Understanding Scope 3 Emissions Categories

Due to the complex nature of scope 3 emissions and the enormity of business activities they account for, the GHGP categorizes scope 3 into 15 unique categories, sorted by upstream and downstream emissions:

• Upstream emissions are associated with the material acquisition and pre-processing of goods and services sold by the reporting company.

• Downstream emissions are associated with the reporting company’s distribution, storage, use, and end-of-life stages.

These categories help avoid double counting within a single company’s Scope 3 inventory by defining minimum category boundaries. Double counting across companies in a value chain is expected.