Many companies are working on reducing carbon emissions. Insight into emissions forms the basis for structural reduction. This insight can be obtained by calculating a carbon footprint. When calculating a carbon footprint, the scope and boundaries set by an organization are important. This makes it clear for which greenhouse gas emissions an organization itself is responsible. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (worldwide the most used protocol to calculate greenhouse gas emissions) refers to three scopes: Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. In this article we briefly explain which emissions are included in the different scopes.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions

Scope 1: direct emissions

Scope 1 includes direct emissions: emissions from sources that an organization owns or controls, for example emissions from its own buildings, transport and production-related activities.

Scope 2: indirect emissions

Scope 2 concerns indirect emissions, through the generation of purchased and consumed electricity or heating/cooling.

Scope 3: indirect emissions from other companies

Scope 3 also concerns indirect emissions, but then caused by the business activities of other organisations. It is important that they are related to the activities of the company. Typically, these are emissions caused by suppliers in the supply chain, outsourced activities, and employee commuting.

Mapping the different scopes

According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, an organization in any case takes responsibility for carbon emissions caused by scopes 1 and 2. The emissions in scopes 1 and 2 are easier to calculate than scope 3 emissions. For example, for energy consumption, companies can request the data needed to convert direct purchases of gas and electricity into a value for the associated greenhouse gases.

Echter, bij veel organisaties vormen juist scope 3-emissies het grootste deel van de totale emissies. De reden hiervoor is dat vandaag de dag veel activiteiten worden uitbesteed en maar weinig bedrijven kennen de waardeketen van haar producten. Wilt u bewust zijn van de scope 3 emissies? Vraag dan een footprintberekening op bij uw leveranciers. Wilt u de uitstoot reduceren? Het helpt vaak om samen met uw leveranciers en klanten om tafel te gaan, zo gaat u samen opzoek naar de beste oplossingen. Ook zijn er steeds meer collectieve initiatieven die zich inzetten om samen met ketenpartners te verduurzamen, zoals het Horti Footprint Chain Program or the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative in the horticultural sector.