Scope 3 - How to reduce your CO2 emissions with Donau Soja

As the Greenhouse Gas Protocol itself puts it: “Developing a full [greenhouse gas] emissions inventory – incorporating Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions – enables companies to understand their full value chain emissions and focus their efforts on the greatest reduction opportunities”. Scope 1 includes the direct release of climate-damaging gases within the company itself. Scope 2 includes the indirect release of climate-damaging gases by energy suppliers.

Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the supply chain, also known as Scope 3 emissions, are the hidden impacts within a company’s supply chain. For retailers, these emissions often make up the lion’s share of their total greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 1 and 2 emissions are somewhat easier to quantify. For energy use, for example, companies can obtain the data needed to convert direct purchases of gas and electricity into a value for the associated greenhouse gases.

For many organisations, however, Scope 3 emissions are by far the largest proportion of total emissions. Unfortunately, these are often the most difficult to reduce. Some of the actions a company can take to reduce these include working with existing suppliers and their customers on solutions to reduce their emissions.

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