Methods for monitoring environmental impact of chemical products

Abstract

The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring of environmental impact in industrial manufacturing processes. The disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, systems, input materials, output materials, network nodes, data services, validation services and computer elements for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical product(s) are to be produced based on one or more input material(s) provided to the chemical production.

Description

[0001] 231255

[0002] METHODS FOR MONITORING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS

[0003] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0004] The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring of environmental impact in industrial manufacturing processes. The disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, systems, input materials, output materials, network nodes, data services, validation services and computer elements for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical product(s) are to be produced based on one or more input material(s) provided to the chemical production.

[0005] TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

[0006] The present disclosure relates in general terms to environmental impact monitoring of production or manufacturing processes. In relation to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol multiple standards have emerged to monitor greenhouse gas emission. One example is Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard (version September 2011).

[0007] SUMMARY

[0008] In a first aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. computer implemented method to be executed or executed by a node associated with the producer of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of one or more input materials) to be provided to chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical produces) are to be produced based on one or more input material(s) provided to the chemical production, the method comprising:

[0009] providing input production data associated with the production of the input material(s), wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material; generating from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material;

[0010] generating one or more validation input(s) based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material (s) to be provided and / or providing one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s);

[0011] providing one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer configured to generate one or more verifiable credential(s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof;231255

[0012] 2

[0013] providing the generated one or more verifiable credential (s) including at least one signature proof generated by the one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer and related to one or more validation input , one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

[0014] In another first aspect disclosed is an apparatus, e.g. of a node associated with the producer of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of one or more input material(s) to be provided to chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical product(s) are to be produced based on one or more input material® provided to the chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0015] at least one intake interface configured to provide input production data associated with the production of the input material®, wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process® for producing the input material;

[0016] at least one processor configured to generate from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material and configured to generate one or more validation input® based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material® to be provided and / or configured to provide one or more validation score® based on the generated one or more validation input® and one or more validation rule®;

[0017] at least one output interface configured to provide one or more validation input®, one or more validation score® and / or one or more validation rule® to one or more computing node® associated with an issuer configured to generate one or more verifiable credential® including at least one cryptographic signature proof and configured to provide the generated one or more verifiable credential® including at least one signature proof generated by the one or more computing node® associated with the issuer and related to one or more validation input®, one or more validation score® and / or one or more validation rule®.

[0018] In a second aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. computer implemented method to be executed or executed by a node associated with the producer of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of one or more input material® to be provided to chemical production and / or one or more chemical product®, wherein the chemical product® are to be produced based on one or more input material® provided to the chemical production, the method comprising:

[0019] providing one or more verifiable credential® including at least on cryptographic signature proof generated for one or more validation input®, one or more validation score® and / or one or more validation rule® related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material, wherein the proof is generated by one or more computing node® associated with an issuer, wherein the one or more validation input® are generated based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material® to be provided and / or the one or more validation score® are generated based on the generated one or more validation input® and one or more validation rule®;231255

[0020] 3

[0021] generating at least one verifiable presentation related to the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) including at least one proof associated with at least one issuer of the verifiable credential;

[0022] providing at least one verifiable presentation for verifying the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

[0023] In another second aspect disclosed is an apparatus, e.g. of a node associated with the producer of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of one or more input material(s) to be provided to chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical product(s) are to be produced based on one or more input material(s) provided to the chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0024] at least one intake interface configured to provide one or more verifiable credential(s) including at least on proof generated for one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material, wherein the proof is generated by one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer, wherein the one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) relate to input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided;

[0025] at least one processor configured to generate at least one verifiable presentation related to the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof associated with at least one issuer of the verifiable credential;

[0026] at least one output interface configured to provide at least one verifiable presentation for verifying the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

[0027] In a third aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. computer implemented method to be executed or executed by a node associated with the user of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), the method comprising:

[0028] providing, e.g. upon request, at least one verifiable presentation including at least on proof generated for verifying one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material, wherein the proof is generated by one or more computing node(s) associated with at least one issuer, wherein the one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) relate to input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided;

[0029] verifying the at least one verifiable presentation by resolving the at least one cryptographic proof associated with at least one issuer;

[0030] based on the verification providing the input material for production to the chemical production and / or providing the input environmental property for generating an output environmental property associated with the chemical product produced based on the input material.231255

[0031] 4

[0032] In another third aspect disclosed is an apparatus, e.g. of a node associated with the user of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), the apparatus comprising:

[0033] at least one intake interface configured to provide at least one verifiable presentation including at least on proof generated for verifying one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material, wherein the proof is generated by one or more computing node(s) associated with at least one issuer, wherein the one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) relate to input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided;

[0034] at least one processor configured to verify the at least one verifiable presentation by resolving the at least one proof associated with at least one issuer;

[0035] at least one output interface configured to, based on the verification provide the input material for production to the chemical production and / or provide the input environmental property for generating an output environmental property associated with the output product produced based on the input material.

[0036] In a fourth aspect disclosed is a method, e.g. computer implemented method to be executed or executed by a node associated with the producer and / or the user of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), the method comprising:

[0037] providing input production data associated with the production of the input material(s), wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material; generating from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material;

[0038] generating one or more validation input(s) based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material (s) to be provided and / or providing one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s);

[0039] providing at least one validation score of the previous production stage and determining at least one multistage validation score relating to the validation score(s) of the preceding and the current production stage, providing the at least one multistage validation score e.g. to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer configured to generate one or more verifiable credential(s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof and providing the generated one or more verifiable credential (s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof generated by the one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer and related to the at least one multistage validation score.231255

[0040] 5

[0041] In another fourth aspect disclosed is an apparatus, e.g. of a node associated with the user and / pr producer of the input material, for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), the apparatus comprising:

[0042] at least one intake interface configured to provide input production data associated with the production of the input material(s), wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material;

[0043] at least one processor configured to generate from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material and configured to generate one or more validation input(s) based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided and / or configured to provide one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s) and configured to provide at least one validation score of the previous production stage and determine at least one multistage validation score relating to the validation score(s) of the preceding and the current production stage;

[0044] at least one output interface configured to provide the at least one multistage validation score e.g. to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer configured to generate one or more verifiable credential(s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof and to provide the generated one or more verifiable credentials) including at least one cryptographic signature proof generated by the one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer and related to the at least one multistage validation score.

[0045] In another aspect disclosed is the use of verified one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material as generated by the methods or apparatuses disclosed herein for monitoring and / or controlling the production of input material(s) and / or the providing of input material(s) to users of input material(s).

[0046] In another aspect disclosed is the use of verified one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material as generated by the methods or apparatuses disclosed herein for generating at least one output environmental property associated with at least one output product produced based on input material(s).

[0047] Any disclosure, embodiments and examples described herein relate to the methods, apparatuses, systems, computing nodes, input materials, output materials, network nodes, data services, validation services and computer elements lined out above and below. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples.EMBODIMENTS

[0048] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be outlined by ways of embodiments and / or examples. It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to said embodiments and / or examples.

[0049] The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring of environmental impact in industrial manufacturing processes. Production networks undergo dynamic change to reduce environmental impact. Chemical production networks are exposed to dynamic changes regarding the input materials fed to such networks. Since the input material contribute to the environmental impact of the chemical production network and the produced chemical products, monitoring of the environmental impact is challenging.

[0050] The embodiments disclosed concern different aspects of the disclosure alike and may be combined. The headings regarding data validation and verifiable credentials merely serve visual structuring of the text and shall not be considered limiting, in particular with regard to the combinations of features disclosed under those headings.

[0051] Chemical production networks are large scale productions producing more than thousands of chemical products through chemical conversion. To reduce the environmental impact of operating such networks, chemical production networks experience dynamic changes. This in particular concerns the input materials used in such chemical production networks. Since the chemical production networks are integrated chemical production networks with interconnected production chains and include multiple types of production processes for producing multiple chemical produces) from multiple input material(s), monitoring the impact of the input material streams on the environmental performance of the chemical products produced by the chemical production network is challenging.

[0052] To reliably monitor the environmental impact of production and produced products, the environmental impact of input materials to such production may be provided. This may be done by aggregating the environmental impact of producing the input material. However, the quality and reliability of such aggregated values needs to be ensured, since low quality or low reliability negatively impact the quality and reliability of monitoring the environmental impact of the production and the produced products using such input materials.

[0053] By validating the input emission property and determining from the production data property a technological correlation, geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of the input production data used to generate the input emission property, the input material streams to the chemical production network can be reliably monitored with respect to their environmental impact on the chemical product(s). By controlling the input material streams based on the validated input emission, the input materials fed to the chemical production network and used to produce chemical products can be reliably monitored. By controlling generation of output emission properties based on the validated input emission, the input emission properties and their effect on the chemical products can be reliably monitored.7

[0054] By validating the input environmental property of input materials via at least one production data property and by controlling based such validation input material streams including their input environmental property, the environmental impact associated with the input materials used for production may be monitored reliably. Validation enhances control over the input material flow with respect to the input environmental property. Validation further enhances control over the output environmental property of chemical products produced by the chemical production, since sufficient quality of the input environmental property used to generate the output environmental property can be ensured.

[0055] By providing the input environmental property and / or the at least one validation input such as the production data property as presentation of at least one verifiable credential the user of produced input materials can reliably monitor the environmental impact of input materials to production and with that the environmental impact of the production based on such input materials and of the products produced based on such input materials. Moreover, the verifiable credential framework may allow for establishing trust into the transferred data either by relating the credential to the way the data was generated, the quality of the data used to generate the resulting data points and / or the resulting data points themselves. This way one or more trust anchor(s) may be established in the computing system by way of verifiable credentials that may capture parts or the full data generation chain from input production data, production data properties to the input environmental property generated based on the input production data. In addition, the verifiable credential framework may allow for multi-staged trust anchors across multiple production stages of different participants associated with computing nodes. This way environmental impact may be monitored and / or controlled in a reliable and trustworthy manner e.g. at the entry of input materials to a production stage or across product value chains with multiple production participants.

[0056] By providing validation inputs, validation scores and / or validation rules to an issuer for generating at least one verifiable credential, the input environmental property can be provided in connection with the respective verifiable credential verifying the validity or quality of the input environmental property and / or the validity or quality of the generation of the input environmental property based on input production data. This way the input environmental property can be trusted by way of verifying the validity or quality of the input environmental property and / or the validity or quality of the generation of the input environmental property based on input production data. In particular, by verifying the validation allows to keep primary data such as the input production data under control of the producer while still providing a proof by way of validation e.g. based on validation inputs, validation scores and / or validation rules.

[0057] The disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, systems, computing nodes, network nodes, data services, validation services and computer elements that may relate to nodes of a decentral network allowing for peer-to-peer communication. The nodes may be associated with a producer of an input material, a user of an input material, an issuer of a verifiable credential. The node associated with the producer of the input material may request the generation of the verifiable credential by the issuer node. The node associated with the producer of the input material may receive the verifiable credential from the issuer node. The node associated with the producer of the input material may provide a presentation of the verifiable credential to the node associated with the user of the input material. The nodeassociated with the user of the input material may receive the presentation of the verifiable credential. The node associated with the user of the input material may verify the presented credential.

[0058] EMBODIMENTS VALIDATION

[0059] Environmental impact data associated with input material to be used for the production of one or more output materials) may relate to any measure of the environmental impact of the input material. The environmental impact data may relate to one or more environmental properties of the input material. The environmental impact data may include one or more environmental properties of the input material.

[0060] The environmental property may indicate an environmental performance of the input material. The environmental property may relate to properties of or caused by the production of the input material. The environmental property may relate to the product carbon footprint, bio-based content, recycled content, biogenic carbon content or other suitable measures of the environmental impact as lined out below or any combinations thereof. The environmental property may relate to one or more characteristic(s) that are attributable to environmental impact of the input material. The environmental property may include environmental, technical, recyclability or circularity characteristics(s) associated with the environmental impact of the input material.

[0061] Environmental characteristic(s) may for example include carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, resource usage, air emissions, ozone depletion potential, water pollution, noise pollution or eutrophication potential. Environmental characteristic(s) may for example include material characteristics related to the production of the material like made from bio based or recycled inputs. Technical characteristic(s) may specify or quantify product performance at least indirectly associated with the environmental impact. Technical characteristic(s) may for example include product composition data, bill of materials, product specification data, product component data, product safety data, application property data, application instructions or product quality data. Circularity characteristic(s) may specify or quantify the products life cycle characteristics associated with circular uses. Circularity characteristic(s) may for example include recycling data, reuse rate, recycling rate, recycling loops, reuse reused product performance, reused product quality or the like. Recyclability characteristic(s) may specify or quantify the material or product life cycle characteristics associated with recycling uses. Recyclability characteristic(s) may include the composition of the material including specifically tailored constituents making the material suitable for recycling. Recyclability characteristic(s) may for example include recycling data, recyclability data, or the like.

[0062] The methods, apparatuses, systems, nodes and computer elements disclosed herein may include the steps of providing an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties generated by the production of the input material, providing at least one production data property associated with input production data used to generate the input environmental property, wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(es) for producing the input material. The methods, apparatuses, systems, nodes and computer elements disclosed herein may include the9

[0063] steps of validating the input environmental property by determining from the at least one production data property at least a technological correlation, geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and based on the validation of the input environmental property providing the input material for production to the chemical production and / or providing the validated input environmental property for generating an output environmental property associated with the chemical product(s) produced based on the input material.

