What are scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?
Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions divide a company's total carbon footprint into three different categories of direct and indirect emissions. The concept was created by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and helps companies find out where their impact comes from.
Scope 1 emissions: Direct emissions
These are the emissions directly owned or controlled by your company. Think of the emissions coming from your company vehicles or other owned emissions caused by fuel combustion.
Scope 2 emissions: Indirect emissions (Energy use)
These are your company's indirect upstream emissions of your facilities caused by your company's purchased electricity consumption, heating, or cooling.
Scope 3 emissions: Indirect emissions (value chain)
These are the indirect emissions caused by your value chain. Scope 3 emissions often make up a company's biggest impact chunk.
There are two types of scope 3 emissions:
Upstream scope 3 emissions:
Purchased goods and services, capital goods, transport & distribution, operation waste, employees commuting, business travel,
Downstream scope 3 emissions:
End-of-life treatments, consumer use of products, transport & distribution to warehouses/customers/shops, franchise facilities, or investment.
Scope 3 Example: Packaging producer vs. packaging reseller
A packaging manufacturer produces its own packaging. Having its own manufacturing site(s) and processes means it will have a more evenly spread emission division between scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions (due to its manufacturing emissions).
However, a packaging reseller (often) purchases products from different suppliers. They don't produce themselves, therefore their scope 1 and 2 emissions are often relatively small compared to their scope 3.
Why are scope 3 emissions difficult to measure?
Value chain emissions are harder to measure as you don't directly control the sources of the emissions.
You rely on suppliers, or other providers and facilitators to give you the product- and/or environmental data you need to measure your scope 3. Additionally, aspects like consumer use of sold products, are very hard to measure.
Measuring scope 3: From baseline emissions to raw data
Even though scope 3 emissions are difficult, they still need to be measured for EU legislation like the CSRD and reach net zero targets. As most of scope 3 emissions come from the production of products/raw materials, often the first step is to request product- or process information from suppliers.
Gathering supplier data on the products you purchase is a lot of work. That's why scope 3 emission measurements often start without supplier data - relying on averages.
Pre-made verified footprint calculations
Average environmental data for products, materials, or processes offers a reliable start to create the measurement baseline of your scope 3. This average data exists from previous, verified Life Cycle Assessments* (LCAs) of products, processes, and materials.
The initial footprint results of your scope 3 show you which products/suppliers cause the most impact and need prioritizing in requesting supplier data.
*LCA = The scientific study to measure a product's environmental impact over its entire lifecycle.
How does Pickler support scope 3 measurement/reduction?
A lot of Pickler users are packaging resellers, 90% of their scope 3 impact comes from the packaging they purchase and resell.
Pickler enables you to make mass footprint calculations of all your packaging products. The software uses predictive algorithms that pre-fill your supplier data gaps with average processes and materials. Enabling easy initial scope 3 baseline measurements.
Additionally, the software enables you to invite suppliers to directly fill in their supplier information for your products in Pickler.
Finally, Pickler enables you to help your customers measure and reduce their scope 3, by providing them with the environmental data they need.