Carbon Data Quality Explained

A carbon number is only as good as its source. Two insulation products might both claim 4.2 kgCO₂e per kilogram, but one figure comes from a third-party verified Environmental Product Declaration and the other from a generic industry database compiled a decade ago. They carry completely different levels of confidence.

For project-level carbon reporting, mixing high-quality and low-quality data undermines the reliability of the total. A project estimate built mostly on verified EPDs tells you something useful. One built mostly on benchmarks and estimates tells you something approximate. Knowing the difference is essential for making procurement decisions you can defend.

Matera classifies every carbon figure into one of five quality tiers. These appear as badges throughout the platform - on material cards, in comparison tables, and in project carbon summaries.

Data quality badges are shown wherever a carbon figure appears. In the compare table, each product's carbon value is paired with its quality tier and lifecycle scope, so you can see at a glance whether the numbers are comparable.

In the project carbon summary, the overall data quality breakdown shows how many materials fall into each tier. A project where 80% of materials have verified EPDs is in a strong position. A project where most materials rely on benchmarks or estimates has significant uncertainty in its total.

When a material has no carbon data, it appears in the excluded items section with a clear reason. This makes gaps visible rather than hiding them behind a suspiciously clean total.

Scope mismatch occurs when a product's carbon data covers a different lifecycle boundary than the one the project is tracking. If your project reports A1–A3 (production stage) and a product only provides A1–A5 (production plus construction), the figures cannot be directly combined without inflating the total.

Matera detects scope mismatches automatically. Rather than silently including a mismatched figure - which would produce a misleading total - the system flags it and excludes the item from the headline number.

When you see a scope mismatch warning, check whether the supplier can provide an A1–A3 figure separately. Many EPDs break out lifecycle stages individually, so the data may exist even if it was not submitted in that form.

Data quality is not fixed. It can be systematically improved through procurement practice.

If you are a supplier listing products on Matera, your carbon data quality directly affects how your products appear in comparison and procurement workflows.

Products with verified EPDs receive the highest-confidence badge and are included in project totals without caveats. Products with no carbon data are excluded from totals and flagged as data gaps. In carbon-conscious procurement, this visibility matters.

Investing in product-specific EPDs is increasingly a competitive advantage, not just a compliance exercise. Buyers are filtering and comparing by carbon. Better data means better visibility.