[0064] The methods, apparatuses, systems, nodes and computer elements disclosed herein may include the steps of providing at least one identifier associated the input material, environmental impact data associated the input material and one or more validation input(s) associated with the generation of the environmental impact data, providing a validation rule set including one or more validation rules configured to validate the environmental impact data based on the generation of the environmental impact data associated with the input material, selecting at least one validation rule from the validation rule set for at least one of the validation inputs and generating at least one validation score by applying the at least one validation rule to the at least one provided validation input and depending on validation score assigning validated environmental impact data to the at least one identifier associated with the input material.

[0065] In one embodiment at least one input environmental property is generated from input production data including process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or at least one environmental property of one or more material(s) used to produce the input material. The environmental property may be a product carbon footprint associated with the input material. The product carbon footprint may be generated based on process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or at least one environmental property of one or more materials) used to produce the input material.

[0066] In another embodiment the at least one production data property relates to one or more quality indicators of the input production data that signify the correlation of the input production data to the input material provided to the of one or more chemical product(s). The production data property may relate to at least a technological, a geographical and / or a temporal correlation of the input production data to the input material provided to the production of one or more chemical product(s). The one or more quality indicators of the input production data may include at least a technological, a geographical and / or a temporal quality indicator.

[0067] In another embodiment the at least one production data property relates to a technological quality indicator. Amongst others, the production data property may relate to or indicate input production data being gathered from one or more production process(es) used to produce the input material provided to the production network, to input production data being gathered from one or more production process(es) of a same or different technology type producing the input material, and / or to input production data being gathered from one or more production process(es) for producing different input material(s). The production data property may relate to or indicate any combination of the example10

[0068] indicators, which are not to be considered limiting and further indicators may be used. Depending on the technology for which the input production data used to generate the input environmental property was gathered, the technological correlation may be determined.

[0069] In another embodiment the at least one production data property relates to a geographical quality indicator. Amongst others, the production data property may relate to or indicate input production data being gathered from one or more production location(s) used to produce the input material provided to the chemical production, to input production data being gathered from one or more production location(s) different to the one or more production locations producing the input material provided to the chemical production and / or to input production data being gathered from one or more production location(s) producing the input material under production conditions different to the one or more production locations producing the input material provided to the chemical production. The production data property may relate to or indicate any combination of the example indicators, which are not to be considered limiting and further indicators may be used. Depending on where the input production data used to generate the input environmental property was gathered, the geographical correlation may be determined.

[0070] In another embodiment the at least one production data property relates to a temporal quality indicator. Amongst others, the production data property may relate to or indicate a time period and / or a point in time the input production data was generated. For example, at least one production data property may relate to the time period the input production data used for determining environmental impact data was collected. The time period may signify the age of the input production data. For example, at least one production data property may relate to the time range the input production data covers. The time range may signify the range over which the input production data was collected. Depending on the age or point in time and / or the time range or period of the input production data used to generate the input environmental property, the temporal correlation may be determined.

[0071] In another embodiment the at least one production data property relates to or indicate a share of input material quantity covered by at least one input environmental property. The production data property may relate to or indicate any combination of the example indicators, which are not to be considered limiting and further indicators may be used.

[0072] In another embodiment the input environmental property is validated by determining from the at least one production property at least a technological correlation, geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of the production data, e.g. the quality measure, used to generate the input environmental property. Based on a validated input environmental property the input material for production to the chemical production and / or the validated input environmental property for generating an output environmental property associated with the chemical product produced based on the input material may be provided.

[0073] Validation may include providing at least one identifier associated the input material, environmental impact data associated the input material, and one or more validation input(s) associated with the environmental impact data. The validation inputs may include one or more production properties related to production data used to generate the input231255

[0074] 11

[0075] environmental property. The one or more production properties may relate to characteristics of the production data, e.g. input production data, used to generate the input environmental property. Properties associated with input material production data may relate to one or more quality indicators of the input material production data that signify the relevance of the input material production data to the input material provided to the production of one or more output material(s). Properties associated with input material production data may relate to the qualitative indicators of the input material production data to the input material provided to the production of one or more output material(s). In other words, the properties may signify the quality of the input material production data with respect to the input material provided to the chemical production of one or more output material (s).

[0076] Validation may include providing a validation rule set including one or more validation rules configured to validate the environmental impact data based on the generation of the environmental impact data associated with the input material. Validation may include selecting at least one validation rule from the validation rule set for at least one validation input and generating at least one validation score by applying the at least one selected validation rule to the at least one provided validation input. Validation may include depending on validation score assigning validated environmental impact data to the at least one identifier associated with the input material.

[0077] In an embodiment the at least one identifier associated the input material may relate to a hierarchical identifier structure including one or more material class identifier(s) relating to a material class, one or more material identifiers relating to materials included in a material class and / or one or more component identifier(s) relating to component(s) of the material. The hierarchical identifier structure may comprise at least one material class identifier linked to one or more material identifier(s). The material identifier(s) may further be linked to one or more component identifier(s) related to chemical components comprised in the material signified by the material identifier.

[0078] In another embodiment the one or more validation input(s) relate to one or more properties associated with input material production data used to generate the environmental impact data. Input material production data may include data collected or gathered for one or more production process(es) and used to generate the environmental impact data. Input material production data may include measured or calculated data related to one or more production processes). Input material production data may include data related to one or more production process(es) related to the production of the input material(s). Properties associated with input material production data may relate to one or more quality indicators of the input material production data that signify the relevance or correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) provided to the production producing one or more output material(s). Properties associated with input production data may relate to the qualitative relevance or correlation of the input production data to the input material provided to production producing the one or more output material(s). In other words, the properties signify the quality of the input production data with respect to the input material provided to the production of one or more output material (s). The at least one property may relate to one or more quality indicators of the input material production data that signify the correlation of the input production data to the input material provided to the of one or more output material (s). The property may relate to at least a technological, a geographical and / or a temporal correlation of the input production data to the input material provided to the production of one or more output12

[0079] material (s). The one or more quality indicators of the input production data may include at least a technological, a geographical and / or a temporal quality indicator.

[0080] In another embodiment the one or more validation input(s) relate to a technological correlation between the production, such as production processes and / or setup, used to generate the environmental impact data and the production, such as production processes and / or setup, used to produce the input material. The technological correlation may be associated with or relate to production process(es) used to produce the input material(s) and the relation of the input material production data used to generate the environmental impact data to such production process(es). The environmental impact data may be generated based on production data gathered from the non-limiting examples of one or more production process(es) used to produce the input material(s) provided to the production producing the one or more output material(s), from one or more production process(es) of a same technology type producing an input material type associated with the input material(s), from one or more production process(es) of a different technology type producing a input material type associated with the input material(s), from one or more production process(es) for producing the input material associated with a production entity different to the entity providing the environmental impact data, from one or more production process(es) for producing different input material types, from laboratory measurements corresponding to the one or more production process(es) for producing the input material or input material type, from modelling the one or more production process(es) for producing the input material or input material type or any selection or combination thereof. Depending on the technology for which the input material production data used to generate the environmental impact data was gathered, the technological correlation may be determined.

[0081] In another embodiment the one or more validation input(s) relate to a geographical correlation between the production, such as production process(es) and / or setup, used to generate the environmental impact data and the production, such as production process(s) and / or setup, used to produce the input material(s). The geographical correlation may be associated with or relate to the geographical location of production process(es) and / or the production conditions) used to produce the input material(s) and the relation of the input material production data used to generate the environmental impact data to such production process(es) and / or production conditions. The environmental impact data may be generated based on production data gathered from the non-limiting examples of one or more production locations used to produce the input material(s) provided to the production, e.g. the chemical production network, multiple production locations used to produce input material(s) including the location used to produce the input material(s) provided to the production, e.g. the chemical production network, different production locations used to produce input material(s) under production conditions that correspond to the production conditions of the production location used to produce input material(s) provided to the production, e.g. the chemical production network, one or more production locations used to produce the input material(s) under production conditions different to the one or more production locations producing the input material provided to the production, e.g. the chemical production network, one or more production locations different to the one or more production locations producing the input material provided to the production, e.g. chemical production network, or any selection or combination thereof. Depending on where the input material production data used to generate the environmental impact data was gathered, the geographical correlation may be determined.13

[0082] In another embodiment the one or more validation input(s) relate to a temporal correlation of the input production data used to generate the environmental impact data. The temporal correlation of the input production data may include the age of the input production data used to generate the environmental impact data and / or the time range or the time span of the input production data used to generate the environmental impact data. The temporal correlation may relate to the age of the input production data and / or the time range / span covered by the input production data. For example, the one or more validation input(s) may relate to the time period used for collecting the input production data used for determining environmental impact data, input production data for example, the one or more validation input(s) may relate to the time range / span the input production data covers. The time range / span may signify the range over which the input production data was collected. Depending on the age and / or the time range / span of the input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, the temporal correlation may be determined.

[0083] In another embodiment the one or more validation input(s) relate to a share of input material quantity covered by the environmental impact data, and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the environmental impact data is applicable to and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the environmental impact data is validated, to be validated or validatable for and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the validation inputs are related to. Depending on the share of the input production data used to generate the input environmental property applicable to the input material quantity, the correlation to the input material provided to the chemical production may be determined. The one or more validation input(s) may relate to a share of a quantity of input material provided to the production and being associated with environmental impact data.

[0084] In another embodiment at least one validation rule is selected based on a environmental impact data type and / or a validation input category. The validation rule set may include one or more validation rule(s). The validation rules set may include one or more validation rule(s) relating to different environmental properties provided by the environmental impact data. This may also be referred to as environmental impact data type. The validation rules set may include one or more validation rule(s) relating to different validation input categories. The validation input categories may relate to technological, geographical and / or temporal properties of the input production data used to generate the environmental impact data. The validation input categories may relate to at least a technological correlation of input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, a geographical correlation of input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, a temporal correlation of input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, a share of input material quantity covered by the environmental impact data, and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the environmental impact data is applicable to and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the environmental impact data is validated, to be validated or validatable for and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the validation inputs are related to or any combination or selection thereof. The validation input categories may relate to technological, geographical and / or temporal properties of the input production data used to generate the environmental impact data. The validation input categories may relate to properties of the generation process used to generate the environmental impact data.In another embodiment the at least one validation rule is configured to generate a validation score based one or more properties associated with input production data used to generate the environmental impact data. The validation rule(s) may be configured to generate a validation score based on the one or more validation input(s). The validation score may be determined per validation input category, per environmental impact data type and / or per validation input.

[0085] In another embodiment the at least one validation rule is configured to generate a validation score based on at least a technological correlation of input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, a geographical correlation of input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, a temporal correlation of input production data used to generate the environmental impact data, a share of input material quantity covered by the environmental impact data, and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the environmental impact data is applicable to and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the environmental impact data is validated, to be validated or validatable for and / or the share, quantity or quantity share of input material the validation inputs are related to or any combination or selection thereof.

[0086] In another embodiment the provided environmental impact data is validated if the validation score indicates that provided environmental impact data is at least partially validated, wherein at least the validated part of the environmental impact data is assigned to the at least one identifier associated with the input material(s). In another embodiment the provided environmental impact data is not validated if the validation score indicates that the provided environmental impact data is at least partially non-validated environmental impact data, wherein non-validated environmental impact data is re-placed by a reference environmental impact data, wherein the reference environmental impact data is assigned as validated environmental impact data to the at least one identifier associated with the input material(s). The reference environmental impact data may be retrieved, e.g. from a database, based on the at least one identifier associated with the input material. In case of the hierarchical identifier structure the reference environmental impact data may be retrieved, e.g. from a database, based on the component identifier linked to the material or material class identifier.

[0087] In another embodiment the validation score per validation input is aggregated and validated environmental impact data is assigned to the at least one identifier associated with the input material(s) based on the aggregated score. The validation scores may include weighted summed scores and / or summed scores. The aggregated validation score may be determined per validation input category and / or per environmental property included in the environmental impact data.

[0088] In another embodiment further comprising the step of providing validated environmental impact data for monitoring the environmental impact of the production of one or more output material(s) from the input material(s).

[0089] In another embodiment the validated environmental impact data may be stored including a time stamp signifying the retrieval and / or validation of the validated environmental impact data. Based on the time stamp and a pre-defined15

[0090] validation period the method for validation may be triggered to request environmental impact data associated the input material and one or more validation input(s) associated with the environmental impact data. This way the validated environmental impact data may be updated in predetermined time frames. Advantageously the method hence allows for reliable data validation taking account of changes in the provided environmental impact data associated the input material and one or more validation input(s) associated with the environmental impact data.

[0091] Validation may include acceptance of the provided input environmental property and assignment of a provided input environmental property to the validated input environmental property, wherein validation includes providing of the input material. Depending on the share of the input production data used to generate the input environmental property applicable to the input material quantity, the correlation to the input material provided to the chemical production may be determined.

[0092] Validation may include rejection of the provided input environmental property and / or assignment of a pre-defined input environmental property to the validated input environmental property. In another embodiment validation includes rejection of the provided input environmental property and / or rejection of the input material. A trigger signal may be generated that rejects a request to provide input material associated with the input environmental property.

[0093] In another embodiment the method further includes the step of producing the chemical product(s) using the input material. In another embodiment the method further includes the step of generating the output emission property based on the validated input emission property. In another embodiment the method further includes the step of assigning the generated output environmental property to the chemical product.

