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Pinning down Scope 3
Mon 13 Jul 2009
Measuring so-called Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is relatively straightforward: look at your energy and fuel bills and total up the resulting carbon. But quantifying scope 3 emissions (the indirect emissions associated with your purchased goods and services) is a different matter altogether. Reporting Scope 3 emissions is currently an optional element of the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064-1 but is increasingly being recognised as both operationally important and expected. For example, DEFRA and DECC’s draft guidance on GHG reporting (for publication later this year) cites the measurement of some Scope 3 impacts as desirable ‘best practice’.
It was very interesting, therefore, for BFF to be invited by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Resources Institute (WRI) as an expert adviser to comment on, and help develop, new Scope 3 Guidance. This will eventually form part of the existing and widely used GHG Protocol (published jointly by the WBCSD and WRI).
The meeting in Washington DC brought together leading businesses, academics and practitioners to discuss the lessons learned from implementation of the current GHG Protocol and PAS2050. As one of the very few organisations with practical PAS2050, ISO14064-1 and GHG Protocol experience, BFF’s contribution was much appreciated.
Whilst it is difficult to summarise the detailed technical discussions that took place, the general impression was that considerable progress can be made on tightening up Scope 3 guidance but that, as national emissions reporting becomes more widespread, tools such as Footprinter™, which allow emissions to be summed across the supply chain, will slowly replace the tedious life cycle modelling that Scope 3 estimation requires.
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