‘Carbon scopes’ refer to different categories used to measure greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). They are commonly used within corporate reporting to provide a comprehensive framework for assessing, managing and reporting emissions effectively. They are largely differentiated by the degree of control over each emission source that the organization has.
There are 3 main categories which are defined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (an internationally recognised accounting framework to help business, organisations and governments to measure and manage emissions). These are explained below:
- Scope 1 emissions: These are direct GHG emissions from sources that are owned by the individual or business reporting their emissions. The most common source of emission in this category are those associated with onsite burning of fossil fuels (i.e. natural gas, diesel or petrol). This is often contributed to from natural gas being used in heating buildings and water, and petrol or diesel used in vehicles owned by the reporting entity. It also includes direct emissions from any industrial process i.e. chemical reactions, or fugitive emissions from gases contained within refrigeration, air conditioning and fire suppression equipment. While these latter sources may occur much less frequently than the former sources the ability of some of these gases to heat the atmosphere can be thousands of times that of combustion gases released from burning of natural gas for example.
- Scope 2 emissions: These are the emissions that are caused indirectly which are associated with the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heating or cooling. Most often this just relates to grid electricity use, but sometimes we see businesses who obtain steam, heating or cooling generated offsite and used onsite for industrial processes, i.e. via district heating or cooling schemes or purchased steam from CHP (combined heat and power). These emissions captured under scope 2 are different from heat or steam generated onsite.
- Scope 3 emissions: These are all other indirect GHG emissions that occur as a result of the organisations activities but are not owned or controlled by them. I.e. Purchased goods and services, business travel in vehicles the company doesn’t own or control, employee commuting, waste disposal, water usage, onwards use of sold products, transportation and distributions (up and downstream), investments, leased assets and franchises. Depending on the nature of the organization they can sometimes represent one of the largest portions of a company’s footprint.
It is important to note that there are international guidelines set (and some being continued to be developed) to help with ensuring each part of the supply chain captures different parts of the emissions they are responsible for in order to avoid double counting, with separate guidelines associated to different industry types.
Once you understand emission sources (i.e. where they come from), whether you control or own them, and importantly how much they contribute towards your overall footprint you can then start planning an effective plan for monitoring them, and setting goals to reduce them. It also helps with transparency of reporting.
If you are keen to know more about your carbon footprint, understand how each emissions source is contributing towards your carbon footprint then get in touch with us! We are currently offering Suffolk-based businesses a FREE Net Zero advice service. For more information email netszerosuffolk@groundwork.org.uk or head to our webpage.