[0094] In another embodiment the input material may be associated with a digital asset. The digital asset may include one or more decentral identifier(s) associated with the input material. The digital asset may include one or more decentral identifier(s) linked to or associated with the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property. The digital asset may include one or more digital representation (s) linking or pointing to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property. The at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property may be stored in a data base associated with the input material production for access by an input material user. The at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property may be stored in a data base associated with the input material production for transfer to the input material user e.g. when accessed or on providing the input material.

[0095] The decentral identifier(s) may comprise any unique identifier uniquely associated with the input material and the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property. The decentral identifier may include a Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) or a Digital I Dentifier (DID). The decentral identifier may be linked to authentication and / or authorization information. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the input material, access to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property may be controlled by the input material producer.16

[0096] The decentral identifier may be uniquely associated with the input material or the physical entity of the input material, e.g. as packaged for transportation to the input material user. The decentral identifier may be uniquely related to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property. The digital asset may include or be connected to or be linked to one or more digital representation (s) pointing to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property. The digital representation (s) pointing to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property may be uniquely associated with the decentral identifier. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property. The digital asset may include or be connected to data related to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property, the authentication information and the decentral identifier. The data related to the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property may include the digital representation of the at least one input environmental property and / or the at least one production data property.

[0097] In another embodiment multiple input material(s) are to be provided to the chemical production. The input environmental property may be provided per input material. The input environmental property may be validated per input material and based on the validated input environmental property per input material the respective input material may be provided to the chemical production network and / or the output environmental property associated with the chemical product produced based on one or more of the provided input materials may be generated.

[0098] In another embodiment the output environmental property associated with the chemical product is generated based on the input material (s) provided to the chemical production, wherein the output environmental property is generated based on a quantity per input material and respective validated environmental properties associated with the input material used to produce the chemical product. In other embodiments the chemical product may be associated with a digital asset as described in the context of the input material and the digital asset may relate to the output environmental property and / or the at least one production data property associated with output production data used to generate the output environmental property.

[0099] In another embodiment the input environmental property and / or at least one production data property is provided by a network node associated with the production of the input material to a network node associated with the production of the chemical product. In another embodiment the input environmental property and / or at least one production data property is provided from a network node associated with the production of the input material to validation instructions provided by a network node associated with a validator configured to validate the input environmental property, wherein the validated input environmental property and / or at least one production data property is provided by a network node associated with a validator to a network node associated with the chemical production of the chemical product.231255

[0100] 17

[0101] EMBODIMENTS VERIFICATION

[0102] In yet another embodiment providing one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer includes generating a request for the generation of one or more verifiable credential (s) relating to the provided one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s). The request may include at least one credential subject type relating to the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s). The request may include multiple credential subject types relating to validation input categories, validation score categories and / or validation rule categories. The request may indicate the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) as credential subject. The request may include at least one material identifier associated with the input material, e.g. uniquely associated with the input material identifier. The request may include at least one producer identifier related to the node associated with the producer of the input material, e.g. uniquely related to the producer identifier.

[0103] In yet another embodiment the verifiable credential may include at least one signature proof related to the issuer, e.g. uniquely related to the issuer. The at least one signature proof may relate to an electronic signature based on at least one cryptographic key, such as a private key of a private-public key pair, related to the issuer, e.g. uniquely related to the issuer. The verifiable credential may include at least one hash value of at least part of the data relating to the credential subject.

[0104] In yet another embodiment the one or more validation input(s) may be provided to at least one computing node configured for validation of the input environmental property associated with the input material based on one or more validation rule(s). One or more validation score(s) may be provided to the node associated with the producer of the input material, e.g. from the at least one computing node configured for validation. One or more validation score(s) may be provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer. The verifiable credential may include the provided validation score(s).

[0105] In yet another embodiment providing one or more validation score(s) includes generating one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s). The one or more validation score(s) may be provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer. The verifiable credential may include the provided validation score(s).

[0106] In yet another embodiment providing one or more validation score(s) includes generating at least one multistage validation score related to one or more validation score(s) provided by previous or preceding production stages. The one or more multistage validation score(s) may be provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer. The verifiable credential may include the provided multistage validation score(s).231255

[0107] 18

[0108] The multi-stage validation score may be associated with input materials used for production by preceding production stages and may be generated based on the input environmental property provided to such preceding production stages. The validation score(s) associated with the input material(s) to preceding production stages may be used to generate at least one multi-stage validation score. The at least one multi-stage validation score may relate to the share of validated input environmental properties. The multi-stage validation score may be generated by determining the share of validated input environmental properties e.g. based on a validation score distribution of one or multiple preceding production stages or a threshold for validation scores to account for the validated input environmental properties. The multi-stage validation score may be determined by providing the validation scores of the input materials) and / or a multi-stage validation score from the previous stage to determine the multi-stage validation score including the current stage. The multi-stage validation score may be generated upon or based on validation of the output environmental property generated based on the provided input environmental property and respective validation score(s). The multi-stage validation score may be generated by the node associated with the producer and / or user of the input material based on the validation score(s) and / or multi-stage validation score(s) provided by the previous stage(s) for the respective input materials and their respective input environmental property. The verifiable credential may include the provided multi-stage validation score(s).

[0109] The one or more validation score(s) and / or the multi-stage validation score(s) may relate to one or more validation categories relating to quality indicators for the input environmental property, e.g. with respect to the underlying primary production data and calculation mechanisms used to generate the input environmental property. The validation categories may include the technical scheme according to which the input environmental property was generated, the technological correlation, the geographical correlation, the temporal correlation, the data completeness, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the input environmental property e.g. including reliability and review mechanisms and / or one or more reference(es) for the input environmental property. By discerning validation scores by category, the multi-stage validation score can be weighted depending on category e.g. by giving certain categories more weight than others.

[0110] In yet another embodiment the one or more validation rule(s) may be provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer. The verifiable credential may include the provided validation rule(s) used or to be used to generate the validation score(s). The one or more validation rules(s) may relate to one or more validation categories relating to quality indicators for the generation of the input environmental property, e.g. with respect to the calculation mechanisms used to generate the input environmental property. The validation categories may include the technical scheme according to which the input environmental property was generated, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the input environmental property e.g. including reliability and review mechanisms and / or one or more reference(es) for the input environmental property. By discerning validation rules by category, a selection of validation rules may be provided for issuing a verifiable credential. The validation rule(s) to be selected or selected may relate to the input material type, the output material type and / or the environmental property type. The verifiable credential may include the selected validation rules.231255

[0111] 19

[0112] In yet another embodiment providing the generated one or more verifiable credential(s) includes assigning the verifiable credential to the input environmental property and / or the input material the verifiable credential relates to. Providing the generated one or more verifiable credential(s) may include providing the input environmental property associated with the input material and related to the verifiable credential (s). Providing the generated one or more verifiable credential (s) may include providing input environmental property, validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) and verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s).

[0113] In yet another embodiment providing the generated one or more verifiable credential (s) includes generating at least one verifiable presentation related to the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) including at least one proof associated with at least one issuer of the verifiable credential. In yet another embodiment providing the generated one or more verifiable credential(s) includes providing at least one verifiable presentation for verifying the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

[0114] In another embodiment the methods further include the step of producing the chemical product(s) using the input material. In another embodiment the methods further include the step of generating the output emission property based on the input environmental property related to verified one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s). In another embodiment the methods further include the step of assigning the generated output environmental property to the chemical product.

[0115] In another embodiment the output environmental property associated with the chemical product is generated based on the input material (s) provided to the chemical production, wherein the output environmental property is generated based on a quantity per input material and respective environmental properties related to verified one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

[0116] In another embodiment the verifiable credential is configured to be verifyable by at least one node associated with a user of the input material by resolving the at least one proof associated with at least one issuer. In another embodiment verifying the at least one verifiable presentation includes providing at least one cryptographic key associated with the issuer and resolving the at least one proof based on the provided cryptographic key.

[0117] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0118] In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures. The same reference numbers in the drawings and this disclosure are intended to refer to the same or like elements, components, and / or parts.231255

[0119] 20

[0120] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0121] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of connected production sites with multiple input and output material flows.

[0122] Fig. 2 illustrates schematically an example of generating and providing environmental impact data at one production stage of the value chain.

[0123] Fig. 3 illustrates schematically an example of retrieving and validating environmental impact data at one production stage of the value chain.

[0124] Figs. 4a, b illustrate examples of providing validation inputs associated with environmental impact data to an validation engine.

[0125] Fig. 5 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for validating environmental impact data based on one or more validation input(s).

[0126] Fig. 6 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for validating input data.

[0127] Fig 7. illustrates an example outcome of the validation per validation input category.

[0128] Fig 8. illustrates an example data structure for different validation categories.

[0129] Fig. 9 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for validating the environmental impact data based on aggregated validation scores.

[0130] Fig. 10 illustrates another example flowchart of a method for validating environmental impact data based on validation input categories.

[0131] Fig. 11 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s).

[0132] Fig. 12 illustrates an example decentral network environment with network nodes configured to provide the environmental impact data, the validation inputs or the validated environmental impact data in association with providing the input material(s).

[0133] Figs. 13-15 illustrate examples of verifiable credentials used for providing verified environmental performance data.231255

[0134] 21

[0135] Fig. 16 illustrates an example with a validation service generating the verifiable credential in relation to validation data. Fig. 18 illustrates the respective data transfers between computing nodes associated with different participants of the decentral network.

[0136] Fig. 17 illustrates an example with a validation service generating the verifiable credential in relation to validation instructions for generating validation data. Fig. 19 illustrates the respective data transfers between computing nodes associated with different participants of the decentral network.

[0137] Fig. 20 illustrates examples of flowcharts in relation to different participating nodes for issuing, generating and / or verifying verifiable credentials including validation inputs, validation scores and / or validation rule sets in multi-stage scenario.

[0138] The following embodiments are mere examples for implementing the methods, apparatuses, services disclosed herein in connection with production processes and shall not be considered limiting.

[0139] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of connected production sites with multiple input and output material flows.

[0140] The production sites 100, 102, 104 illustrated in Fig. 1 may include a chemical production network 100 and upstream production systems 102, 104 producing input material(s) for the chemical production network 100. The upstream production systems 102, 104 may produce input material for the chemical production network through recycling processes, refinery processes or other chemical and / or physical processes suitable to produce input material(s) for the chemical production network 100. The chemical production network 100 may produce multiple output materials 118, 120, 122 from multiple input materials 114, 116 provided to the chemical production network 100. The chemical production network 100 may form part of a discrete product supply chain, wherein the discrete product is produced from one or more chemical outputs, chemical end-products or chemical output materials provided by the chemical production network 100. The chemical production network 100 may include multiple chemical processes 100, which may be connected to form a network with multiple production chains interrelated via their material flows.

[0141] For production of the input materials 114, 116 to be provided to the chemical production network 100, the upstream production systems 102, 104 may use input materials 106-112 and associated production processes. The use of input materials 106-112 and the production processes of the upstream production systems 102, 104 may be associated with an environmental impact. One non limiting example is greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of input materials 106-112 and the associated production processes of the upstream production systems 102, 104. As a results, the input materials 114, 116 to be provided to the chemical production network 100 are associated with an environmental impact that stems from the use of input materials 106-108 and the production processes of the upstream production systems 102, 104.231255

[0142] 22

[0143] Similarly, the use of the input materials 114, 116 provided to the chemical production network 100 may affect the environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 and the output materials 118, 120, 122 it produces. To monitor the environmental impact across producers participating in the value chain, the environmental impact associated with the input materials 114, 116 provided to the chemical production network 100 may be provided in the form of environmental impact data to an operating system of the chemical production network 100. The environmental impact data may include one or more aggregated values signifying the environment impact. One non limiting example is greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of input materials 106-112 and the associated production processes of the upstream production systems 102, 104. Such aggregated value may include the product carbon footprint of the input materials 114, 116 to be provided to the chemical production network 100. Based on the environmental impact data provided to the operating system of the chemical production network 100, the environmental impact of the input materials 114, 116 may be considered upon or taken into account for determining the environmental impact data of the output materials 118, 120, 122 produced by the chemical production network 100. Hence providing reliable environmental impact data from one producer of input materials 114, 116 to another producer 100 using such input materials 114, 116 is important to further monitor the environmental impact of output products produced across participants of the supply chain.

[0144] Particularly, for the monitoring of environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 or the output materials 118, 120, 122 produced by the chemical production network 100 the input material flows to the chemical production network 100 may play an important role. This becomes more challenging as input material streams to chemical production networks 100 diversify. Environmental impact of the input materials 114, 116 may depend on the production processes and raw materials used to produce the input materials 114, 116. Different input materials 114, 116 may hence carry different environmental impacts. To monitor environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 or the output materials 119, 120, 122 produced by the chemical production network 100 environmental impact of each input material entering the network needs to be taken into account. The environmental impact may be provided by the producer of the input materials 114, 116. The environmental impact may be quantified by way of environmental impact data including, but not limited to, for example one or more emission properties such as product carbon footprint, recycled content, bio-based content, bio-genic carbon content or any other suitable measure. The receiver of the input material such as the chemical production network 100 hence may require reliable environmental impact data to reliably monitor the environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 or the output materials 118, 120, 122 produced by the chemical production network 100. The embodiments and examples described below illustrate measures to ensure the reliability of the environmental impact data associated with input material(s). In addition, the embodiments and examples described below enable reliable monitoring of input materials 114, 116 entering the chemical production network 100. This in turn allows to reliably monitor the environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 or the output materials 118, 120, 122 produced by the chemical production network 100.

