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A trustworthy report on greenhouse gas emissions should follow some important rules:
- Relevance: The information in the report should be important and related to the topic of emissions. In other words, it should focus on the things that matter.
- Accuracy: The data in the report should be correct and precise. It should give a true picture of what’s happening with emissions.
- Completeness: The report should include all the necessary information. Nothing important should be left out.
- Consistency: The report should follow the same rules and standards throughout. It should be reliable and not change its approach randomly.
- Transparency: The report should be clear and open about where its data comes from and how it was collected. It should also admit any limitations or weaknesses in the data.
Required information
When companies report their greenhouse gas emissions, they need to share specific information with the public. Here’s what they should include:
- Scope 1 and Scope 2 Emissions Report: This report should follow a set of rules (the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard) and detail the emissions produced directly by the company (Scope 1) and those linked to their electricity and energy use (Scope 2).
- Total Scope 3 Emissions: These are emissions related to the company’s supply chain and products. Companies should report the total emissions for different categories within Scope 3 separately, like transportation or product use.
- Types of Greenhouse Gases: Companies should disclose the amount of different greenhouse gases, such as CO2, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and others. They should present this data in a way that combines these gases into one standard unit called “metric tons of CO2 equivalent.” This helps in comparing different gases on a common scale.
- List of Scope 3 Categories: They should provide a list of the different activities and categories that contribute to Scope 3 emissions.
- Exclusions and Reasons: If they decide not to include certain activities in their emissions inventory, they should explain why.
- Scope 3 Base Year: Once they’ve chosen a starting point (base year) to track emissions, they should share which year they picked and why. This helps people understand the reasoning behind the choice.
- Emissions Recalculation Policy: They should explain how they will update emissions data from the base year if necessary. This ensures that changes are made with a clear and consistent method.
- Biogenic CO2 Emissions: If there are emissions from natural sources, like plants, they should report these separately.
- Data Sources and Quality: Companies should describe where they got their data, including the numbers about emissions, and explain how good the data is in terms of accuracy.
- Methods and Assumptions: They should reveal the techniques and assumptions used to calculate emissions for each category within Scope 3.
- Supplier Data: If they used information from suppliers or other partners in their supply chain to calculate emissions, they should mention what percentage of the of
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Optional information
A public report on greenhouse gas emissions should not only cover the basic information but also provide extra details for better understanding. Here’s what might be included:
- Detailed Emissions Data: The report should provide emissions data in more specific categories, like by different parts of the company (business unit, facility, country), types of sources (like transportation or energy use), or specific activities. This helps paint a clearer picture.
- Further Breakdown in Scope 3: If you’re looking at Scope 3 emissions (those related to your supply chain and products), it’s helpful to break it down further. For example, within a category like transportation, you might specify emissions from different types of materials or products.
- Emissions Not in the Main Categories: Sometimes, there are emissions related to Scope 3 activities that don’t fit into the standard categories. These should be reported separately, maybe in an “other” category.
- Individual Gas Emissions: Apart from the main greenhouse gases like CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide, if there are other gases contributing to emissions, they should be reported separately.
- Historical Emissions: It’s important to distinguish between emissions that have happened in the past and those expected in the future due to your activities.
- Qualitative Info: Sometimes, you might not have exact numbers for emissions from certain sources. In that case, you can provide descriptive information.
- Sequestration or Removal: If your company is involved in activities that absorb or remove greenhouse gases, this should be reported separately from emissions.
- Project-Based Reductions: If you’ve undertaken projects specifically designed to reduce emissions, these should be reported separately.
- Avoided Emissions: Information about emissions that were avoided (like by using energy-efficient products) should be reported separately.
- Data Quality: This involves assessing how reliable the emissions data is, and any efforts made to improve data quality.
- Assurance Details: If an external party checked the report for accuracy (third-party assurance), or if it was internally verified (first-party assurance), these details should be included. It’s also important to mention the expertise of the assurance provider and their opinion on the report.
- Performance Indicators: Share key metrics and ratios that help evaluate your emissions performance.
- GHG Management Activities: Describe your company’s actions to manage and reduce emissions, including any specific targets for reducing Scope 3 emissions, strategies to engage suppliers, and initiatives to reduce product emissions.
- Supplier and Partner Engagement: Provide information about your interactions with suppliers and partners regarding emissions and their performance.
- Product Performance: Share how well your products are doing concerning emissions.
- Benchmarking: Compare your performance against internal and external benchmarks, which are like standards for comparison.
- GHG Reduction Instruments: Explain if you’ve bought or used instruments like emissions allowances and offsets from outside your company’s boundaries.
- Emissions Causes: If there were changes in emissions that didn’t require recalculating the base year, describe what caused those changes.
- Historical Data: Include emissions data for all years between your Scope 3 base year and the reporting year, with reasons for recalculations if needed.
- Additional Context: Provide any other information that helps understand the data better.
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Reporting guidance
When companies want to report their greenhouse gas emissions (the gases that contribute to climate change), they use a set of rules called the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard. This helps them create a comprehensive and transparent report that’s trustworthy when shared with the public.
The level of detail in these reports can vary depending on why they’re being made and who will read them. Sometimes, they’re created for national or voluntary programs related to greenhouse gases or just for the company’s internal use. So, not all reports need to have the same level of detail.
But when it comes to public reports, like those you might find on a company’s website or in their sustainability reports, it’s essential to understand that there are two types:
- Summary Reports: These are shorter reports that give you the basic information about a company’s emissions. They’re often published online or in reports about sustainability or corporate social responsibility.
