Issues around Scope 3 have appropriately gotten a lot of attention lately. Scope 3 emissions (or “value chain” emissions) often make up the majority of a greenhouse gas inventory and so adequately accounting for these emissions is crucial. It is becoming clear that the greenhouse gas accounting system as designed currently is ill-suited to serve its fundamental purpose: driving corporate actions to reduce, avoid, and remove greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 3 inventories are often seen as an end in and of themselves, yet from a climate perspective they are only tools – and only useful if they help lead to emissions reduction.
While SBTi’s recent announcement on market-based mechanisms indicates a move in a positive direction, we need to act quickly to design an effective Scope 3 system on the timeline that science calls for.
Green Strategies’ President Roger Ballentine has published a paper in Frontiers’ Sustainable Energy Policy journal which helps shine light on problems with Scope 3 accounting and how we might make it better — for companies and the climate. We recommend giving it a read!
Frontiers Sustainable Energy Policy – Scope 3: What Question are We Trying to Answer?