[0145] Fig. 2 illustrates schematically an example of generating and providing environmental impact data at one production stage of the value chain.23

[0146] As described in the context of Fig. 1 the producer at each or per stage of the value chain may determine environmental impact data to track the environmental impact of the input material production and pass such impact on to the next participant in the value chain. The environmental impact data may be generated per production stage of the value chain. For example, referring back to Fig. 1, the upstream producers operating upstream production systems 102, 104 may generate environmental impact data and provide such data together with the input material(s) to the chemical producer operating the chemical production network 100. The illustration of Fig. 2 may relate to the generation of environmental impact data by any participant of the value chain.

[0147] For the sake of simplification, the following description will focus on the upstream production systems 102, 104 illustrated in Fig. 1. Further for the sake of simplification, the following description will focus on the product carbon footprint as one environmental impact data point. This should not be considered limiting. The concepts described are similarly applicable to other participants and / or other environmental impact data.

[0148] The upstream producers may operate production systems 102, 104 including production facility 200 and a production operating system 202. On entry of input material 204 to the upstream production facility (signified by the system boundary 205), the environmental impact data associated with the input material 204 may be provided to the production operating system 202. The environmental impact data Co2e may relate to a digital identifier ID1 associated with the input material 204.

[0149] For production of the output material 206 by production facility 200, the input material 204 may be processed through e.g. recycling processes, refinery processes or other chemical and / or physical process setups of the production facility 200 to produce the output material 206. Such processes require input materials 204 to be processed to output materials 206, energy supply to run the production processes and production process conditions to transform the input materials 204 to output materials 206.

[0150] The inbound allocator 208 may be configured to retrieve the environmental impact data of the input material 204 and to provide such data to the carbon footprint (CF) generator 210. A process data provider 212 may be configured to gather process data associated with the processing of the input material(s) 204 to produce the output material(s) 206. The process data may be gathered from one or more production processes of the production facility 200 producing the output material(s) 206. The process data provider 212 may be configured to gather energy data associated with the energy consumption of the processing. The process data provider 212 may be configured to provide the process data and the energy data to the CF generator 210. The CF generator 212 may be configured to determine the carbon footprint of the output material 206 produced by the production facility 200. The carbon footprint of the of the output material 206 may be determined based on the process data, the energy data and the carbon footprint of the input material(s) 204 used to produce the output material(s) 206.24

[0151] The CF generator 210 may be configured to determine the carbon footprint of the output material 206 produced by the production facility 200. The carbon footprint of the of the output material 206 may be determined based on the process data, the energy data and the carbon footprint of the input material(s) 204 used to produce the output material 206. The carbon footprint may be generated from process data, the energy data and the carbon footprint of the input material(s) 204 collected over a time range for certain output materials 206. The carbon footprint may hence be an aggregated time value determined from historical data. Such time aggregated carbon footprint may be provided for all output materials 206. In other words, the carbon footprint may not be derived from a real time data for each output material but may be derived from historic data and aggregated over a time range. The aggregated carbon footprint may be stored in a data base and provided for each or per output material 206 exiting the system boundary of the production facility 200.

[0152] In addition to the carbon footprint, validation input(s) may be generated upon generation of the carbon footprint. For example, a validation input generator 214 may provide validation input(s) in association with the carbon footprint generated by the CF generator 210. The validation input(s) may be provided to the CF generator 210 and may be linked to the CF generated. The validation input generator 214 may be configured to generate and provide validation input of different categories. For example, validation input may relate to the technical data generation scheme according to which the CF generator 210 generates the carbon footprint CF. Further for example, validation input may relate to technological correlation data indicating the correlation between the production processes from which the process, energy or input material data used to generate the carbon footprint are originating and the production processes used to produce the output material 206. Further for example, validation input may relate to geographical correlation data indicating the correlation between the location of production processes from which the process, energy or input material data used to generate the carbon footprint are originating and the location of production processes used to produce the output material 206. Further for example, validation input may relate to temporal correlation data indicating the age and / or time range of the process, energy or input material data used to generate the carbon footprint. Further for example, validation input may relate to the relevance of the carbon footprint for the output materials indicating the share of the total volume of input material(s) to be used in a target production to which the carbon footprint applies. Further for example, validation input(s) may relate to verification and / or certification schemes applied to the carbon footprint generation.

[0153] On output material 206 exiting the production facility, an identifier provider 218 may be configured to provide the output material identifier ID2 associated with the output material produced by the production facility 200 and provided at the exit point from the production facility 200. An outbound assignor 216 may be configured to assign the determined carbon footprint to the output material identifier ID2. Further environmental impact data including the product carbon footprint and optionally validation inputs may be assigned to the at least one output material identifier ID2. The outbound assignor 216 may be configured to provide the environmental impact data, in particular the carbon footprint, associated with the output material to another operating system as will be described in more detail in the context of Figs. 3, 4a and 4b.25

[0154] Fig. 3 illustrates schematically an example of retrieving and validating environmental impact data at one production stage of the value chain.

[0155] As described in the context of Figs. 1 and 2 the chemical production network 100 and operations of the chemical production network 100 may be monitored and / or controlled by a production operating system 202. Input materials 204 such as pyrolysis oil, bio-naphtha or bio-gas may be provided to the chemical production network 100. The input materials 204 may be used in the chemical production network 100 to produce one or more output material(s) 206 from the input materials 204.

[0156] On entry of the input material 204, environmental impact data, for example the product carbon footprint, associated with the input material 204 may be provided via a communication network to a computing interface of the production operating system 202. A data provider may be configured to provide environmental impact data related to the one or more input material(s) 204 to a computing interface configured to validate environmental impact data associated with the input materials 206. The environmental impact data may include the input material identifier ID1 and the product carbon footprint associated with the input materials 204 and optionally validation inputs. The input material identifier ID1 may be associated with the physical entity of the input material 204 entering the chemical production network 100. The input material identifier ID1 may be linked to the carbon footprint of the input material 204 as environmental attribute. The environmental impact data may be provided on, prior or after providing of the one or more input materials) 204 at entry points to the chemical production network 100.

[0157] The inbound allocator 208 may be configured to retrieve the environmental impact data and to provide such data to the validation engine 220. The validation engine may be configured to validate the environmental impact data based on validation inputs. The configuration and functionalities of the validation engine are described in further detail in the context of Figs. 4-10. If the provided environmental impact data such as the carbon footprint passes validation, the validation engine may be configured to provide environmental impact data such as the carbon footprint to the CF generator 212. If the provided environmental impact data such as the carbon footprint fails validation, the validation engine may be configured to reject the environmental impact data such as the carbon footprint and may not provide such data to the CF generator 212 for further processing. For example, a reference value may be provided to the CF generator 212 for further processing, or the input material 204 may be rejected.

[0158] A process data provider 212 may be configured to gather process data associated with the processing of the input material (s) 204 to produce the output material (s) 206. The process data provider 212 may be configured to gather energy data associated with the energy consumption of the processing. The process data provider 212 may be configured to provide the process data and the energy data to the CF generator 210. The CF generator 212 may be configured to determine the carbon footprint of the output material 206 produced by the chemical production network 100. The carbon footprint of the of the output material 206 may be determined based on the process data, the energy data and the carbon footprint of the input material(s) 204 used to produce the output material(s) 206.26

[0159] The CF generator 210 may be configured to determine the carbon footprint of the output material 206 produced by the production facility 200. The carbon footprint of the of the output material 206 may be determined based on the process data, the energy data and the carbon footprint of the input material(s) 204 used to produce the output material 206. The carbon footprint may be generated from process data, the energy data and the carbon footprint of the input material(s) 204 collected over a time range for certain output materials 206. The carbon footprint may hence be an aggregated time value determined from historical data. Such time aggregated carbon footprint may be provided for all output materials 206. In other word the carbon footprint may not be derived from a real time data for each output material but may be derived from historic data and aggregated over a time range. The aggregates carbon footprint may be stored in a data base and provided for each output material 206 exiting the system boundary of the production facility. The validation input generator 214 may be configured as e.g. described in the context of Fig. 2 to generate validation inputs.

[0160] On output material 206 exiting the chemical production network, an identifier provider 218 may be configured to provide the output material identifier ID2 associated with the output material produced by the chemical production network 100 and provided at the exit point from the chemical production network 100. An outbound assigner 216 may be configured to assign the determined carbon footprint to the output material identifier ID2. Further environmental impact data including the product carbon footprint and optionally validation inputs may be assigned to the at least one output material identifier ID2. The outbound assigner 216 may be configured to provide the environmental impact data, in particular the carbon footprint, associated with the output material to another operating system as will be described in more detail in the context of Figs. 4a and 4b.

[0161] Figs. 4a, b illustrate examples of providing validation inputs associated with environmental impact data to an validation engine.

[0162] The simplified system line out illustrated in Figs. 4a, b may correspond to the more detailed system line outs illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Figs. 4a, b illustrate two production operating systems 1 and 2. Production system 1 may comprise the validation input generator 214, as e.g. illustrated in the context of Fig. 2. Production system 2 may comprise the validation engine 220, as e.g. illustrated in the context of Fig. 3. The validation input generator 214 may be configured to generate and provide validation inputs to the validation engine 220. Validation inputs may be provided together with the environmental impact data such as the PCF in association with the input material identifier.

[0163] In the embodiment of Fig. 4a the validation engine 220 may be configured to generate a validation input data structure 224 that may serve as a template for the environmental impact data concerned. The validation engine 220 may be configured to request validation input from the validation input generator 214. The validation engine 220 may be configured to provide the validation input data structure to the validation input generator 214. The validation input generator 214 may be configured to generate the validation input according to the validation input data structure 224. The validation input generator 214 may be configured to provide the validation input according to the validation input231255

[0164] 27

[0165] data structure 224 to the validation engine 220. The validation engine 220 may be configured to validate the environmental impact data 224 based on the validation input data structure 224.

[0166] In the embodiment of Fig. 4b the validation input generator 214 may be configured to generate and provide the validation input according to the validation input data structure 224. The validation engine 220 may be configured to request validation input from the validation input generator 214. The validation input generator 214 may be configured to generate the validation input according to the validation input data structure 224. The validation input generator 214 may be configured to provide the validation input according to the validation input data structure 224 to the validation engine 220. The validation engine 220 may be configured to validate the environmental impact data 224 based on the validation input data structure 224.

[0167] Other embodiments for generating and providing validation input data are possible and the examples shown in Figs.

[0168] 4a, b shall not be considered limiting. For example, the environmental impact data may be provided separately from the validation inputs associated with the environmental impact data.

[0169] Fig. 5 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for validating environmental impact data based on one or more validation input(s).

[0170] Input material to be used for producing output materials e.g. by the chemical production network 100 may be associated with digital identifiers signifying the physical identity of the input material such as the producer of the input material, the material type, the input material batch, the input material flow over a certain time range, the input material name, the production location and / or the target location for the input material to be used. Such information may be provided as data entries to a digital user interface such as a display or a computing interface and the provided information may be associated with the digital identifier. This way the input materials may be characterized and uniquely linked to digital identifiers.

[0171] The digital identifier(s), the environmental data and one or more validation input(s) associated with the input material may be provided. The environmental data and the one or more validation input(s) may be linked or related to the digital identifier. The environmental impact data may relate to any measure of the environmental impact of the input material. The environmental impact data may include one or more environmental properties of the input material. The environmental property may indicate an environmental performance of the input material. The environmental property may relate to properties of the production of the input material. The environmental property may relate to one or more characteristic(s) that are attributable to environmental impact of the input material. The environmental property may include environmental, technical, recyclability or circularity characteristics(s) associated with the environmental impact of the input material.

[0172] Environmental characteristic(s) may specify or quantify ecological criteria associated with the products environmental impact. Environmental characteristic(s) may be or may be produced from measurements taken during the lifecycle of231255

[0173] 28

[0174] one or more product(s). Environmental characteristics may be determined at any stage of the product lifecycle and may characterize the environmental impact of the product for such stage or up to such stage. Environmental characteristics) may for example include carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, resource usage, air emissions, ozone depletion potential, water pollution, noise pollution or eutrophication potential. Environmental characteristic(s) may for example include product characteristics related to the production of the product like bio based, vegan, halal, kosher, palm oil-free, natural or the like.

[0175] Technical characteristic(s) may specify or quantify product performance at least indirectly associated with the environmental impact. Technical characteristic(s) may be or may be produced from measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more product(s). Technical characteristics may be determined at any stage of the product lifecycle and may characterize the product performance for such stage or up to such stage. Technical characteristic(s) may for example include product composition data, bill of materials, product specification data, product component data, product safety data, application property data, application instructions or product quality data.

[0176] Circularity characteristic(s) may specify or quantify the products life cycle characteristics associated with circular uses. Circularity characteristic(s) may be or may be produced from measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more product(s). Circularity characteristic(s) may be or may be produced from circular data recorded in one or more prior lifecycle(s) including reuse. Circularity characteristics may be determined at any stage of the product lifecycle and may characterize the reuse or recycling performance for such stage or up to such stage. Circularity characteristic(s) may for example include recycling data, reuse rate, recycling rate, recycling loops, reuse reused product performance, reused product quality or the like.

