Scope 3 Emissions Explained: Why Your Clients Are Asking

What is Scope 3?

Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions that occur in a company's value chain — both upstream and downstream. They are typically the largest share of a company's total carbon footprint, often representing 70–90% of total emissions.

The GHG Protocol defines 15 categories of Scope 3:

1. Upstream categories (from your suppliers)
2. Purchased goods and services
3. Capital goods
4. Fuel and energy-related activities
5. Upstream transportation and distribution
6. Waste generated in operations
7. Business travel
8. Employee commuting
9. Upstream leased assets

1. Downstream categories (from your customers)
2. Downstream transportation and distribution
3. Processing of sold products
4. Use of sold products
5. End-of-life treatment of sold products
6. Downstream leased assets
7. Franchises
8. Investments

Why your clients are asking about this

Large enterprises must report all 15 categories of Scope 3 to meet CSRD requirements. This means they need verified emissions data from every significant supplier.

When a procurement team at BMW, Siemens, or Unilever sends you a sustainability questionnaire, they're collecting Scope 3 Category 1 data (purchased goods from suppliers). Your Scope 1 and 2 emissions become their Scope 3.

The data your clients need from you

At minimum, enterprise clients need: - Your total Scope 1 emissions (tCO2e) - Your total Scope 2 emissions (tCO2e) - Your total Scope 3 (if known) - Emissions intensity (per unit of product, or per revenue/employee) - Year of data collection - Calculation methodology

How DeCarbonOPS helps

DeCarbonOPS generates a Carbon Passport containing exactly the data enterprise procurement systems require. It follows the GHG Protocol standard and is accepted by SAP Ariba, Coupa, EcoVadis, and CDP.

Your Carbon Passport provides a shareable verification link — procurement teams enter it directly into their supplier management systems.