Purchased goods and services
Supplier information, activity data, spend-based methods and the treatment of gaps or estimates.
Scope 3 verification
Make the evidence behind your value-chain emissions clearer.
We verify agreed Scope 3 categories by examining boundaries, calculation methods, assumptions and supporting information. A free readiness review helps your team identify concerns before the final audit.
Agree the coverage
Start with your inventory and reporting purpose.
The GHG Protocol defines 15 Scope 3 categories. Which are relevant, and which need verification, depends on your activities, reporting criteria and intended use. The coverage of the statement must be clear.
People and operations
Business travel, commuting, waste, fuel- and energy-related activities and other relevant categories.
Products and supply chains
Transport, capital goods, use and end-of-life of sold products, investments and other applicable value-chain sources.
What other organisations verify
Which Scope 3 categories are verified for CDP.
LRQA analysed the verification data organisations reported publicly through CDP in 2022. Among organisations that had Scope 3 emissions verified, this is how often each category was included.
| GHG Protocol category | Share of Scope 3 verifiers |
|---|---|
| 6.Business travel | 75.3% |
| 1.Purchased goods and services | 64.6% |
| 3.Fuel- and energy-related activities | 56.9% |
| 5.Waste generated in operations | 56.8% |
| 7.Employee commuting | 51.8% |
| 4.Upstream transportation and distribution | 50.5% |
| 2.Capital goods | 34.6% |
| 9.Downstream transportation and distribution | 30.5% |
| 11.Use of sold products | 29% |
| 12.End-of-life treatment of sold products | 21.7% |
| 8.Upstream leased assets | 16.7% |
| 13.Downstream leased assets | 15.2% |
| 15.Investments | 14.2% |
| 10.Processing of sold products | 10% |
| 14.Franchises | 7.4% |
Source: CDP, The business benefits of third-party verification of environmental data (2023), p. 19, based on LRQA’s analysis of data reported publicly through CDP in 2022. CDP verification resources
Travel leads
Business travel is the category verified most often, by three in four Scope 3 verifiers. It is one of the easiest to calculate, which may explain why.
Purchased goods close behind
Purchased goods and services comes second, at almost two in three, but many companies still calculate it with spend-based factors. These are useful for benchmarking; actual supply chain data supports better decisions.
Downstream is rarely verified
Fewer than a third verify downstream transport or the use of sold products, and fewer than one in four end-of-life treatment. If these are material to your footprint, they deserve the same scrutiny.
We verify any of the 15 categories and agree in advance which are included, so the statement is clear about what it covers. The Scope 3 errors we find most often
Significance and exclusions
Do you have to include all 15 categories?
Not necessarily. ISO 14064-1 asks organisations to report their significant indirect emissions, and leaves the organisation to set its own criteria for what is significant: for example, the size of the emissions or your ability to manage them. The GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard takes a similar line: account for your Scope 3 emissions, and disclose and justify any exclusions.
Either way, the decision is yours to make, but it has to be reasoned, documented and applied consistently.
Criteria organisations commonly use
- Size: categories above a set share of your total footprint
- Influence: your ability to manage or reduce the emissions
- Risk and opportunity: exposure to regulation, cost or supply chain change
- Stakeholders: what customers, investors or CDP expect to see
- Sector guidance: categories your sector is expected to report
- Outsourcing: activities you used to carry out in-house
What we look for at verification
- Significance criteria that are written down and explained.
- A screening of all 15 categories, with an estimate of size even where data is limited.
- Each category included or excluded against those criteria, with the reason recorded.
- Exclusions disclosed in your report, with their estimated size.
- Difficulty getting data not used on its own to leave out a large category.
- The assessment reviewed each year, and whenever the business changes.
Methods and evidence
Estimates need a defensible basis.
Supplier data is not always complete. We examine whether the chosen methods, assumptions, emission factors and estimates are appropriate to the reporting criteria and supported by sufficient evidence. We assess the uncertainty and limitations.
Calculations
Trace the method and inputs, check conversions and assess consolidation.
Boundaries
Review relevant categories, exclusions and potential double counting.
Audit trail
Follow reported totals back to supporting records and the people responsible.
Free readiness review
Test the difficult areas while there is time to act.
Agree the scope and fee
We agree your reporting period, boundaries, the emissions to be covered, the assurance level and your deadline, then confirm the fee.
Your free readiness review
We review the information you already have, from part-year or last year’s data, and give your team private, documented findings with time to address them.
Formal verification
We verify the complete reporting period, an independent reviewer checks our work, and you receive your verification statement and findings report.
A clear output
Know which data the conclusion covers.
The statement identifies the agreed reporting period, categories, criteria, assurance level and limitations. Findings provide a practical record of concerns for your organisation to address.
Avoided emissions are assessed separately from the organisational Scope 1–3 inventory; they should not be deducted from it.
Start with a 20-minute conversation.
Tell us why you report, which scopes you need verified and when you need the statement. You do not need a finished inventory. We will explain how your free readiness review and verification would work.
No obligation