[0177] Recyclability characteristic(s) may specify or quantify the material or product life cycle characteristics associated with recycling uses. Recyclability characteristic(s) may include the composition of the material including specifically tailored constituents making the material suitable for recycling. Recyclability characteristic(s) may be or may be produced from measurements taken during the lifecycle of one or more materials or product(s). Recyclability characteristics) may be or may be produced from recycling data recorded in one or more prior lifecycle(s). Recyclability characteristics may be determined at any stage of the material or product lifecycle and may characterize the recycling performance for such stage or up to such stage. Recyclability characteristic(s) may for example include recycling data, recyclability data, or the like.

[0178] The environmental properties may relate to the product carbon footprint, bio-based content, recycled content, biogenic carbon content or other suitable measures of the environmental impact as lined out above or any combinations thereof.

[0179] The validation inputs may relate to the generation of the environmental impact data associated with the input material such as described for example in the context of Figs. 2 and 3. The validation data may relate to a technical data generation scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated. The scheme may relate to231255

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[0181] standards such as ISO 14067 are ISO 14040 / 44, PAS 2050 or the GHG Protocol Product Standard if the environmental impact data includes at least one product carbon footprint of the input material. The scheme may relate to other standards or certifications depending on the environmental impact data.

[0182] The one or more validation inputs may relate to generation data associated with the production of the input material. The one or more validation inputs may relate to generation data including process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or the environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material. The one or more validation inputs may relate to a technological correlation, a geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of generation data used to generate the environmental impact data to the production of the input material.

[0183] The technological correlation may relate to production process(es) used to produce the input material and the relation of the generation data, such as production data, used to generate the environmental impact data to such production process(es). For example, the environmental impact data may be generated based on production data gathered o from one or more production process(es) used to produce the input material provided to the chemical production network,

[0184] o from one or more production process(es) of the same technology type producing the input material, o from one or more production process(es) of the different technology type producing the input material, o from one or more production process(es) for producing the input material of another production entity, o from one or more production process(es) for producing different input material,

[0185] o from laboratory measurements corresponding to the one or more production process(es) for producing the input material,

[0186] o from modelling the one or more production process(es) for producing the input material.

[0187] Depending on the production data used to generate the environmental impact data, the technological correlation may be determined. The higher the correlation the higher the quality of the environmental impact data.

[0188] The geographical correlation may relate to the location of production process(es) and / or the production condition(s) used to produce the input material and the relation of the generation data, such as production data, used to generate the environmental impact data to such production process(es). For example, the environmental impact data may be generated based on production data gathered from

[0189] o one or more production locations used to produce the input material provided to the chemical production network,

[0190] o multiple production locations used to produce input material including the location used to produce the input material provided to the chemical production network,

[0191] o different production locations used to produce the input material under production conditions that correspond to the production conditions of the production location used to produce the input material provided to the chemical production network,231255

[0192] 30

[0193] o from one or more production locations used to produce the input material under production conditions different to the one or more production locations producing the input material provided to the chemical production network,

[0194] o from one or more production locations different to the one or more production locations producing the input material provided to the chemical production network.

[0195] Depending on where the production data used to generate the environmental impact data was gathered, the geographical correlation may be determined. The higher the correlation the higher the quality of the environmental impact data.

[0196] The temporal correlation may relate to the age of the generation data and / or the time range covered by the generation data. For example, the one or more validation input(s) may relate to the time period the generation data used for determining environmental impact data was collected. The time period may signify the maximum age of the generation data. For example, the one or more validation input(s) may relate to the time range the generation data covers. The time range may signify the range over which the generation data was collected. Depending on age and / or time range covered, the temporal correlation may be determined. The lower the age and / or the larger the time range covered the higher the temporal correlation also from statistical perspective and the higher the quality of the environmental impact data.

[0197] The one or more validation input(s) may relate to the share of input material quantity covered by the environmental impact data. For example, the share may relate to how much of the production volume supplied to the chemical production network is represented by the generation data. The one or more validation input(s) may relate to the temporal correlation and the share of input material quantity covered by the environmental impact data. Depending on share, the physical correlation between input material produced and data used for generation of environmental impact data may be determined. The higher the share the higher the quality of the environmental impact data.

[0198] The one or more validation input(s) may relate to generation data gathered or validated at least partially from measurement. The one or more validation input(s) may relate to the validation of the environmental impact data. The one or more validation inputs may relate to a verification and / or certification mechanism used for the environmental impact data. The one or more validation inputs may relate to generation data type such as validated, measured, calculated or approximated. The validation inputs may relate to generation data including environmental impact data associated with raw material used to produce the input material. The validation inputs may relate to allocation scheme used for generation of environmental impact data.

[0199] Such information may be provided as entries to a digital user interface such as a display or a computing interface and the provided information may be associated with the digital identifier of the input material. To reliably track the environmental impact of the input material, the digital identifiers associated with the input material may be linked to or related to environmental impact data and one or more validation input(s). This way the environmental impact data and associated validation inputs may be characterized and uniquely linked to digital identifiers.31

[0200] A validation rule set including one or more validation rule(s) configured to validate environmental impact data based on the generation of the environmental impact data associated with the input material may be provided. The validation rules may be configured to generate a validation score. The one or more validation rules may relate to a mapping of the validation input to the validation score per validation input.

[0201] Per validation input category at least one validation rule from the validation rule set may be selected. The validation categories may include a check on the input data provided, the technical scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated, the technological correlation, the geographical correlation, the temporal correlation, the data completeness, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the environmental impact data, one or more reference(es) for the environmental impact data. The validation rule set may include one or more validation rule(s) per validation category. The selection may be dynamic and / or static based on validation input and validation rule pairs. For example, validation input and validation rule pairs may be pre-defined. The one or more validation rules may be configured to generate the validation score per validation input. The validation rules may be configured to generate a pass or fail per validation input and / or validation rule as will be described further in the example of Fig. 6.

[0202] At least one validation score may be generated by applying the at least one validation rule to the validation input. As illustrated in Fig. 7, the validation rule may be applied to the validation input data. A fail or pass may be assigned per validation input and associated validation rule depending on the validation score. For example, one or more validation rules may be configured to generate the validation score per validation input

[0203] o based on generation data including process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and an emission property of the materials used to produce the input material

[0204] o based on the time period the generation data used for determining environmental impact data was collected o based on the share of input material quantity covered by the environmental impact data

[0205] Further for example, one or more validation rules may be configured to generate the validation score based on one or more production data property / ies associated with the input material. Further for example, one or more validation rules may be configured to generate the validation score based the technological correlation, the geographical correlation and / or the temporal correlation of production data used to generate the environmental impact data.

[0206] Depending on the validation score, the environmental impact data may be valid or non-valid. If validation score indicates a pass, the validated environmental impact data may be assigned to the identifier associated with the input material. For example, the validated environmental impact data may be provided to the CF generator 212 for further processing, and the input material 204 may be fed to the chemical production network. If validation score indicates a fail, the environmental impact data may not be assigned to the identifier associated with the input material. For example,32

[0207] a reference value may be provided to the CF generator 212 for further processing, or the input material 204 may be rejected.

[0208] Through validation of the environmental impact data the quality of the data generation and hence reliability of such data can be assessed. This way the reliability of monitoring the environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 or the output materials 118, 120, 122 produced by the chemical production network 100 can be increased.

[0209] Fig. 6 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for validating input data.

[0210] Based on validation input at least one validation rule from the validation rule set may be selected as described in the context of Fig. 5. The select validation rule may be applied to respective validation input category or validation input. Per applied validation rule a status flag signifying the pass or fail of respective validation input may be set. The status flag may include the validation score per applied validation rule.

[0211] Fig 7. illustrates an example outcome of the validation per validation input category.

[0212] In the example of Fig. 7 the validation categories include the technical scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated, the technological correlation, the geographical correlation, the temporal correlation, the data completeness, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the environmental impact data, one or more reference(es) for the environmental impact data. The validation rule set may include one or more validation rule(s) per validation category.

[0213] In the example of Fig. 7, the result of the application of the validation rule to the respective validation input is illustrated for multiple input materials per validation category. The results are indicated by a status flag associated with the PCF value. The status flag may indicate in validation, passed or failed. The status flag may be updated in the scope of the validation process as described in the context of Figs. 5 and 6. The status flag may include a validation score signifying the validation status. For example, validation scores may be determined per validation rule and the validation may fail based on individual scores as can for example the PCF value in the last row shown in Fig. 7.

[0214] Fig 8. illustrates an example data structure for different validation categories.

[0215] The input data structure may include the validation inputs that may correspond to the validation rules. The validation rules may include the scoring system assigning scores per validation input.

[0216] The validation inputs may be structured according to validation categories. One possible data structure for the carbon footprint is illustrated in Fig. 8. The validation categories may relate to quality indicators for the environmental impact data in particular with respect to the underlying primary production data and calculation mechanisms used to generate the environmental impact data. The validation categories may include the technical scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated, the technological correlation, the geographical correlation, the231255

[0217] 33

[0218] temporal correlation, the data completeness, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the environmental impact data including reliability and review mechanisms and / or one or more reference(es) for the environmental impact data. Other data structures and validation categories may be similarly applicable. Other data structures and validation categories may be applicable to other environmental properties such as recycled or bio-based content.

[0219] Fig. 9 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for validating the environmental impact data based on aggregated scores.

[0220] The method illustrated in Fig. 9 corresponds to the method illustrated and described in the context of Figs. 5 and 6. An identifier ID associated with the input material may be provided. A validation rule set configured to validate may be provided. Environmental impact data and validation input may be provided. Per validation input at least one validation rule may be selected, and the validation score generated.

[0221] In addition or alternatively to Figs. 5 and 6, the validation scores per validation input may be aggregated. For example, a total validation score may be provided by a weighted or non-weighted sum. Based on the aggregated score the environmental impact data may be pass or fail validation. On pass, the validated environmental impact data associated with input material may be assigned to the identifier ID associated with the input material. For example, the validated environmental impact data may be provided for processing to monitor the environmental impact of the chemical production network 100 or output materials produced by the chemical production network 100. Further for example, the input material associated with validated environmental impact data may be provided to the chemical production network 100.

[0222] Fig. 10 illustrates another example flowchart of a method for validating environmental impact data based on validation input categories.

[0223] The environmental impact data and the one or more validation input(s) may be provided as for example described in the context of Figs. 2-4. For validation of the environmental impact data different categories of validation inputs may be provided. The validation categories may include a check on the input data provided, the technical scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated, the technological correlation, the geographical correlation, the temporal correlation, the data completeness, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the environmental impact data, one or more reference(es) for the environmental impact data. The validation rule set may include one or more validation rule(s) per validation category.

[0224] As illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the input data including input material identifier data, environmental impact data and the one or more validation input(s) may be provided for validation. Validation flags may be set based on the provided input data. For example, if the input material identifier data is incomplete the validation may fail. Further for example, if the environmental impact data is empty the validation may fail. Further for example, if no validation input data is231255

[0225] 34

[0226] provided the validation may fail. Further for example, if incomplete validation input data is provided the validation may still pass depending on the validation input data that is missing and if such data is mandatory or optional. The input data validation flag may be set to pass.

[0227] The environmental impact data may be validated based on further validation categories. The technical scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated may be checked. Technical schemes may be predefined technical schemes with algorithmic rules to generate environmental impact data. The technical schemes may refer to technical standards such as ISO 14067 or ISO 14040 / 44. The technical schemes for validation may be preset. If the technical scheme corresponds to a preset technical scheme, the technical scheme validation flag may be set to pass.

[0228] The technological correlation may relate to production process(es) used to produce the input material and the relation of the generation data, such as production data, used to generate the environmental impact data to such production process(es). This allows to score to what degree the environmental impact data represents the technological process that is used to produce the input material. The scoring may be defined by the degree to which the environmental impact data represents the technological process that is used to produce the input material. For example, the score may indicate pass if it matches the production technology (mix) used for the input material or at least corresponds to the production technology (mix) used for the input material. The score may indicate fail, if it is different to the production technology (mix) used for the input material, if it is based on process simulation or lab scale production or if it is based on the technology (mix) used for the input material but from third parties. The scoring may include different score levels for each option.

[0229] The geographical correlation may relate to the location of production process(es) and / or the production condition(s) used to produce the input material and the relation of the generation data, such as production data, used to generate the environmental impact data to such production process(es). This allows to score to what degree the selected data represents the geography of the processes used to produce the input material. The scoring may be defined by the degree to which the selected data represents the geography of the processes used to produce the input material. For example, the score may indicate pass if the generation data was gathered at the location (s) or region(s) the input material is produced. The score may indicate pass if the generation data was gathered at the location (s) or region(s) with corresponding production conditions to the location(s) or region(s) the input material is produced. The score may indicate fail if the generation data was gathered at the location(s) or region(s) with differing production conditions to the location (s) or region(s) the input material is produced or if the location (s) generation data was gathered are not known.

