The GHG Protocol defines 15 Scope 3 categories. Few organisations report all 15.
You work out which apply to you, calculate those, and record why the rest do not.
The 15 categories
Upstream
# | Category | Applies when |
1 | Purchased goods and services | Always |
2 | Capital goods | You buy assets |
3 | Fuel and energy activities | Always, alongside Scope 1 and 2 |
4 | Upstream transportation | You pay for freight in |
5 | Waste generated in operations | Always |
6 | Business travel | Your staff travel |
7 | Employee commuting | Always |
8 | Upstream leased assets | You lease assets that are not in your Scope 1 and 2 |
Downstream
# | Category | Applies when |
9 | Downstream transportation | You pay for freight out |
10 | Processing of sold products | You sell intermediate products |
11 | Use of sold products | Your products consume energy in use |
12 | End-of-life of sold products | You sell physical products |
13 | Downstream leased assets | You lease assets out |
14 | Franchises | You operate a franchise model |
15 | Investments | You hold investments or make loans |
Categories almost everyone reports
Categories 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 apply to nearly every organisation. Start there.
Categories that depend on what you sell
Categories 10, 11 and 12 depend on your products. A services business reports none of them. A manufacturer of energy-using equipment reports all three, and category 11 is often its largest number.
Your general ledger cannot tell you about these, because they concern what you sell rather than what you buy. Answer them from your product and sales data.
Categories that depend on your structure
Category 8 applies if you lease assets whose emissions are not already in your Scope 1 and 2. Whether they are depends on your consolidation approach. See Choose your consolidation approach.
Category 13 applies if you lease assets out to others.
Category 14 applies only to franchisors.
Category 15 applies to banks, insurers, super funds and anyone holding investments. It is the most demanding category to calculate.
Saying a category does not apply
A category that does not apply is not the same as a category you have excluded.
Does not apply means the activity does not exist. A services business has no sold products to process.
Excluded means the activity exists but you left it out. That needs materiality evidence. See Decide what is material and leave things out.
Record which is which. Your auditor treats them differently.
Record the decision
For each of the 15, record one of three positions: included, not applicable with the reason, or excluded with the evidence.
This goes into your Basis of Preparation, and it is the first thing an assurer reads.