Join the PACT Network
To simplify the journey, we have developed detailed step-by-step guidance for you to become a PACT Conformant Solution:
Review documentation
Please review all key technical documents listed on:
- PACT Technical Specifications & supporting materials
Access all resources that will help build the technical foundation for PACT Conformance - PACT Network Vision Paper
Understand the foundations of the PACT Network for enabling standardized emissions data exchange
Build a solution
Build a solution as per a specific version of the PACT Technical Specifications:
Connect with PACT
Join us for a 1-hour interactive session with the PACT team! This is your chance to ask questions, explore conformance testing, and gain valuable insights to support your journey. We host these sessions on the first Tuesday of every month, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to connect, learn, and grow with us!
Please sign up here.
Test your Solution
PACT is building an Automated Conformance Testing service which any company may use on-demand to validate the conformance of their solution to any version of the PACT Technical Specifications (V2 or later). The service is currently in beta testing phase and is planned for release in May 2025. Use of the service will be mandatory to achieve conformance status and get listed on the website.
Learn more here: Guide to Automated Conformance Testing
Upload Solution to the Website
Once your solution passes 100% of all automated tests, your solution is PACT Conformant. You can then proceed to upload content using the Solution Submission Form.
Please see the PACT Network for details on how your solution will be displayed.
FAQs:
Conformance testing is a voluntary process of verifying if a product or service meets specific standards or specifications. In the context of PACT, this is the process of verifying that a solution or system correctly implements the PACT Technical Specifications. By doing so, Conformance Testing verifies that a solution can exchange PCF data in an interoperable way with any other PACT Conformant Solution for the Tech Specs version being tested.
Compliance is a legal requirement; Conformance refers to voluntary adherence to standards
A PACT Conformant solution has completed the technical interoperability test with two independent solutions for a specific version of the PACT Technical Specifications. By passing conformance the solution can both share and receive PCF data via API.
Details of each solution can be found by clicking on a solution card. All PACT Conformant technology solutions have features listed on the respective page and you can visit their website and get in touch for a demo.
Most organizations are already partnering with a technology solution to measure and manage emissions data. We encourage all corporations to invite vendors and solutions you are working with to pursue PACT Conformance testing. This will ensure that the solution can exchange data using the PACT data model.
Evaluating the calculation engine is significantly higher complexity than the exchange, and therefore deemed out of scope. We plan to expand conformance testing to the PCF calculation engine in the future.
No, PACT Conformance testing is completely free. We have a peer-to-peer testing process with the community through which we test for conformance.
PACT does not provide any certifications for aligning with the standard. Hence, we do not use the terminology 'PACT Certified' or 'PACT Compliant' since it is not a legal requirement. We use 'PACT Conformant' to highlight voluntary adherence to the standard
PACT is not building a product or a platform that stores any centralised data. PACT Technology is fundamentally an API that enable standardized emissions data exchange which is done in a peer-to-peer manner by individual host systems
1. Solution has implemented all mandatory aspects of a specific version of the PACT Technical Specifications
2. Solution can both share and receive PCF data via API
3. Two independent solutions confirm technical interoperability with your solution
1. Any aspect of the calculation engine (i.e. PCF calculation according to PACT Methodology)
2. User Interface and/or front-end user experience
Yes, conformance is relative to a specific version. Solutions must re-test to become conformant to major versions of the Technical Specifications (i.e. v1, v2, v3). You may only test conformance to a stable released version (not to a draft version). For the list of releases, see here
Yes! We invite you to retest as you identify issues and bugs with your implementation, as this is an intended outcome of the Conformance Testing process.
Evaluating the calculation engine is significantly higher complexity than the exchange, and therefore deemed out of scope. We plan to expand conformance testing to the PCF calculation engine in the future.
We do plan to extend conformance testing to Data Model Extensions once these become more widely available and adopted by solutions.
No, currently the requirement for PACT Conformance is a given solution must be able to implement all mandatory functionality of the Technical Specifications which includes both send and receive API functionality. The above said, you are invited to nevertheless participate in Conformance Testing and may contribute test results for other solutions as well as evaluate (partially) your solution.
No, the interoperability test needs to be conducted by solutions built on the same version. For example, a v3 solution cannot be tested with a v2.