click below.