Data Sources for True Cost Accounting

This page provides a comprehensive registry of data sources for calculating TCA components, including databases for footprint indicators, monetization factors, sector-country priors, and upper-bound estimates for the unknown penalty.

Overview

TCA requires two types of data:

1. Footprint indicators: Physical/categorical measures of impacts (kg CO₂e, hours of child labor, Nutri-Score, etc.)
2. Monetization factors: Conversion rates from indicators to € (€/kg CO₂e, €/DALY, etc.)

When primary data is missing, TCA uses sector-country priors with conservative quantiles (typically 95th percentile) as the unknown penalty.

Data Quality and Verification

Verification Tiers

The unknown penalty is reduced as data quality improves through verification:

Tier	Description	Penalty Reduction
0	No data	100% penalty (95th percentile)
1	Self-reported, unaudited	70% penalty (80th percentile)
2	Third-party audited	30% penalty (60th percentile)
3	Certified + blockchain/traceability	0% penalty (measured value)

Rationale:

• Creates graduated incentive for transparency improvement
• Rewards investment in auditing and traceability systems
• Prevents binary “all or nothing” barrier to participation
• Recognizes that some verification is better than none

Monetization Factors

True Price Foundation (TPF)

What it provides:

• Comprehensive monetization factors for social, environmental, and health impacts
• Based on restoration/remediation logic
• Updated annually with version tracking

Key factors (v4.0.2, EUR2024):

• Social: Child labor (€42/hour hazardous), forced labor (up to €139,000/FTE), OHS (€129,000/DALY)
• Environmental: Carbon (€0.312/kg CO₂e), biodiversity, water, pollution
• Health: DALY valuation (€129,000/DALY)

Access:

• Website: True Price Foundation
• Documentation: Monetization Factors for True Pricing (annual reports) and Footprint Modules
• License: Check current terms; typically available for research/application with attribution

Version control: Always document which version (e.g., v4.0.2, Nov 2025) is used in calculations.

Global Impact Database (GID)

What it provides:

• Impact pathway methodologies
• Sector-specific impact profiles
• Links indicators to monetization logic

Relation to TPF: GID provides underlying data/methods that TPF translates into factors.

Access: Through Impact Institute portal.

Environmental Footprint Data

Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) Databases

Eora MRIO / Eora26

What it provides:

• 190+ countries × ~26 sectors (Eora26) or detailed sectoral resolution (Eora)
• Environmental extensions: carbon, energy, water, land
• Social extensions: employment, informal labor indicators
• Monetary flows + physical flows

Use in TCA:

• Sector-country intensity distributions for unknown penalty
• Indirect/supply-chain footprints
• Trade-linked environmental accounting

Unit examples:

• kg CO₂e per $ output (by sector-country)
• m³ water per $ output
• Employment per $ output

Access:

• Website: worldmrio.com
• License: Research access typically free; commercial use requires agreement
• Format: CSV, Stata, R packages

Documentation: Keep “how to extract intensity distributions” notes for reproducibility.

EXIOBASE

What it provides:

• Detailed multi-regional environmentally-extended IO tables
• 44 countries/5 rest-of-world regions × 163 industries
• Environmental extensions: GHG by gas, land use, water, materials, emissions to air/water
• High resolution for manufacturing and service sectors

Use in TCA:

• More detailed than Eora for specific product categories
• Carbon, water, land footprints by detailed sector
• Upper-bound priors when product origin is unknown

Unit examples:

• kg CO₂e per € output or per kg product (with price bridges)
• m³ water, kg materials, ha land per € output

Access:

• Website: exiobase.eu
• License: Open for non-commercial; check for commercial use
• Format: MATLAB, Python (pymrio package)

Extraction method: Map product → EXIOBASE sector → query intensity distribution → select quantile.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Databases

ecoinvent

What it provides:

• Gold standard LCA database
• 18,000+ datasets covering materials, energy, transport, agriculture, waste
• Multiple impact categories (climate, water, land, toxicity, eutrophication, etc.)
• Detailed process-level data

Use in TCA:

• High-quality environmental indicators for $C_3$
• Comprehensive cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave assessments
• Used to populate footprint indicators when primary data available

Access:

• Website: ecoinvent.org
• License: Subscription required (academic and commercial tiers)
• Format: EcoSpold, accessible via OpenLCA, SimaPro, Brightway

Integration: Extract indicators (kg CO₂e, m³ water, etc.) → multiply by TPF factors.

