Good Practice Case Studies in Scope 3 Data Collection Report

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company's GHG emissions into three 'scopes':

• Scope 1 emissions: direct emissions from owned or controlled sources.
• Scope 2 emissions: indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy.
• Scope 3 emissions: all indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions.

As Scope 3 emissions usually account for more than 70 per cent of a business’s carbon footprint, it is crucial that companies tackle Scope 3 emissions to meet stakeholder expectations for meaningful climate action.

There are numerous benefits associated with measuring and reducing Scope 3 emissions. By measuring Scope 3 emissions, organisations can:

• assess where the emission hotspots are in their value chain;
• identify resource and energy risks in their supply chain;
• identify which suppliers are leaders and which are laggards in terms of their sustainability performance;
• identify energy efficiency and cost reduction opportunities in their value chain;
• engage suppliers and assist them to implement sustainability initiatives;
• improve the energy efficiency of their products; and
• positively engage with employees to reduce emissions from business travel and employee commuting.

As companies are now recognising the importance of addressing their scope 3 emissions, further use of appropriate tools and frameworks for measurement and reduction must be scaled up to reach true net zero by 2050.