If your business is beginning to measure its Scope 3 emissions, one of the first questions is what information you can reasonably expect suppliers to provide.
There is no single standard document. The information available will depend on the size and sophistication of the supplier and the products or services you purchase.
Some of the more common information includes:
Supplier sustainability or ESG questionnaires outlining whether the supplier measures its emissions, its Scope 1 and Scope 2 footprint, reduction targets and renewable-energy use.
Corporate GHG inventories or sustainability reports providing the supplier’s overall emissions. These can be useful, although a supplier’s total corporate footprint doesn’t necessarily tell you the emissions associated with the products you purchase.
Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) can be particularly useful. These may express emissions as kilograms or tonnes of CO₂e per unit, kilogram, litre or tonne of product.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) provide standardized environmental information for specific products and are increasingly common in construction materials and manufacturing.
Transportation information may include shipment weight, distance travelled, transportation method and, in some cases, estimated CO₂e per shipment.
Finally, don’t overlook your own purchase orders, invoices and receiving records. Quantities, weights and purchasing volumes can become valuable inputs when calculating Scope 3 emissions.
The objective isn’t necessarily to obtain perfect information from every supplier immediately. Start by identifying your largest or most carbon-intensive purchases and determine what information is already available.
Over time, incorporating carbon information into supplier questionnaires and procurement processes can significantly improve the quality of your Scope 3 inventory.