Scope 3 GHG Emissions

Definition

Scope 3 GHG Emissions. All other Indirect GHG Emissions (not included in Scope 2 GHG Emissions) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company. As defined in

Scope 3 is an optional reporting category that allows for the treatment of all other indirect emissions.

Scope 3 emissions are other indirect emissions, such as the extraction and production of purchased materials and fuels, transport-related activities in vehicles not owned or controlled by the reporting entity, electricity-related activities (e.g. transmission and distribution losses) not covered in Scope 2 GHG Emissions, outsourced activities, use of sold products, waste disposal, etc.

Scope 3 emissions can be broken down into:

• upstream emissions that occur in the supply chain (for example, from production or extraction of purchased materials) and
• downstream emissions that occur as a consequence of using the organization’s products or services.

Significance

For some business sectors scope 3 emissions may form the majority of emission (e.g. as consumers use a company's products) and are thus essential in capturing the full Climate-Related Risk profile of said sectors.

Standards

There are existing international and European standards on the matter, that could serve for the calculation of scope 3 emissions

• ISO 14064 on standards for greenhouse gas accounting and verification
• the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and
• Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF)

Examples

• Emissions of logistics
• Emissions of business trips
• Emissions of employees' commuter traffic
• Emissions of upstream chains
• Emissions of purchased materials
• Emissions of product utilisation phase
• Emissions of product or waste disposal
• Outsourced activities

Calculation

Scope 3 GHG emissions will primarily be calculated from activity data such as fuel use or passenger miles and published or third-party emission factors. In most cases, if source- or facility-specific emission factors are available, they are preferable to more generic or general emission factors.

Issues and Challenges

• Scope 3 emissions data are typically estimates rather than measurements (GHG Data Types)
• Carbon footprint approaches must allocate the responsibility for scope 3 emissions across industries without double counting (GHG Emissions Double Counting)

See Also

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• GHG Emissions Scope