Building the Data Foundation: Voith’s path to AI-based Decarbonization
Voith has partnered with Carbmee to explore the data foundation for scalable corporate carbon accounting as part of an initial proof-of-concept (PoC) across a global, decentralized organization.
The initial PoC phase explores how transactional and BOM data can be transformed into decision-ready emissions intelligence – with the aim of moving over time from estimation-based reporting to more operational carbon management.
About Voith
The Voith Group is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 21,000 employees, sales of € 4.8 billion and locations in over 60 countries worldwide, combining industrial scale with strong sustainability ambition.
Decarbonization is central to its strategy in its own upstream operations and in enabling emission reductions across customer value chains.
Why Voith Chose Carbmee
Voith selected Carbmee for its ability to balance speed, flexibility and depth.
The platform enables a dynamic approach – starting with available data and continuously increasing accuracy toward supplier-specific insights. This allows progress without waiting for perfect data.
Equally important was the combination of product and expertise. Carbmee brings a hands-on team of forward deployed engineers that supports the translation of fragmented data into structured emissions models
Finally, the flexibility of a scale-up played a critical role. Carbmee adapts quickly to enterprise requirements, integrates into existing IT landscapes, and evolves alongside customer needs-rather than forcing rigid processes.
“Our primary objective is to establish transparency in carbon accounting step by step, creating a reliable data foundation to guide and continuously refine our decarbonization journey. This is essential for driving future-proof decisions.”
The Challenge
Voith’s operating model creates a level of complexity that makes carbon accounting difficult to scale.
Data is distributed across systems, teams, and regions. Purchasing, corporate sustainability, various divisions and IT operate on different datasets and processes. At the same time, mandatory regulatory requirements such as CBAM and CSRD increase the need for audit-ready, traceable data. Furthermore, expected cost increases throughout global carbon taxation systems will challenge existing and future product management and related global procurement strategies.
The core challenge is not ambition but execution – moving from high-level estimates to granular, reliable emissions data that can support real decisions.
The Approach
The PoC focuses on developing a structured data foundation rather than optimizing outputs too early.
By connecting ERP-driven data with a unified emissions model, the approach is designed to provide Voith initial visibility at the level where decisions are made-transactions, materials, suppliers, and sites.
Within the PoC, data is iteratively refined. Initial baselines are improved through structured feedback loops, better mappings, and increasing data depth. The objective is to gradually shift towards a system that evolves from approximation to precision.
At the same time, emissions calculations are grounded in a combination of automated matching and expert validation. This approach aims to support both scalability and improved auditability, which is critical for regulatory readiness.
The result is not just a dataset but a system that links carbon accounting data directly to operational reality.
What the Proof-of-Concept Enables
A key objective of the initial phase is exploring the increase in transparency. Emissions can be traced across suppliers, categories and geographies, making it clear where the largest levers sit.
This unlocks the potential to maximize the impact of decarbonization leavers, instead of managing carbon at an aggregated level. Voith could enable more targeted actions over time on specific suppliers, materials and sourcing decisions.
At the same time, the approach is designed to support future compliance requirements. Data is structured with the goal of improving traceability and alignment with recognized standards, supporting external audit readiness and preparing for mandatory regulatory requirements.
Business Impact
The initiative drives a fundamental shift, evolving carbon accounting from a reporting exercise toward more integrated carbon management. Procurement teams gain visibility into the emissions impact of sourcing decisions, whereas sustainability functions move from data collection to impact delivery. Crucially, the platform provides the foundation to better understand the financial implications of carbon costs over time.
This alignment is what enables real decarbonization: decisions backed by data, not targets alone.
Outlook
With the corporate carbon footprint (CCF) foundation in place, Voith is well positioned to explore product carbon footprints (PCF), SKU-level supplier category footprints (SCF) and other corporate sustainability challenges that rely on transactional, supplier and BOM data.
This could enable a shift from company-level reporting to product- and category-level decision-making, where carbon emissions can be actively reduced.
Voith has invited Carbmee to explore these capabilities jointly and co-create features aligned with its procurement, engineering and regulatory compliance tasks.
The direction is clear: From carbon visibility to product-level transparency to operational decarbonization embedded in the business.
