Reducing your Scope 3 emissions

Tackling your Scope 3 (value chain) emissions demonstrates sustainability leadership to your stakeholders, and increases your adaptability to future climate and legislative challenges.

Scope 3 (or ‘value chain’) emissions are the indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in your organization’s value chain outside of your own operations.

They include the emissions embodied in, or associated with, the goods and services you purchase, and the lifetime emissions of products you sell, as well as the more commonly known sources such as employee business travel and commuting, third party transportation services, water consumption and waste disposal. Scope 3 also includes more niche areas such as emissions from your leased out buildings and vehicles, franchises and investments in third parties.

The globally recognized approach to measuring and reporting Scope 3 emissions is the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard. For each category of emissions, there are several possible methodologies to follow, the selection of which depends on data availability, reporting and tracking intentions, and materiality of the emissions category.

To start with, key categories such as purchased goods and services are typically calculated using spend-based carbon intensity conversion factors, showing that the more your organization spends, the greater your carbon emissions will be. This implies that to reduce GHG emissions, your organization must reduce spend. This is often incompatible with business growth and also fails to reflect the real emissions of your own value chain.

To move on from this approximation technique, where possible, we calculate a value-chain carbon footprint using methodologies that are specific to your suppliers and their activities. This better highlights your carbon hotspots so that you can pursue effective carbon reduction, while continuing to grow through sustainable procurement and supply chain engagement.