What you report depends on your organisational boundary. Measuring emissions is not about measuring gases with a gas meter. What we do is collect activity data (e.g. amount of fuel used) and multiply it by emissions factors. Things get complicated when you are working in dispersed locations or you have less common operations (e.g. using chemicals or industrial processes).

The aim is to make a good faith effort to provide a complete, accurate and consistent accounting of all emissions within the boundary. Sometimes, emissions are hard to quantify or data cannot be obtained. We can apply techniques available to manage this problem, with a view to continually improving the data quality.

Scope 3 emissions can be challenging because they are associated with so many different things and each needs an emissions factor.

It boils down to obtaining good quality, localised data about activities and applying the correct emissions factors. It’s also good to know that for the first reporting year, organisations may elect not to disclose Scope 3 emissions.

Emissions are divided into 3 scopes to help with accounting. Scope 1 are direct emissions, such as when you burn petrol in your car and create carbon dioxide. Scope 2 emissions are from purchased energy, like electricity (i.e. someone else creates the emissions, but for your benefit in using the energy). Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that occur ‘upstream’ or ‘downstream’ in the value chain (i.e. all other emissions associated with the business activities or operations of an organisation to be able to sell its products or services.

The response to this question depends on your consolidation approach (e.g. ‘operational control’) and company structure, which determine your emissions boundary.

Typically, you will have to report on subcontractor emissions, which means you need to establish mechanisms to obtain their data. The best approach is to make this as easy as possible for subcontractors, communicate with them well, alert them early on to data gaps or problems, and back it up with enforceable contractual requirements.

Data on suppliers normally feeds into Scope 3 emissions, which may initially be handled through your accounting systems, but increasingly suppliers will need to provide specific data.

Your arrangements with joint ventures will depend on which parties are taking responsibility for the emissions.

The aim is to make a good faith effort to provide a complete, accurate and consistent accounting of all emissions within the boundary. Sometimes, emissions are hard to quantify or data cannot be obtained. We can apply techniques available to manage this problem, with a view to continually improving the data quality.

Scope 3 emissions can be challenging because they are associated with so many different things and each needs an emissions factor.

It boils down to obtaining good quality, localised data about activities and applying the correct emissions factors. It’s also good to know that for the first reporting year, organisations may elect not to disclose Scope 3 emissions.

Emissions are divided into 3 scopes to help with accounting. Scope 1 are direct emissions, such as when you burn petrol in your car and create carbon dioxide. Scope 2 emissions are from purchased energy, like electricity (i.e. someone else creates the emissions, but for your benefit in using the energy). Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that occur ‘upstream’ or ‘downstream’ in the value chain (i.e. all other emissions associated with the business activities or operations of an organisation to be able to sell its products or services.

To report on Scope 3 emissions, we usually make a start and then look to improve the quality of reporting in successive years. To make a start, you can often use the amounts spent in the value chain and apply spend-based emissions factors. These factors allow us to account for some Scope 3, but their usefulness is limited because they are coarse estimates based on economy-wide assessments. Progressively, you want to replace spend-based factors with ones specific to the projects or services you are purchasing (e.g. from Environmental Product Declarations). As time goes on, your major suppliers should be more informed on the emissions intensity of their products and services and be able to share this for their customers’ reporting.

Boards and executive teams are accountable for climate-related disclosures. Documenting oversight processes and linking environmental data assurance with financial governance frameworks is essential.

Organisations are advised to consider acquiring and managing climate-related data as an ongoing expectation, and invest in establishing robust methods, systems and accountabilities. This will allow for the efficient and reliable acquisition of data for mandatory reporting, which can also withstand changing personnel or evolving corporate structures.