Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

In plain English

The scopes are a reporting framework for greenhouse gases, sorting every ton a company is associated with into three buckets according to how directly the company controls the source of those emissions. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources a company owns or controls, such as its furnaces and vehicle fleet. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the electricity, steam, heating, and cooling it purchases. Scope 3 covers everything else in the value chain, including suppliers, business travel, and the use and disposal of the products sold. For most consumer-facing companies Scope 3 is by far the largest category and the hardest to measure, because it depends on data other organizations hold.

01Why it matters

A company can report a large emissions cut while its overall footprint barely moves, if the reduction came from Scopes 1 and 2 while Scope 3 went unreported, so which scopes are covered decides what the number means.

02The math, step by step

Say a retailer reports 200,000 tons in Scopes 1 and 2 and estimates 4 million tons in Scope 3. Cutting Scopes 1 and 2 in half removes 100,000 tons, about 2 percent of the 4.2 million ton total.

Illustrative example. The amounts here are hypothetical, chosen to show how the math works, not real quoted rates or figures.

03What this is NOT

04Receipts

Every figure on this page is sourced to a primary document. Tap to open the original.