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What are Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions?

Updated: Feb 23, 2023

ZeroBees methodology is rooted in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standards to calculate emissions - the world’s most widely used GHG reporting standard to measure and manage emissions.


What are Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions?

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three ‘scopes’:


Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. For many SMEs, this is gas consumed in offices for space heating. For others, it includes other fuels used on site and by vehicles directly operated by the organisation (e.g. for delivery companies).


Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. For most SMEs, this is simply electricity consumed in offices.


Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. For your organisation, this might include employee commuting and working from home, business travel, agencies and professional services used, analytics and data, and anything else you spend time or money doing.


If you want to get a quick handle on your Scope 1 and 2 emissions, check out our FREE, simple to use tool.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 definitions, GHG Protocol
Overview of GHG Protocol scopes and emissions across the value chain (Source: Corporate Value Chain Scope 3 Standard)

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