When we talk about a company’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions, they’re usually broken down into three categories:
- Scope 1: Direct Emissions. These are emissions that come directly from sources a company owns or controls. Think of fuel burned in company vehicles, boilers, or on-site manufacturing processes.
- Scope 2: Indirect Emissions from Purchased Energy. These are emissions generated from the electricity, heating, or cooling a company buys and uses. The emissions technically happen at the power plant, but the company is still responsible because it’s using that energy.
- Scope 3: All Other Indirect Emissions. These are all the other emissions that happen in a company’s value chain—both upstream and downstream. This includes everything from the production of raw materials, employee travel, and shipping, to how customers use and dispose of the company’s products. For most companies, Scope 3 is the largest and hardest to track.
