Scope 3 emissions

Scope 3 is the broadest of the three scopes in the GHG Protocol. It covers emissions you cause but do not directly control, both upstream (what you buy) and downstream (what happens to what you sell). The GHG Protocol splits it into 15 categories.

What it means for a small business

For most small businesses, the Scope 3 categories that matter are:

• Business travel. Flights, trains, taxis, hotels, and staff using their own cars for work.
• Waste. What happens to the rubbish and recycling you produce.
• Purchased goods and services. Everything you buy, from laptops to stock and raw materials.
• Employee commuting and homeworking.
• Water supply and treatment.

Scope 3 matters more than ever because large companies now have to report it, and your Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are part of their Scope 3. That is why customers send supplier questionnaires asking for your footprint.

Nobody expects a small business to measure every category perfectly. Start with the ones you control and have data for, and say clearly what is included.

An example

A 10-person consultancy takes four return flights to Europe and 60 return rail trips a year, produces two general waste bins and one recycling bin a week, and uses water for a small office. Its measured Scope 3 from travel, waste and water might come to a few tonnes of CO2e, with flights usually the largest part because of their high factor per kilometre.

How ESG Now handles it

The ESG Now questionnaire includes Scope 3 from water, waste, well-to-tank and transmission losses, courier deliveries you pay for, and business travel by air (domestic, short haul and long haul, by class, with radiative forcing), rail, taxi, hotel and staff mileage in private cars. It also estimates employee commuting and homeworking, and can add an optional spend-based estimate of purchased goods and services. It does not include inbound freight paid for by suppliers or the downstream categories 8 to 15, and lists what is out of scope so readers know exactly what the figure covers. Our business travel emissions guide explains how travel is calculated.