- Full Public Reports: These are much more detailed and contain all the necessary information as per the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard. Not every report needs to be this detailed, but there should be a link or reference to this full report for anyone who wants all the information.
Now, to make these reports as good as possible, companies should aim for a few things:
- Relevance: The information in the report should be important and directly related to the topic of emissions.
- Transparency: Everything in the report should be clear, and it should be easy for people to see where the data comes from and how it was calculated.
- Accuracy: The data should be correct and precise. It should give an accurate picture of what’s happening with emissions.
- Consistency: The report should follow the same rules and standards throughout. It should be reliable and not change its approach randomly.
- Completeness: The report should include all the necessary information. Nothing important should be left out.
To make the reports more informative, it’s good to include:
- The company’s strategy and goals for managing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Information about any particular challenges or difficult decisions the company faced.
- The context behind decisions about what to include or exclude in the report.
- An analysis of trends in emissions over time.
This helps create a more complete picture of what the company is doing to reduce its impact on the environment.
Lastly, there’s guidance available to help companies understand how to include specific details in their reports. This guidance provides instructions for meeting the reporting requirements, and there’s even a sample reporting form available on the GHG Protocol’s website to help companies get started.
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Required Reporting:
1. Reporting Total GHG Emissions:
Companies are required to report the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for each of the different categories within Scope 3. These emissions should be measured in metric tons of CO2 equivalent. This means that all the different gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect (like CO2, methane, and others) are converted into a common unit of measurement – CO2 equivalent. This makes it easier to compare and understand the total impact.
But, here’s a simplification:
Imagine you have a big bag of different candies, each with its own unique taste. To compare them, you decide to rate them all based on how they compare to a common candy, let’s say a chocolate bar. You say, “Candy A is like 2 pieces of chocolate, Candy B is like 3 pieces of chocolate,” and so on. This way, you can easily compare and talk about the candies based on their chocolate bar equivalent.
2. Description of Methodologies and Assumptions:
Companies should explain the methods they used to figure out how much greenhouse gas emissions they’re responsible for in each of the 15 Scope 3 categories. This explanation should include the assumptions they made. For instance, if they’re looking at emissions from the use of products they sell (like smartphones), they should tell you how long they assume these products last and how often people use them. They should also specify the time frame they’re considering for each category.
Here’s a simple example:
Imagine you’re trying to figure out how much garbage you produce in a year. You decide to look at how much trash you threw out each day. To do this, you assume that you throw away the same amount of trash every day, and you count your trash for a month. You then multiply that by 12 to estimate your yearly trash. In your report, you’d need to explain that you assumed a consistent daily trash amount, and you counted it for a month, and then multiplied to get the yearly estimate.
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Optional Reporting:
1. Supplier/Partner Engagement and Performance:
Companies can choose to report on their efforts to work with their partners and suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This can include:
- How many of their suppliers and partners they’ve asked to provide data on their emissions.
- How many of those suppliers and partners actually shared their emissions data.
- Whether any of their suppliers and partners have publicly reported their own greenhouse gas emissions.
- Whether any of their suppliers and partners have set targets to reduce their emissions.
Additionally, companies can provide information about how well their suppliers and partners are performing over time. For example, they can report on the combined emissions of their top-tier suppliers, explain how they calculated these numbers, and note what percentage of their total spending these suppliers represent.
Here’s a simple example:
Think of a chef running a restaurant. The chef can report on efforts to work with their food suppliers. They might say they’ve asked 10 suppliers for information on the environmental impact of the food they provide. Out of these, 7 suppliers shared their data. The chef could also show how emissions from the top-tier suppliers, the ones they spend the most money on, have changed over the years.
2. Information on Product Performance:
Companies can also choose to report on how well their products perform in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. This can include:
- Details on how efficient their products are in terms of emissions. For example, if they sell vehicles, they can provide data on the average emissions per kilometer driven.
- Information about how long their products last, on average.
- How their products measure up to any standards or certifications related to emissions.
They should also explain any significant changes in emissions from products over time.
Here’s a simple example:
Imagine a company that sells light bulbs. In their report, they might mention that their bulbs are highly energy-efficient and give off low emissions. They could also say that their bulbs typically last for a long time, reducing the need for replacements. Plus, they may note that their bulbs have certain environmental certifications. If they see a spike in emissions from their bulbs one year, they should explain why that happened.
3. Historic vs. Future Scope 3 Emissions:
Sometimes, the emissions reported in categories like “Waste generated in operations,” “Use of sold products,” and “End-of-life treatment of sold products” may be interpreted as if they’ve already happened. However, in many cases, these emissions are estimates of what might happen as a result of activities during the reporting year. Companies can choose to clarify this by separating what’s already occurred (historic emissions) from what’s expected to happen (future emissions).
Here’s a simple example:
Think of a construction company reporting on waste generated at their building sites. They could clarify that the waste they’re talking about is an estimate of what they expect to happen, not just what’s already in the trash bin.
4. Information on Uncertainty:
Companies can choose to provide information about the level of uncertainty in their reported data. This means they explain how confident they are in the numbers they’re sharing. If there’s a lot of uncertainty, they can also describe what they’re doing to reduce this uncertainty.
Here’s a simple example:
If you’re a student turning in a big project, you might say, “I’m pretty sure my calculations are correct, but there’s some uncertainty because I had to estimate a few things. I double-checked my work, though, to make it as accurate as possible.”
These optional reports help companies share more information about their efforts to reduce their impact on the environment and give a clearer picture of their sustainability practices. It also helps the public understand their actions and progress in addressing climate change.