Scope 3: Value chain emissions

Scope 3 emissions are all the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur outside a company’s own operations but across its value chain—both upstream and downstream. This includes everything from emissions linked to purchased raw materials, packaging, and logistics to product use and end-of-life treatment. For most manufacturing and retail businesses, Scope 3 typically represents 70–90% of the total footprint, making it the most critical—and often the most challenging—part of their climate strategy.

Scope 3: Mandatory & voluntary disclosure

While Scope 1 and 2 reporting has become standard under most regulatory and voluntary frameworks, Scope 3 reporting is now required or expected under:

CSRD (EU) – ESRS E1 requires companies to disclose their material Scope 3 categories.

SBTi – companies setting near-term targets must include Scope 3 if it makes up >40% of total emissions.

CDP, EcoVadis, GRI and other ESG ratings – all increasingly ask for full value-chain data.

This means that virtually every company with a significant supply chain, from food & beverage to packaging and retail, needs to understand and manage its Scope 3 emissions.

The 15 categories of Scope 3 reporting

Scope 3 is divided into 15 categories defined by the GHG Protocol. The most relevant for many product-based companies include:

Purchased Goods & Services (Cat. 1) – emissions from materials, components, and packaging.

Capital Goods (Cat. 2) – equipment, machinery, and infrastructure purchases.

Transportation & Distribution (Cat. 4 & 9) – upstream and downstream logistics

Waste Generated in Operations (Cat. 5) – treatment and disposal of waste from company sites.

Use of Sold Products & End-of-Life Treatment (Cat. 11 & 12) – energy use and disposal of products after sale.

How ClimateCamp helps calculate Scope 3

ClimateCamp was designed to tackle the complexity of Scope 3 reporting and decarbonization. The platform automates Corporate Carbon Footprint calculations across all 15 categories, combining spend-, hybrid-, and activity-based approaches and incorporating supplier-specific primary data wherever possible.

It helps procurement teams compare suppliers by Product Carbon Footprint, assess carbon costs using shadow pricing, and identify the suppliers and materials that drive the bulk of emissions.

ClimateCamp also supports supplier engagement by tracking supplier carbon maturity and collecting product-level data directly, improving data quality over time.

Finally, it generates audit-ready reports aligned with CSRD, SBTi, CDP, and other frameworks—giving companies the insight they need to prioritize reductions and demonstrate progress on Scope 3.

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