Freight you pay for is Scope 3. Inbound is Category 4, upstream transportation. Outbound that you pay for is also Category 4. Outbound that your customer pays for is Category 9.
The test is who pays, not which direction the goods move.
What to ask your carrier for
Ask in this order, and take the best you can get:
Emissions. Many carriers now report tonnes of CO2e per customer. Ask for their methodology as well.
Weight, distance and mode. Enough to calculate properly. This is the usual answer.
Weight and origin and destination.
Spend. The fallback.
A carrier who gives you a dollar figure and nothing else is giving you the weakest option. Push once before accepting it.
If a carrier reports emissions to you
Use their figure, and record whose it is and what method they used.
Ask two questions. Does it include empty running and return legs? Is it well-to-wheel or tank-to-wheel? A figure that excludes upstream fuel production is not comparable with one that includes it.
Calculating from activity data
The standard unit is the tonne-kilometre: weight multiplied by distance.
You need the weight moved, the distance and the mode. Mode matters enormously, since air freight is many times road per tonne-kilometre.
For a journey that is part road and part air, split it. A single factor across a mixed journey will be wrong whichever factor you pick.
Estimating distance
If you have origin and destination but no distance, use the route distance rather than the straight line, except for air.
Where you ship repeatedly on the same lane, calculate the distance once and reuse it.
Third party logistics
If a 3PL warehouses and ships for you, their transport is yours as Category 4 where you pay for it.
Their warehouse energy is Category 8 if you lease the space, or Category 1 if you buy a service. Ask which arrangement you have.
Final mile
Final mile carriers are the hardest to get data from, especially where many small carriers handle parcels.
Where you cannot get activity data, use spend and say so. Where you can get parcel counts and average distances, that is better than spend.
Downstream transport
If your customer arranges and pays for the freight, it is Category 9 and you usually have no data at all.
Estimate from your sales data and typical distribution patterns, or exclude it with evidence if it is immaterial to you. See Decide what is material and leave things out.
Getting it into Avarni
Upload tonne-kilometres, or weight and distance separately, against a Method configured for the mode.
Use separate Methods per mode so the right factor applies. Do not mix road and air in one.