Scope 3 Category 1 Overview: Purchased Goods and Services
SCOPE 3 CATEGORY 1
Emissions include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from purchased goods and services. These emissions occur earlier in the value chain, before the reporting company receives the purchased goods and services. Essentially, they include the emissions produced during the extraction, production, and delivery of goods and services purchased by the company.
Category 1: Purchased Goods and Services
Category 1 emissions are critical for a thorough GHG inventory since they frequently account for a large amount of a company's total carbon footprint. To adequately account for these emissions, businesses must analyze the complete lifetime of acquired goods and services, including:
- Raw Material Extraction: Emissions from mining, harvesting, or extracting raw materials.
- Production and Manufacturing: Emissions from processing raw materials into finished products.
- Transportation: Emissions from transporting raw materials and finished products to the company.
To quantify these emissions, companies can use a combination of primary data from suppliers and secondary data from databases or industry averages. Engaging with suppliers to collect accurate emissions data is a key step. Companies often need to implement a robust data management and supplier engagement strategy to ensure data quality and completeness.
Calculation Approach
The calculation of Scope 3 Category 1 emissions generally involves:
- Identifying Purchased Goods and Services: Catalog all goods and services purchased by the company.
- Gathering Emissions Data: Obtain emissions data from suppliers or use secondary data sources.
- Calculating Emissions: Use the gathered data to calculate the GHG emissions for each purchased good or service.
Example
A company purchases steel to manufacture its products. The Scope 3 Category 1 emissions would include:
- Emissions from mining the iron ore.
- Emissions from processing the iron ore into steel.
- Emissions from transporting the steel to the company's manufacturing facility.
Understanding and managing Scope 3 Category 1 emissions is critical for businesses looking to minimize their total carbon footprint. By precisely accounting for these emissions, businesses can identify hotspots in their supply chain and collaborate with suppliers to develop more sustainable practices.
Related Articles
Scope 3 Category 4 Overview: Upstream Transportation and Distribution Emissions
SCOPE 3 CATEGORY 4 Emissions, also known as "upstream transportation and distribution" emissions, encompass all GHG emissions from the transportation and distribution of products purchased between a company’s first-tier suppliers and its own ...Scope 3 Category 9 Overview: Transportation and Distribution
SCOPE 3 CATEGORY 9 Emissions are largely concerned with indirect emissions resulting from a company's transportation and distribution activities, which are outsourced or contracted to a third party. It is an important area in carbon accounting since ...Scope 3 Category 10 Overview: Processing of Sold Products
SCOPE 3 CATEGORY 10 Scope 3 emissions, also known as value chain emissions, refer to indirect emissions that occur both upstream and downstream in a company's value chain. Category 10 of these pollutants explicitly addresses emissions caused by the ...Scope 3 Category 7 Overview: Employee Commuting
SCOPE 3 CATEGORY 7 Scope 3 emissions, which are part of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol corporate standard, are indirect emissions caused by a company's actions but originate from sources that the company does not own or control directly. These ...Scope 3 Category 2 Overview: Capital Goods
SCOPE 3 CATEGORY 2 Category 2 emissions include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from capital items. These are the emissions resulting from the manufacture and transportation of capital assets purchased by the reporting company within a particular ...