- Feature
- Track emissions with item and reclassification journals
- Availability
- Generally available (October 2026)
- Industry focus
- Timber, panel products and building materials suppliers
Timber and building products suppliers face rising demand for product carbon data. Architects, contractors and specifiers want to know the embodied carbon of what they buy. Suppliers that track emissions per item in Business Central have a head start. But stock doesn't only move through purchases and sales. It's adjusted, written off, reclassified and moved between yards. Business Central 29.0 makes sure emissions follow those movements too.
The industry challenge
In a timber or building products business, many stock movements happen through journals:
- Positive and negative adjustments after stock counts
- Write-offs for damaged or weathered stock
- Reclassifications between locations, yards or item variants
If emissions are tracked only on purchases and sales, these journal movements leave gaps. A negative adjustment might remove stock but not its emissions, or a reclassification might move stock without its carbon value. Over time, the emissions attached to inventory drift away from reality.
What Microsoft delivered in Business Central 29.0
According to Microsoft, Business Central 29.0 introduces carbon footprint tracking in item journals and item reclassification journals:
- New fields for CO₂e per unit and total CO₂e
- Emissions calculated so that they follow the same lifecycle logic as item costs
- Calculations based on sustainability value entries, using the Average method or the new Specific method
- Results recorded in sustainability value entries only, with no changes to item cost entries
- In reclassification journals, emissions transfer between items without adding new values
Where the value shows up
| Business area | Impact for a building products supplier |
|---|---|
| Data integrity | Inventory emissions stay aligned with physical stock |
| Product carbon data | More reliable figures for customers and specifiers |
| Stock adjustments | Write-offs and corrections reflected in emissions |
| Multi-site operations | Emissions follow stock moved between yards |
| Consistency | Same logic as item costing, so finance recognizes the approach |
The reclassification behaviour is important. Moving stock shouldn't create or destroy carbon, and the system now reflects that.
A worked scenario
Consider a timber merchant with three yards that tracks emissions per item for its sawn timber and sheet materials (an illustrative example). After a storm, a stack of plywood sheets is damaged and written off.
The yard manager posts a negative adjustment in the item journal. With Business Central 29.0, the journal calculates the CO₂e associated with the written-off quantity and records it in sustainability value entries. The next week, stock is reclassified from one yard to another to meet demand. The emissions move with the stock without being doubled. When a contractor asks for the carbon data on its order, the merchant's figures reflect the actual stock supplied.
Adoption considerations
- Set up item emissions first. Journals use existing sustainability value entries, so items need emissions data.
- Choose a method. Decide between Average and Specific for each item, particularly for tracked items.
- Train yard and stock teams. Make sure journal users understand the new emissions fields.
- Review write-off reporting. Decide how emissions from write-offs are reported.
- Reconcile periodically. Compare inventory emissions with physical stock as part of stock counts.
The bottom line
For timber and building products suppliers, credible product carbon data is becoming a sales requirement. Item journal emissions tracking in Business Central 29.0 makes sure that data stays accurate through every adjustment and transfer, not just through purchases and sales. It closes a gap that would otherwise undermine trust in the numbers.
If you're building product carbon data in Business Central, it's worth reviewing your journal processes with an experienced adviser.
Source: Microsoft roadmap 573378