What are scope 3 emissions and why do they matter? 

What are scope 3 emissions?

In order for organisations to reach their net zero targets, a carbon strategy should be at the forefront of their minds. As part of that carbon strategy, it’s crucial that organisations, both SMEs and global conglomerates, are accurately measuring and managing their carbon emissions.

For organisations to be able to measure their carbon footprint, they need to be able to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions that they’re responsible for. To do this, organisations must collect their operational data and use official multipliers (known as conversion factors) to translate those into carbon emissions.

There are three different types of carbon emissions: scope 1, 2 and 3.

Scope 1 are defined ‘direct emissions’ that you have produced from your own controlled sources, i.e. vehicle emissions from your organisation’s vehicle fleet.

Scope 2 are defined as ‘indirect emissions’ from the consumption of electricity, steam, heating and cooling.

Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect emissions. This can range from the carbon embodied in the materials you purchase through to emissions associated with the processing of the waste you have generated. For most organisations, these will be the largest contributor to their footprint.

Why do they matter?

They are incredibly important as for most organisations, in particular larger organisations of over 250 employees, they will count for the majority of the greenhouse gas emissions they emit.

For organisations to effectively reduce their carbon footprint and achieve their net zero targets by either 2030 or 2050, reducing scope 3 emissions is crucial. Depending on where you sit in the supply chain, they can account for between 80-99% of your overall emissions.

This means it’s crucial to be able to accurately measure your scope 3 emissions as they’ll be responsible for the majority of your organisation’s entire carbon footprint. This also means that as long as they’re measured accurately, you’ll be able to identify carbon hotspots within your supply chain and create action plans to reduce these emissions.

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