Agri-footprint

What it provides:

• Specialized for agriculture and food products
• Crop-specific, country-specific data
• Covers major crops, livestock, aquaculture
• Compatible with LCA standards

Use in TCA:

• Detailed food/agriculture environmental data for $C_3$
• More granular than MRIO for specific food products

Access:

• Website: agri-footprint.com
• License: Subscription (part of Blonk Consultants)
• Format: Compatible with LCA software

GaBi / Sphera

What it provides:

• Industrial process LCA data
• Strong on manufacturing, chemicals, energy
• Professional-grade datasets

Use in TCA: Industrial products, manufacturing processes for $C_3$.

Access: sphera.com/gabi-software

GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project)

What it provides:

• Global trade with environmental accounts
• Economic and environmental data by sector-region
• Sector-country coverage for trade analysis

Use in TCA:

• Trade-linked environmental accounting
• Supplementary to Eora/EXIOBASE for global trade context
• Alternative source for sector-country priors

Access:

• Website: gtap.agecon.purdue.edu
• License: Varies by dataset; academic access typically available
• Format: Database format, requires specialized tools

Social/Labor Data

ILO Statistics (ILOSTAT)

What it provides:

• Country-level labor statistics
• Employment by sector, wages, working conditions
• Child labor estimates, informality rates
• Occupational injury/disease statistics

Use in TCA:

• Sector-country labor intensity distributions
• Baseline wage data for living wage gap calculations
• OHS incident rates for DALY estimation

Access:

• Website: ilostat.ilo.org
• License: Open access
• Format: Excel, CSV, API

Extraction: Map product → sector-country → query labor indicators → construct intensity per € or per worker.

World Bank Data

What it provides:

• Country-level development indicators
• Poverty rates, income distribution
• Governance indicators

Use in TCA:

• Context for living income gap calculations
• Country-level adjustments for purchasing power parity (PPP)

Access:

• Website: data.worldbank.org
• License: Open access
• Format: Excel, CSV, API

Fair Trade and Certification Bodies

What it provides:

• Living wage/living income benchmarks by country-region
• Sector-specific wage data
• Audit findings (when accessible)

Use in TCA:

• Living wage benchmarks for $C_2$ wage gap calculations
• Verification data to reduce unknown penalty

Examples:

• Fair Trade International
• Rainforest Alliance
• Global Living Wage Coalition

Access: Varies by organization; benchmarks often published openly.

Consumer Health Data

Open Food Facts

What it provides:

• 2.8M+ food products with barcodes
• Nutri-Score (A–E), NOVA (1–4), ingredients, allergens
• Origins, brands, categories
• Crowdsourced, continuously updated

Use in TCA:

• Primary source for $C_4$ indicators (nutritional quality, processing level)
• Can supply ingredient-level detail for more refined health estimates

Access:

• Website: world.openfoodfacts.org
• License: Open Database License (ODbL) — free to use with attribution
• Format: JSON, CSV, API

Integration:

1. Query product by barcode or name
2. Extract Nutri-Score, NOVA
3. Map to DALY proxy (see calculation table in Calculating Externalities)
4. Multiply by €129,000/DALY

WHO Global Health Observatory

What it provides:

• Disease burden data by country
• Diet-related disease prevalence
• Exposure-response functions for pollutants

Use in TCA:

• Calibrating Nutri-Score → DALY mappings
• Dose-response functions for pollution → health in $C_4$

Access:

• Website: who.int/data/gho
• License: Open access
• Format: Excel, CSV, API

Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study

What it provides:

• Comprehensive DALY estimates by cause, country, year
• Diet-related disease burden
• Risk factor attributions (e.g., high sugar, low vegetables)

Use in TCA:

• Grounding DALY estimates in epidemiological evidence
• Refining Nutri-Score/NOVA multipliers based on meta-analyses

Access:

• Website: healthdata.org/gbd
• License: Open access with attribution
• Format: Online visualization + downloadable datasets

Sector-Country Priors for Unknown Penalty

When supply-chain data is missing, TCA uses publicly auditable priors to avoid arbitrary penalties.

