Scope 1
Direct emissions
From sources you own or control: boilers, vehicles, generators, refrigerant leaks and industrial processes.
Reporting standards
How you count, and how we check.
Your footprint is calculated using a reporting standard, such as the GHG Protocol or ISO 14064-1. We check it using a verification standard, ISO 14064-3. It is the same split as in finance: one set of standards for preparing the accounts, another for auditing them.
Two kinds of standard
Side by side.
How you count
Reporting standards: the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064-1
Used by your organisation, or your adviser, to:
- set the organisational boundary and how subsidiaries and sites are consolidated
- sort emissions into Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3
- choose methods, data and emission factors
- calculate and report the totals
How we check
The verification standard: ISO 14064-3
Used by us, as an independent verifier, to:
- plan what evidence to gather and where the risks are
- test your figures against the reporting standard you used
- judge whether any errors are big enough to matter
- reach a conclusion at the agreed level of assurance
The GHG Protocol
The common language of corporate carbon reporting.
The GHG Protocol was developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Its Corporate Standard, first published in 2001 and revised in 2004, defines how organisations measure and report their emissions, with further standards for Scope 2 and Scope 3.
It introduced the Scope 1, 2 and 3 structure that almost every climate disclosure now uses, including CDP and the Science Based Targets initiative. ISO 14064-1 follows the same structure, so most inventories can be prepared to both.
Scope 2
Purchased energy
From the electricity, heat, steam and cooling you buy, reported on both a location-based and a market-based basis.
Scope 3
Your value chain
All other indirect emissions, in 15 categories, from purchased goods and travel to the use and disposal of what you sell.
In the UK
Where the GHG Protocol is built into the rules.
SECR
Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting
Quoted companies, large unquoted companies and large LLPs must report energy use and emissions in their annual report. Government guidance points to recognised methods, and most reporters use the GHG Protocol.
PPN 006
Government procurement
Suppliers bidding for in-scope central government contracts worth more than £5 million a year must publish a Carbon Reduction Plan, reporting Scope 1, Scope 2 and specified Scope 3 categories as defined by the GHG Protocol.
If your organisation is listed, reports under SECR or bids for large public contracts, its carbon accounting almost certainly runs on the GHG Protocol. Verification should be carried out by people who know it well.
A moving target
The GHG Protocol is changing.
The GHG Protocol is revising its Corporate, Scope 2 and Scope 3 standards. Its separate work on actions and market instruments proposes reporting in more than one statement, for example keeping a physical inventory separate from a market-based one that reflects renewable energy contracts, and reporting the effect of reduction and removal activities on their own. These proposals are still under consultation.
We follow the revisions as they develop, verify against the requirements that apply to your reporting period, and tell you which changes are likely to affect your next report. Who carries the risk
Scope and communication
Keep different claims clearly separated.
Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 describe an organisation’s emissions inventory. Avoided emissions compare the effects of an activity or solution with a baseline; they are reported separately and are not deducted from that inventory.
GHG inventory verification does not automatically validate a climate target, a carbon-neutrality claim or the wider contents of a sustainability report. We identify exactly what the engagement covers.
Authoritative sources
Use the requirements applicable to your reporting period.
GHG Protocol Corporate Standard · ISO 14064-3 · CDP accepted verification standards
Standards and programmes evolve. Proposals and consultations should be distinguished from requirements that have been formally adopted.
Start with a 20-minute conversation.
You will talk to a verifier, not a salesperson. Tell us why you report, which scopes you need verified and when you need the statement, and ask whatever you need to. You do not need a finished inventory. If you go ahead, the person you speak to leads your verification.
No obligation, and no sales pitch