Companies that aim to lower their greenhouse gases emissions tend to look internally when quantifying their sustainability efforts. It might be a good first step, although it does not offer the big picture in terms of the environmental impact of the company.
It is not unusual for the biggest GHG emission contributor to come from Scope 3 emissions, which is more indirect. In certain sectors, they account for the majority. For one, they are behind 82% of GHG emissions in the medical sector.
According to the EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency says that these emissions come from activities of assets not controlled or owned by the organization in question but still gets indirectly impacted in the value chain of its operations. Many regulatory bodies do not make Scope 3 emissions reporting mandatory. However, it is recommended if you want to know the true impact of your sustainability efforts. Sadly, its reporting may be difficult because the category is vast and prone to data collection challenges.
What Is Included
Scope 3 emissions cover processes both downstream and upstream of your operations. There exist 15 categories, but they will not all be pertinent to your company. Consider everything you require before the start of production and for the delivery of services to your clients. For a furniture company, the raw materials purchased, fuel for their transport, and resultant waste are included. Downstream, they will include transport to buyers and even end-of-life treatment of the product.