Recommended Workflow

1. Identify sector-country combination:

   • Product category → MRIO sector mapping
   • Origin country (or assume world average if fully unknown)

2. Query intensity distribution:

   • Social: Child labor hours/€, wage gap/€, OHS DALYs/€
   • Environmental: kg CO₂e/€, m³ water/€, land use/€
   • Health: For packaged goods, use product category from Open Food Facts

3. Extract quantile:

   • Default: 95th percentile (conservative but defensible)
   • Alternative: 90th (less punitive) or 99th (more strict) with explicit justification

4. Convert to functional unit:

   • If intensity is per €, use price to convert to per kg or per unit
   • Example: If 95th percentile for cocoa is 60 kg CO₂e/€ and price is €3/kg → 180 kg CO₂e/kg

5. Apply unknown penalty:

   • Use quantile intensity × TPF factor → externalized cost component
   • Product can reduce penalty by providing verified data

Data Source Priority for Priors

Component	First choice	Second choice	Fallback
$C_2$ (Social)	Eora + ILOSTAT sector-country	Fair Trade reports	World Bank country avg
$C_3$ (Environmental)	EXIOBASE or ecoinvent sector-country	Eora + environmental extensions	WHO emissions data
$C_4$ (Health)	Open Food Facts category distribution	GBD study dietary risks	WHO country health burden

Implementation: Factor + Dataset Registry

For reproducibility and transparency, maintain a registry table:

Component	Indicator	Unit	Monetization Factor	Factor Source	Footprint Data Source	Version/Year	License	Access Method
$C_2$	Child labor (hazardous)	hours	€42/hour	TPF v4.0.2	ILOSTAT + Eora	2024	Open	API/CSV
$C_2$	OHS impacts	DALY	€129,000/DALY	TPF v4.0.2	ILO + GBD	2024	Open	API/CSV
$C_3$	Climate	kg CO₂e	€0.312/kg	TPF v4.0.2	EXIOBASE	v3.8 (2021)	Open (non-comm)	pymrio
$C_3$	Water	m³	€5-15/m³ (region)	TPF v4.0.2	EXIOBASE	v3.8	Open (non-comm)	pymrio
$C_4$	Nutri-Score	A–E	See DALY map	TPF + GBD	Open Food Facts	2026	ODbL	API/JSON
$C_4$	NOVA	1–4	See multiplier	GBD + meta	Open Food Facts	2026	ODbL	API/JSON

Documentation note: Always include:

• Dataset version (EXIOBASE v3.8, TPF v4.0.2, etc.)
• Date of extraction
• Method for constructing intensity distributions
• Quantile choice for unknown penalty (e.g., 95th percentile)
• Any assumptions in unit conversions

Data Quality and Update Cadence

Monetization Factors

• Update frequency: Annually (TPF releases new versions)
• Version control: Lock to specific version for a policy cycle (e.g., 1-2 years), then update
• Transparency: Publish which version is in use; allow retroactive recalculation with new factors

Footprint Databases

• MRIO: Typically 2-3 year lag (e.g., 2021 data released in 2024)
• LCA: Annual updates (ecoinvent) or continuous (Open Food Facts)
• Policy implications: Accept lag as inherent; use best-available data with version stamps

Product-Level Data

• Primary data: Real-time when supplied by firms (audits, measurements)
• Priors: Updated annually or when new MRIO/LCA releases available
• Verification: Certification bodies provide ongoing audits; integrate updates continuously

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Parent: TCA