Scope 1, 2, and 3 Emissions
A classification system for a company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Greenhouse gas emissions strengthen the greenhouse effect and contribute towards global warming, and are therefore coming under increasing scrutiny and regulation by governments and industry bodies. Scope emissions are a way of classifying these greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is an organization that provides standards, guidance, tools, and training for business and government to measure and manage climate-warming emissions, and its Corporate Standard classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three ‘scopes’.
Direct emissions from company-owned sources, or sources under its direct control. For example, your own factory or manufacturing facility.
Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. For example, emissions generated by the power station from which you buy your electricity.
These are all indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, both upstream and downstream. For example, delivery vehicle emissions generated in the process of delivering raw materials to your manufacturing facilities or delivering your finished goods to your customers.
Although many of the world’s largest companies account and report on the emissions from their direct operations (Scopes 1 and 2), the addition of Scope 3 emissions means that businesses can now act on the full range of corporate value chain and product emissions as well.
The value of this is highlighted by the fact that emissions along the value chain may well represent a company’s biggest greenhouse gas impacts.
Increasing legislation and regulation on disclosing Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for public companies means that they are increasingly needing to calculate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and overall carbon footprint to disclose these to their stakeholders, value chain clients and suppliers, and business partners for reporting purposes.
Failure to do so may result in a raft of negative consequences, including financial penalties, an inability to obtain additional financial investment from financial institutions and private investors, the termination or non-renewal of existing contracts by clients and suppliers, and rejected tenders for new business.
When it comes to GHG emissions, our ESG and carbon footprint management software can assist to:
- Identify your emissions sources, track the consumption thereof (diesel for example), and calculate your emissions per greenhouse gas
- Provide you with access to a global standard emissions factors database via our in-built calculation engine
- Set emission reduction targets and track your progress in achieving these
IsoMetrix Lumina also includes the following emission factor libraries as established content within our indicator library for any Lumina user.
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol
- Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
- AP-42: Compilation of Air Emissions Factors | US EPA
- Code of Federal Regulations Part 98: Mandatory GHG Reporting
For more information, get in touch with one of our GHG and carbon footprint management software experts.