[0230] The temporal correlation may relate to the age of the generation data and / or the time range covered by the generation data. This allows to score to what degree the selected data represents the actual time. For example, if the data set is no older than 3, 6 or 10 years with respect to the time period covered by the generation data set, the score may indicate a pass. If the data set is older than 10 years with respect to the time period covered by the generation data231255

[0231] 35

[0232] set or the age is not known, the score may indicate a fail. In addition the time period over which process data were collected to calculate the environmental impact data of the input material may be scored. For example, if the data set covers more than one year, the score may indicate a pass. If the data set covers less than 1 year or 6 months, the score may indicate a fail.

[0233] The data completeness allows to score the degree to which the data is statistically representative of the relevant activity and also addresses seasonal and other normal fluctuations in data. This may be combined with the fraction of the production volume supplied as input material is represented by the data that is used to calculate the environmental impact data. For example, 100%, >=50%, <50% or <25% relevant production volume may be considered. Relevant production volume may refer the total volume of supplied input material. In combination with the time range covered by the generation data, the score may indicate fail or pass. For examples, for <50% or <25% relevant production volume and any value less than one year of time range, the score may indicate fail. For other cases it may indicate pass.

[0234] The production data used for the generation of environmental impact data allows to score the validity of the data. The generation data may be validated data based on measurement or calculations, validated data partly based on assumptions, non-validated data based on measurement or calculations, non-validated data partly based on assumptions, estimates or approximation (reliability). Validated data based on measurement or calculations, validated data partly based on assumptions, non-validated data based on measurement or calculations may indicate a pass. Nonvalidated data partly based on assumptions, estimates or approximation may indicate a fail.

[0235] The verification and / or certification scheme for generation of the environmental impact data may indicate verification and / or certification scheme. The score may indicate the presence of the verification and / or verification scheme. One or more reference(es) for the environmental impact data may further be provided to score the validity of the environmental impact data provided. The deviation of + / + 20% may indicate pass.

[0236] The results of the validation rules per validation category may be provided to determine an overall validation either based on individual results or on aggregated validation results as described for example in the context of Figs. 5, 6, 7 or 9. For example, for different input materials the scores per validation category may be provided. The score may correspond to a pass or fail per category. The score may be aggregated to determine a total score. The result of the validation may depend on the aggregated total score or on individual scores.

[0237] Fig. 11 illustrates an example flowchart of a method for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s).

[0238] The environmental impact data may include for example an input environmental property, such as an input emission property like the product carbon footprint, of the input material. The validation inputs may include one or more production data properties related to production data used to generate the input environmental property. The one or231255

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[0240] more production data properties may relate to characteristics of the production data used to generate the input environmental property. Properties associated with input material production data may relate to one or more quality indicators of the input material production data that signify the relevance of the input material production data to the input material provided to the of one or more output material(s). Properties associated with input material production data may relate to the qualitative indicators of the input material production data to the input material provided to the of one or more output material(s). In other words, the properties may signify the quality of the input material production data with respect to the input material provided to the chemical production of one or more output material(s).

[0241] For monitoring the environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s) produced based on an input material provided to the chemical production, the input environmental property associated with the input material may be provided. The input environmental property may relate to environmental properties generated by the production of the input material. The input environmental property may be generated from process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or an environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material.

[0242] In addition or alternatively to the input environmental property, a production data property associated with production data used to generate the input environmental property may be provided. The production data properties associated with input material production data may relate to one or more quality indicators of the production data that signify the quality of the input material production data to the input material provided to the of one or more output material(s). The quality indicators may relate to validation input categories. The validation input categories may relate to technological, geographical and / or temporal properties of the generation data used to generate the environmental impact data. The validation input categories may relate to at least a technological correlation of production data used to generate the input environmental property, a geographical correlation of production data used to generate the input environmental property, a temporal correlation of production data used to generate the input environmental property, a share of input material quantity covered by the input environmental property or any combination or selection thereof. The validation input categories may relate to technological, geographical and / or temporal properties of the input material production data used to generate the input environmental property. The validation input categories may relate to properties of the generation process used to generate the input environmental property.

[0243] The production data may be associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material. The production data may include process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or an environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material.

[0244] The input environmental property may be validated by determining from the production data property at least a technological correlation, geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of the production data used to generate the input environmental property. Based on the validated input environmental property

[0245] o the input material to the chemical production network and / or231255

[0246] 37

[0247] o the validated input emission property for generating an output emission property associated with the output material produced based on the input material may be provided. The validation may include the methods for validating the environmental impact data as described for example in the context of Figs. 2-10. The validation may include acceptance of the provided input environmental property and assignment of a provided environmental property to the validated emission property. The validation may include rejection of the provided input environmental property and assignment of a pre-defined environmental property to the validated environmental property. The validation may include rejection of the provided input environmental property and rejection of the input material.

[0248] Depending on validation, the output product(s) using the input material may be produced using the input material associated with the validated input environmental property. The output products may be produced by the chemical production as for example illustrated and described in the context of Figs. 1-3.

[0249] The output environmental property may be generated based on the validated input emission property. The output environmental property may be generated as for example illustrated and described in the context of Figs. 2 and 3. The generated output environmental property may be assigned to the produced output product. The generated output environmental property may be assigned to a digital identifier ID2 associated with the output material and as described for example in the context of Fig. 3.

[0250] Fig. 12 illustrates an example decentral network environment with network nodes configured to provide the environmental impact data, the validation inputs or the validated environmental impact data in association with providing the input material.

[0251] The decentral network environment may include one or more network node(s) associated with the upstream production, the chemical production and / or the validation engine configured to validate the environmental impact data, such as the input environmental property. The network nodes may be associated with a data consuming service comprising computer-executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data associated with the data owner. The network nodes may be associated with a data providing service comprising computer-executable instructions for providing and / or processing data associated with the data owner for accessing and / or processing by the data consuming service. The data owner in this example may be the input material producer. The data owner may comprise any entity generating data. The data generating node may be coupled to the data owner or the entity owning or producing physical products from or for which data is generated. The data may be generated by a third-party entity on behalf of the entity owning physical products from or for which data is generated.

[0252] The environmental impact data may include for example an input environmental property, such as an input emission property like the product carbon footprint, of the input material. The validation inputs may include one or more production data properties related to production data used to generate the input environmental property. The production data may include process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usagefor producing the input material and / or an environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material. The input environmental property may be generated from process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or an environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material.

[0253] The input material as produced by the upstream production 102, 104 may be provided in association with a digital asset as described in the context of Figs. 2 and 3. The input material may be associated with a physical identifier connected to the input material. The physical identifier may be related to the digital asset associated with the input material. The digital asset may include the input material identifier. The digital asset may include environmental impact data or parts thereof, such as one or more environmental properties like the product carbon footprint, recycled content or bio-based content. The digital asset may include a digital representation of the environmental impact data or parts thereof such as one or more environmental properties like the product carbon footprint, recycled content or bio-based content.

[0254] The digital asset may further include or relate to authentication and / or authorization information linked to the input material identifier. The authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of a data provider and / or data consumer. The input material identifier may include or relate to a decentral identifier, that is uniquely associated with the input material. The decentral identifier may be connected to the digital representation of the environmental impact data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the environmental impact data or parts thereof. The decentral identifier may include a Universally Unique IDenti-fier (UUID) or a Digital IDentifier (DID). The decentral identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with a data owner and / or input material. The data owner may be the producer of the input material. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and / or input material access to the environmental impact data may be controlled by the data owner.

[0255] The digital asset including the digital representation of the environmental impact data comprising one or more environmental properties such as the product carbon footprint, recycled content or bio-based content may be stored in a decentral data base. The environmental impact data may be stored in a data base associated with the data owner, such as the producer of the input material.

[0256] The environmental impact data such as the input environmental property may be provided from a decentral network node associated with the production of the input material to one or more decentral network node(s) associated with the production of the output material and / or the validation engine.

[0257] The input material may be physically delivered to chemical producer using the input material. The input material may be connected with a QR-code having encoded the input material identifier. The chemical producer using the input material may read the QR-code through a QR-code reader. The input material identifier may be provided to a data39

[0258] base associated with the chemical producer using the input material. In other embodiments the chemical producer using the input material may retrieve the input material identifier through the decentral data base.

[0259] Based on the received input material identifier a request to access the environmental impact data associated with the input material identifier may be triggered by the data consuming service associated with the network node(s) of the chemical production and / or the validation engine configured to validate the environmental impact data. The input material identifier may be provided to the data providing service of the producer of the input material. In addition, authentication and / or authorization information may be provided.

[0260] The request may be authenticated and / or authorized to access the environmental impact data associated with the input material identifier. Based on successful authorization and / or authentication access to the environmental impact data or parts thereof associated with the input material identifier may be granted.

[0261] For access the input material identifier may be provided to the data providing service of the producer of the input material. The data providing service may use the received input material identifier to retrieve the environmental impact data or parts thereof associated with the input material from the data base associated with the producer of the input material. The environmental impact data or parts thereof associated with the input material provided to the data providing service may be provided to the data consuming service associated with the network node(s) of the chemical production and / or the validation engine configured to validate the environmental impact data. The environmental impact data or parts thereof associated with the input material may be stored in the data base associated with chemical production and / or the validation engine.

[0262] Through the input material identifier or decentral identifier, the environmental impact data or parts thereof can be uniquely associated with the input material. Through the decentral network the environmental impact data or parts thereof may be transferred between the producer of the input material and the chemical producer and / or the validation engine. This way the environmental impact data can be shared with unique association to the input material and without central intermediary directly between the value chain players. This allows for transparency of environmental impact data or parts thereof across the value chain and positive environmental impacts of output material of the chemical production network can be tracked through the value chain.

[0263] The input environmental property may be validated by determining from the production data property at least a technological correlation, geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of the production data used to generate the input environmental property. Based on the validated input environmental property

[0264] o the input material to the chemical production network and / or

[0265] o the validated input emission property for generating an output emission property associated with the output material produced based on the input material may be provided. The validation may include the methods for validating the environmental impact data as described for example in the context of Figs. 2-10. The validation may include acceptance of the provided input environmental property and assignment of a provided40

[0266] environmental property to the validated emission property. The validation may include rejection of the provided input environmental property and assignment of a pre-defined environmental property to the validated environmental property. The validation may include rejection of the provided input environmental property and rejection of the input material.

[0267] The validation engine may be configured to validate the input environmental property. The validation engine may be part of the network node associated with the chemical producer and / or the validator. In the latter case, the input environmental property may be provided from a decentral network node associated with the production of the input material to validation instructions provided by a decentral network node associated with a validator configured to validate the input environmental property. The validated input environmental property may be provided from a decentral network node associated with a validator to a decentral network node associated with the production of the chemical product.

[0268] The decentral setup allows for more efficient monitoring of environmental impact of chemical production and / or output material(s) based on the input materials provided to production for producing the output materials. In particular, when multiple input material(s) are to be provided to the chemical production network, input environmental property may be provided per input material. Based on the validated input environmental property per input material the respective input material may be provided to the chemical production network and / or the output emission property associated with the output material produced based on one or more of the provided input materials may be generated as described in the context of Fig. 10. The output emission property associated with the output material may be generated based on the input materials provided to chemical production network, respective quantities per input material and respective validated emission properties associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical product.

[0269] Figs. 13-15 illustrate examples of verifiable credentials used for providing verified environmental impact data. Verification in this context may include verifications with respect to certain statements being true of false as well as processing logics, such as validation logics, leading to certain statements being true of false.

[0270] The decentral network as described above may include computing nodes associated with participants of a value chain e.g. including input material producer, output material producer, component producer and / or end product producer. The decentral network may provide one or more protocol(s) for peer-to-peer communication between the participant's computing nodes. The network may further include computing nodes associated with certifiers or issuers that may certify one or more data points, instructions or statements that are to be transferred or shared between computing nodes associated with network participants based on one or more verifiable credential protocol(s).

[0271] As described in the context of Figs. 2-12, environmental impact data of input materials may be provided by the computing node associated with the input material producer. The environmental impact data may include one or more validation input(s), e.g. including one or more production data properties, and / or one or more input environmental231255

[0272] 41

[0273] properties. The environmental impact data or parts thereof may be provided as part of or in addition to at least one verifiable credential. Verifiable credentials may relate to environmental impact data or parts thereof, validation instructions configured to validate the environmental impact data or parts thereof and / or both.

[0274] Fig. 13 illustrates the verifiable credential system including computing nodes associated with the issuer, the holder, the verifier and a trust system configured to or for communicating according to one or more verifiable credential protocols). The holder may relate to or be the input material producer. The verifier may relate to or be the input material user. The issuer may relate to or be a participant of the decentral network but not the material value chain. The trust system may be configured to or for storing participant identifiers and their respective public keys of cryptographic private-public key pairs.

[0275] The computing node associated with the holder may be configured to request issuing of a verifiable credential. The computing node associated with the holder may be configured to send such request including the data to be verified to the computing node associated with the issuer. The data to be verified may relate to one or more validation input , one or more validation score(s), one or more validation rule(s) and / or one or more validation rule set(s). The node associated with the producer of the input material may be configured to generate one or more validation input® as described in the context of Figs. 1-12. The node associated with the producer of the input material may be configured to provide or have access to the one or more validation input® including at least one production data property associated with input production data used to generate the input environmental property. The input production data may be associated with one or more production process® for producing the input material. The node associated with the producer of the input material may be configured to generate one or more validation result® or score® as described in the context of Figs. 1-12. The validation rule set may include one or more validation rule® relating to different validation input categories. The validation input categories may relate to technological, geographical and / or temporal properties of the input production data used to generate the input environmental property associated with the input material. The validation rule® may be configured to generate a validation score based one or more validation input®, e.g. production data properties, associated with input production data used to generate the input environmental property associated with the input material. The validation rule® may be configured to generate one or more validation score® based on the one or more validation input®, e.g. per validation input category or aggregated for more than one validation input category.

