Catena-X

Catena-X is a data ecosystem for the automotive industry jointly initiated by vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, and technology companies. It is based on the technical specifications of the European cloud and data infrastructure initiative Gaia-X and the reference architecture of International Data Spaces, and went live with its first productive use cases in October 2023.

Catena-X aims to enable standardized yet decentralized data exchange along the often highly complex automotive supply chain. Unlike a central platform, data remains with the respective companies and is only shared between participants according to defined rules and access rights, preserving each company's data sovereignty.

A central sustainability use case for Catena-X involves a shared methodology for calculating carbon footprints, allowing suppliers across multiple value chain stages to provide consistent and comparable emissions data. This makes it easier for manufacturers to obtain reliable data for their own Corporate Carbon Footprint and product accounting along the supply chain.

For companies within the automotive supply chain, Catena-X is becoming increasingly relevant for meeting regulatory requirements around capturing Scope 3 emissions without relying on inconsistent, bilateral data exchange processes with individual business partners. The Catena-X model is also considered a blueprint for comparable, industry-specific data spaces in other sectors.