[0276] The one or more validation input®, the one or more validation score® and / or the one or more validation rule® or rule set® may be provided to one or more computing node® associated with the certifier or issuer. By providing validation input®, validation rule® and / or validation score® the primary data such as the input production data itself may not be shared for issuing the verifiable credential. At least one identifier associated with the input material the input environmental property relates to and / or the input production data relate to may be provided to one or more computing node® associated with the certifier or issuer. At least one identifier associated with the input material producer, or the node associated with the input material producer may be provided to one or more computing node® associated with the certifier or issuer.231255

[0277] 42

[0278] The computing node associated with the issuer may be configured to receive the request for issuing of the verifiable credential including the data to be verified. The computing node associated with the issuer may be configured generate the verifiable credential by generating at least one cryptographic proof based on one or more cryptographic mechanisms. For example, the cryptographic mechanisms may be based on private-public key pairs. Generating the cryptographic proof may include generating at least one hash value of at least part of the data to be verified and / or generating at least one electronic signature encrypting at least the hash value e.g. with at least one cryptographic key of the issuer such as a private key of a private-public key pair. The cryptographic proof may include at least one hash value of at least part of the data to be verified and / or at least one signature based on the generated hashed value electronically signed or encrypted e.g. with at least one cryptographic key of the issuer such as a private key of a private-public key pair.

[0279] The verifiable credential may hence relate to at least one credential with one or more cryptographic signature(s), such as Camenisch-Lysyanskaya signatures, provided by at least one computing node associated with the certifier or issuer. The credential may relate to one or more claims made about the one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) or rule set(s), the input material, the input production data used to generate the environmental property and / or the environmental property generated based on the input production data. The computing node associated with the holder may be configured to request generation of the verifiable credential from the computing node(s) associated with certifier(s) or issuer(s). The credential may be provided by the computing node associated with the holder to the computing node(s) associated with certifier(s) or issuer(s). The credential may be certified by the computing node(s) associated with certifier(s) or issuer(s) to generate a verifiable credential. The verifiable credential may include at least one header with metadata such as issuer ID, input material ID, claim to be attested by the issuer, at least one provided credential and / or at least one proof such as an issuer cryptographic signature or hash value. The verifiable credential may be provided to the computing node associated with the holder. The verifiable credential may be implemented according to W3C standards as e.g. described in the Verifiable Credentials Implementation Guidelines 1.0, W3C Editor's Draft 03 February 2023 or related documents. The computing node associated with the issuer may be configured to generate the verifiable credential by providing at least the issuer DID (Decentral IDentity), the subject DID of the holder and the claims together with a proof of the same. An example JSON of a verifiable credential is illustrated in Fig. 14. The subject may relate to one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) or rule set(s), the input material, the input production data used to generate the environmental property and / or the environmental property generated based on the input production data. The proof may comprise a cryptographic signature including a hash value of at least the claims and an electronic signature based on the private key associated with the issuer DID. One or more verifiable credential (s) may be generated by the node associated with the issuer and provided to the node associated with the input material producer.

[0280] The verifiable credential(s) may relate to the validation input(s) and / or to the validation result(s) or score(s) generated from such validation input(s). For example, one or more computing node(s) associated with the certifier or issuer may231255

[0281] 43

[0282] be configured for validating the input environmental property based on the provided validation input(s) and generating at least one verifiable credential including the validation result(s) or score(s). The one or more computing node(s) associated with the certifier or issuer may be configured to perform the methods as disclosed in the context of Figs.

[0283] 2-11. The validation may be performed based on the validation input(s) e.g. provided by the computing node associated with the holder and the validation score(s) may be generated. Per validation input at least one validation score may be generated e.g. as described in the context of Figs. 5 and 6. The validation scores per validation input may be aggregated. For example, a total validation score may be generated and provided by a weighted or non-weighted sum or any type of arithmetic measure such as mean. Based on the aggregated score the environmental impact data may be pass or fail validation. On pass, a verifiable credential may be issued by generating at least one proof such as the issuer signature for the statement of successful validation. On fail, no verifiable credential may be issued or a credential that indicates such fail may be generated.

[0284] The verifiable credential(s) may relate to instructions, e.g. computer-executable instructions, for generating validation result(s) or score(s) based on validation input(s), such as validation rules or rule sets. For example, one or more computing node(s) associated with the certifier or issuer may be configured to verify the instructions, e.g. computerexecutable instructions, for generating validation result(s) or score(s) based on validation input(s) to adhere to predefined rule sets, e.g. as disclosed in the context of Figs. 2-11. The one or more computing node(s) associated with the certifier or issuer may be configured to check the instructions, e.g. computer-executable instructions, generating validation result(s) or score(s) to adhere to pre-defined rules and to generate a verifiable credential by generating a proof of valid instructions, e.g. computer-executable instructions, for generating validation results. The node(s) associated with input material producer may be configured to execute the verified instructions, e.g. computer-executable instructions, for generating validation results or scores based on validation input(s). The one or more computing node(s) associated with input material producer may be configured to perform the methods as disclosed in the context of Figs. 2-11.

[0285] The validation may be performed based on the validation input(s) and the validation score(s) may hence be generated by one or more computing node(s) associated with issuer or certifier or by one or more computing node(s) associated with input material producer. Per validation input at least one validation score may be generated e.g. as described in the context of Figs. 5 and 6. The validation scores per validation input may be aggregated. For example, a total validation score may be generated and provided by a weighted or non-weighted sum or any type of arithmetic measure such as mean. Based on the aggregated score the environmental impact data may be pass or fail validation. On pass, the validation score may be provided in connection with the verifiable credential related to the executable instructions generating validation results. On fail, no validation score or the validation score indicating the fail may be provided in connection with the verifiable credential related to the executable instructions generating validation results.

[0286] The computing node associated with the issuer may be configured to provide the generated verifiable credential to the computing node associated with the holder or associated with input material producer requesting the issuing of231255

[0287] 44

[0288] the respective verifiable credential. The computing node associated with the holder may receive the requested verifiable credential. The node associated with the producer of the input material may receive the generated one or more verifiable credential (s) including at least on proof generated by the issuer node or one or more computing node(s) associated with the certifier or issuer for the validation inputs, validation scores and / or the instructions generating validation scores.

[0289] The computing node associated with the holder or associated with input material producer may be configured to provide the verifiable credential(s) associated with the input material and / or the environmental property associated the input material to one or more computing nodes associated with the users of the input material. The node associated with the producer of the input material may be configured to provide one or more verifiable credent! al (s) including at least one proof generated based on the validation inputs and / or the validation of validation inputs, such as the generated validation scores and / or the instructions for generating validation scores. The node associated with the producer of the input material may be configured to provide the input environmental property in connection with the verifiable credential including at least on proof generated based on the validation inputs and / or the validation of validation inputs. The proof may be generated and provided by the issuer node, or one or more computing node(s) associated with the certifier or issuer. The node associated with the producer of the input material may be configured to provide the input environmental property in connection with the verifiable credential including at least one proof generated based on the validation inputs and / or the validation of validation inputs and the input material identifier.

[0290] For providing the verifiable credential the computing node associated with the holder may be configured to generate a verifiable presentation. Verifiable presentation may relate to at least one verifiable credential with one or more cryptographic signature(s), such as Camenisch-Lysyanskaya signatures, provided by the computing node associated with the holder. Presentation may relate to one or more credentials e.g. including one or more assertions or claims related to the input material, the input production data used to generate the environmental property and / or the environmental property generated based on the input production data. The computing node associated with the verifier or controller may be configured to request generation of a verifiable presentation from the computing node(s) associated with the holder. The presentation may be provided by the computing node associated with the holder to the computing node(s) associated with controller or verifier(s).

[0291] The presentation may be verified by the computing node(s) associated with the verifier(s). The verifiable presentation may include at least one header with metadata, at least one provided verifiable credential and at least one cryptographic proof such as an issuer electronic signature. For verification the verifier or controller may retrieve the public key of the issuer and the public key of the holder e.g. from the trust system. Based on the holder public key the holder signature of the verifiable presentation can be verified. Based on the issuer public key the issuer signature of the verifiable presentation can be verified. Based on the data included in the verifiable presentation the hash values may be checked e.g. to ensure data has not been corrupted.231255

[0292] 45

[0293] The node associated with the user of the input material upon request or receipt of the input material may be configured to receive at least one verifiable credential verifying the validity of the input environmental property based on validation inputs, validation scores and / or validation rules. The verifiable credential may include verification of validation inputs, validation scores and / or validation rules. The verifiable credential may include verification of instructions configured for generating validation scores. The verifiable credential may be provided in addition to other environmental impact data and / or as part of the environmental impact data. The node associated with the user of the input material upon request or receipt of the input material may be configured to receive at least one verifiable presentation including the verifiable credential.

[0294] The node associated with the user of the input material may verify the at least one verifiable credent! al / presentation by resolving the at least one proof associated with at least one issuer of the verifiable credential. Based on the verification the input material may be provided for production to the chemical production and / or the input environmental property may be provided for generating an output environmental property associated with the chemical product produced based on the input material.

[0295] The node associated with the user of the input material, or any other participant configured for consuming the environmental impact data or parts thereof may be configured to request one or more verifiable presentation (s) from the node associated with the input material producer. The node associated with input material producer may be configured to generate the verifiable presentation by providing the verifiable credential (s) and generating the proof of the same. An example JSON of the verifiable presentation is illustrated in Fig. 15. The proof may comprise a cryptographic signature including a hash value of at least the claims and an electronic signature based on the private key associated with the holder DID. One or more verifiable presentation (s) may be generated and provided to the node associated with input material user.

[0296] Fig. 16 illustrates an example with a validation service generating the verifiable credential in relation to validation data. Fig. 18 illustrates the respective data transfers between computing nodes associated with different participants of the decentral network.

[0297] The validation service may be configured to validate the input environmental property based on validation inputs as e.g. described in the context of Figs. 2-12. The validation inputs may relate to the generation of the environmental impact data associated with the input material such as described for example in the context of Figs. 2 and 3. The validation inputs may relate to a technical data generation scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated. The scheme may relate to standards such as ISO 14067 are ISO 14040 / 44, PAS 2050 or the GHG Protocol Product Standard if the environmental impact data includes at least one product carbon footprint of the input material. The scheme may relate to other standards or certifications depending on the environmental impact data. The one or more validation inputs may relate to generation data, such as production data, associated with the production of the input material. The one or more validation inputs may relate to generation data including process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material231255

[0298] 46

[0299] and / or the environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material. The one or more validation inputs may relate to a technological correlation, a geographical correlation and / or a temporal correlation of generation data used to generate the environmental impact data to the production of the input material.

[0300] The input environmental property may relate to or include an input emission property like the product carbon footprint of the input material. The validation inputs may include one or more production data properties related to production data or generation data used to generate the input environmental property. The production data may include process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or an environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material. The input environmental property may be generated from process data gathered from production of the input material, energy data related to energy usage for producing the input material and / or an environmental property of the materials used to produce the input material.

[0301] The validation input generator may be configured to generate validation inputs as e.g. described in the context of Figs. 2-12. The validation inputs may be provided to the validation service. The validation service may be configured to generate validation score(s) such as aggregated or multi-stage validation scores based on validation inputs. The validation inputs may include the multi-stage validation scores from previous stages. The validation service may be configured to generate a verifiable credential for the generated validation score(s) such as aggregated or multi-stage validation scores. The verifiable credential may relate to a specific input material or input material type. The verifiable credential may relate to a specific input environmental property or input environmental property type. The input environmental property may be provided e.g. upon request together with verifiable credential indicating the quality of the data used to generate the environmental property. On presentation the environmental property such as the product carbon footprint (PCF) and the verifiable credential(s) for the validation score(s) generated as lined out in Figs. 1-12 may be provided to the verifier. This way trust may be enhanced into the environmental properties shared between supply chain participants.

[0302] Fig. 17 illustrates an example with a validation service generating the verifiable credential in relation to validation instructions for generating validation data. Fig. 19 illustrates the respective data transfers between computing nodes associated with different participants of the decentral network.

[0303] The validation service may be configured as lined out above in the context of Figs. 16, 19. In contrast to the embodiment shown in Figs. 16, 19, the verifiable credential is generated for the instructions configured to generate the validation scores. The VC generator may be configured to receive a representation of the instructions. The VC generator may be configured to provide and generate the verifiable credential for such representation. On presentation the environmental property such as the product carbon footprint (PCF), the validation score(s) generated as lined out in Figs. 1-12 and the verifiable credential(s) for the instructions configured to validate the environmental property may be provided to the verifier. This way the number of verifiable credentials needed to be generated can be reduced while keeping the trust in the generated validation scores.231255

[0304] 47

[0305] The embodiments illustrated in Figs. 16-19 are mere examples and shall not be considered limiting. Combinations of the embodiments for different validation inputs, scores and / or environmental properties may be possible.

[0306] Fig. 20 illustrates examples of computing nodes and respective flowcharts in relation to different participating nodes for issuing, generating and / or verifying verifiable credentials including validation inputs, validation scores and / or validation rule sets in multi-stage scenario.

[0307] As described in the context of Figs. 13-19 multiple nodes may communicatively interact according to at least one verifiable credential protocol.

[0308] The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to provide input production data associated with the production of the input material(s), wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material. The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to generate based on or from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material. The input environmental property may relate to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material. The input environmental property may be part of environmental impact data.

[0309] The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to generate one or more validation input(s) based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided and / or providing one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s).

[0310] The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to validate input environmental property based on validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as disclosed in the context of Figs. 1-12. The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to provide at least validation input(s) and optionally validation rule(s) to a node configured to validate the input environmental property based on validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as disclosed in the context of Figs. 1-12. The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to receive at least validation scores(s) and optionally validation rule(s) from the node configured to validate the input environmental property based on validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as disclosed in the context of Figs. 1-12.

[0311] The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to request verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s). The node configured to validate may alternatively or in addition be configured to request verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s).

[0312] The node associated with the issuer may be configured to receive the request for issuing the verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s). The node associated with the issuer may be configured to231255

[0313] 48

[0314] generate verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as described in the context of Figs.

[0315] 13-19. The node associated with the issuer may be configured to provide verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s).

[0316] The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to receive the issued verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s). The node associated with the input material producer may be configured to generate at least one verifiable presentation related to validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as described in the context of Figs. 13-19.

[0317] The node associated with the input material producer may be configured provide input environmental property, validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) and verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) to the node associated with the input material user.

[0318] The node associated with the input material user may be configured to receive input environmental property, validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) and verifiable credential including validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s). The node associated with the input material user may be configured to generate one or more validation input(s) and validate input environmental property based on validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as described in the context of Figs. 1-12. The node associated with the input material user may be configured to provide at least validation input(s) and optionally validation rule(s) to a node configured to validate the input environmental property based on validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as disclosed in the context of Figs. 1-12. The node associated with the input material user may be configured to receive at least validation scores(s) and optionally validation rule(s) from the node configured to validate the input environmental property based on validation input(s), rule(s) and / or score(s) as disclosed in the context of Figs. 1-12.

[0319] The node associated with the input material user may be configured to generate output environmental property based on validated input environmental property. The node associated with the input material user may be configured to generate multi-stage validation score based on validation score(s) of previous production stage. This is only an example embodiment, and the node associated with the producer of the input material, or any other participant configured for consuming the environmental impact data or parts thereof may be configured to generate output environmental property and to generate multi-stage validation score based on validation score(s) of previous production stage.

[0320] The output environmental property of one production stage may in turn relate to or may be the input environmental property to the following or next production stage e.g. the respective user of input material produced by the producer. The output environmental property of a previous or preceding production stage may relate to or may be the input environmental property associated with input material(s) to be provided or provided to the production stage. The output environmental property to be provided or provided by the node associated with the user of the input materials may relate to or may be the input environmental property provided by the node associated with the user of the input materials to the node associated with the next or following user. The output environmental property to be provided or231255

[0321] 49

[0322] provided by the node associated with the producer of the output materials produced based on input materials may relate to or may be the input environmental property provided by the node associated with the producer providing the output materials as input materials to the next or following user. The input environmental property may be provided by the node associated with the producer of the input materials to the node associated with the next or following producer producing based on the input materials or the user of the input material produced by the input material producer.

[0323] For generating, validating and / or providing the output environmental property, the validation score(s) associated with or of the input material(s) to preceding production stages may be used to generate at least one multi-stage validation score related to the share of validated input environmental properties, the validation score(s) associated with or of the input material(s) to preceding production stages may be provided as validation inputs. The validation rule(s) may include at least one rule to or configured to generate the multi-stage validation score. The share of validated input environmental properties may be determined with respect to the validation score(s) of one or multiple production stages preceding the current production stage. For example, a validation score distribution of one or multiple preceding production stages or a threshold for validation scores may be used for determining the share of validated input environmental properties. The multi-stage validation score may be determined by providing the validation scores of the input material(s) and / or a multi-stage validation score from the previous stage to determine the multi-stage validation score including the current stage. The multi-stage validation score may be generated based on a percentage of validated input environmental properties per stage. The multi-stage validation score may be aggregated based on the weighted sum or arithmetic mean of the share or percentage of validated input environmental properties per production stage up to the current stage. The one or more validation score(s) and / or the multi-stage validation score(s) may relate to one or more validation categories relating to quality indicators for the input environmental property with respect to the underlying primary production data and calculation mechanisms used to generate the input environmental property. The validation categories may include the technical scheme according to which the environmental impact data was generated, the technological correlation, the geographical correlation, the temporal correlation, the data completeness, the verification and / or certification mechanism used for the data generation of the input environmental property including reliability and review mechanisms and / or one or more reference(es) for the input environmental property. By discerning validation scores by category, the multi-stage validation score can be weighted depending on category by giving certain categories more weight than others.

[0324] The multi-stage validation score(s) may be generated upon validation of the output environmental property. The multi-stage validation score may be generated by the node associated with the user of the input material based on the multi-stage validation score(s) provided by the previous stage(s) with respect to the input materials provided or to be provided to the user. The multi-stage validation score(s) may be generated by the node associated with the producer of the input material based on the multi-stage validation score provided by the previous stage(s) with respect to the input materials provided or to be provided to such stages. The multi-stage validation score(s) may be provided for issuing a verifiable credential.231255

[0325] 50

[0326] The node associated with the input material user may be configured to request verifiable credential including multistage validation score and to receive verifiable credential including multi-stage validation score as disclosed above or in the context of Figs. 13-19.

[0327] The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring of environmental performances of chemical end products produced by chemical manufacturing processes. Chemical production network are complex interconnected production sites with multiple interconnections between processes. To reliably monitor the environmental impact of such production and the resulting products, the environmental performances need to be provided in a reliable and secure manner. This may be done by aggregating the environmental performances to classifications of chemical products, product classes or all products produced. However, the quality and reliability of such aggregated values needs to be ensured, since low quality or low reliability negatively impact the quality and reliability of monitoring the environmental impact of the production. The decentral network in combination with verifiable protocols for data transfers allows for more efficient handling and monitoring across value chain players.

[0328] The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, particularly the monitoring of environmental impact in industrial manufacturing processes. Production networks undergo dynamic change to reduce environmental impact. Chemical production networks are exposed to dynamic changes regarding the input materials fed to such networks. The methods disclosed herein allow for reliable monitoring of the environmental impact even if aggregated measures for the environmental impact of producing the input material are provided. In addition, the decentral network setup allows for more efficient handling and monitoring across value chain players. In particular the use of verifiable credentials relating to the data used for generating the environmental properties can enhance trust into the generated and shared environmental properties.

[0329] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the claims.

[0330] Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a specific order of these steps. It is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or in a certain computing node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different computing nodes using different equipment / data processing.

[0331] As used herein ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", "generating" also includes ..initiating and / or causing to generate" and "providing” also includes "initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and / or receive”. "Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action. As used herein "configured to” or "configured for” includes "being configured to or capable of being configured to” or "being configured for or capable of being configured for”.231255

[0332] 51

[0333] In the claims as well as in the description the word "comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article "a” or "an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation. In the claims as well as in the description the word "comprising” or "including” or similar wording does not exclude other elements or steps and shall not be construed limiting to the elements or steps lined out. The indefinite article "a” or "an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation or further elements may be included.

[0334] Providing in the scope of this disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include an application programming interface, a human-machine interface such as a display and / or a software module interface. Providing may include communication of data or submission of data to the interface, in particular display to a user or use of the data by the receiving node, entity or interface.

[0335] Various units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components may be described as "configured to” perform a task or tasks. Configured to shall recite structure meaning "having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks on operation. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components can be configured to perform the task even when the unit / circuit / component is not operating. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components that form the structure corresponding to "configured to” may include hardware circuits and / or memory storing program instructions executable to implement the operation. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions shall be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to.” Any recitation of "configured to” is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation.

[0336] In general, the methods, apparatuses, systems, computer elements, nodes or other computing components described herein may include memory, software components and hardware components. The memory can include volatile memory such as static or dynamic random-access memory and / or nonvolatile memory such as optical or magnetic disk storage, flash memory, programmable read-only memories, etc. The hardware components may include any combination of combinatorial logic circuitry, clocked storage devices such as flops, registers, latches, etc., finite state machines, memory such as static random-access memory or embedded dynamic random-access memory, custom designed circuitry, programmable logic arrays, etc.

[0337] Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, the systems, apparatuses, devices, chemicals, materials, computer program elements lined out above and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples and vice versa.

[0338] All terms and definitions used herein are understood broadly and have their general meaning.

Claims

23125552Claims:

1. A method for monitoring environmental impact of one or more input material(s) to be provided to chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical product(s) are to be produced based on one or more input material(s) provided to the chemical production, the method comprising:providing input production data associated with the production of the input material(s), wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material;generating from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material;generating one or more validation input(s) based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided and / or providing one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s);providing one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer configured to generate one or more verifiable credential(s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof;providing the generated one or more verifiable credential (s) including at least one signature proof generated by the one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer and related to one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer includes generating a request for the generation of one or more verifiable credent! al (s) relating to the provided one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s), wherein the request includes at least one material identifier associated with the input material and / or at least one producer identifier related to the node associated with the producer of the input material.

3. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one cryptographic signature proof associated with the issuer relates to an electronic signature based on at least one cryptographic key associated with the issuer.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more validation input(s) are provided to at least one computing node configured for validation of the input environmental property associated with the input material based on one or more validation rule(s), wherein the one or more validation score(s) are provided to a node associated with the producer of the input material, wherein the one or more validation score(s)23125553are provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer, wherein the verifiable credential includes the provided validation score(s).

5. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein providing one or more validation score(s) includes generating one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s), wherein the one or more validation score(s) are provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer, wherein the verifiable credential includes the provided validation score(s).

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein providing one or more validation score(s) includes generating at least one multistage validation score related to one or more validation score(s) provided by preceding production stages, wherein the one or more multistage validation score(s) are provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer, wherein the verifiable credential includes the provided multistage validation score(s).

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more validation rule(s) are provided to one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer, wherein the verifiable credential may include the provided validation rule(s) used or to be used by the one or more computing node(s) associated with the producer of the input material to generate the validation score(s).

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein providing the generated one or more verifiable credentials) includes assigning the verifiable credential to the input environmental property and / or the input material the verifiable credential relates to.

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein providing the generated one or more verifiable credentials) includes providing the input environmental property associated with the input material in relation to the verifiable credent! al (s).

10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein providing the generated one or more verifiable credentials) includes generating at least one verifiable presentation related to the one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) including at least one proof associated with at least one issuer of the verifiable credential.

11. An apparatus for monitoring environmental impact of one or more input material(s) to be provided to chemical production and / or one or more chemical product(s), wherein the chemical product(s) are to be produced based on one or more input material(s) provided to the chemical production, the apparatus comprising: at least one intake interface configured to provide input production data associated with the production of the input material(s), wherein the input production data is associated with one or more production process(s) for producing the input material;23125554at least one processor configured to generate from the input production data an input environmental property associated with the input material, wherein the input environmental property relates to one or more environmental properties of or caused by the production of the input material and configured to generate one or more validation input(s) based on the input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided and / or configured to provide one or more validation score(s) based on the generated one or more validation input(s) and one or more validation rule(s);at least one output interface configured to provide one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) to one or more computing node(s) associated with an issuer configured to generate one or more verifiable credential (s) including at least one cryptographic signature proof and configured to provide the generated one or more verifiable credential(s) including at least one signature proof generated by the one or more computing node(s) associated with the issuer and related to one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

12. A method for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical produces), the method comprising:providing at least one verifiable presentation including at least on proof generated for verifying one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material, wherein the proof is generated by one or more computing node(s) associated with at least one issuer, wherein the one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) relate to input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material (s) to be provided;verifying the at least one verifiable presentation by resolving the at least one cryptographic proof associated with at least one issuer;based on the verification providing the input material for production to the chemical production and / or providing the input environmental property for generating an output environmental property associated with the chemical product produced based on the input material.

13. The method of claim 12, further including the step of producing the chemical product(s) using the input material and / or generating the output environmental property based on the input environmental property related to verified one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s).

14. An apparatus for monitoring environmental impact of chemical production and / or one or more chemical produces), the apparatus comprising:at least one intake interface configured to provide at least one verifiable presentation including at least on proof generated for verifying one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or23125555one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material, wherein the proof is generated by one or more computing node(s) associated with at least one issuer, wherein the one or more validation input(s), the one or more validation score(s) and / or the one or more validation rule(s) relate to input production data used to generate the input environmental property and the correlation of the input production data to the input material(s) to be provided; at least one processor configured to verify the at least one verifiable presentation by resolving the at least one proof associated with at least one issuer;at least one output interface configured to, based on the verification provide the input material for production to the chemical production and / or provide the input environmental property for generating an output environmental property associated with the output product produced based on the input material.

15. Use of verified one or more validation input(s), one or more validation score(s) and / or one or more validation rule(s) related to at least one environmental property associated with an input material as generated by the methods or apparatuses of any of claims 1-14 for monitoring and / or controlling the production of input materials) and / or the providing of input material(s) to users of input material(s) and / or for generating at least one output environmental property associated with at least one output product produced based on input material (s).

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