Scope 1, 2 and 3 Emissions – finding the right solution for the right emissions type

When an organisation decides to take action to decarbonise, they often find a confusing array of different emissions reduction categories and solutions. In this blog we help shine some light on the main emission types and how these might be tackled.

As part of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, emissions are typically categorised in one of three groups – Scope 1, 2 or 3. Organisations that are looking to reduce their emissions may target only one group of emissions to start with or take a more holistic approach and address emissions from a number of groups at the same time. Some emission groups may be more straightforward to tackle than others, delivering the most benefit in the shortest time.

Scope 1 emissions are those directly emitted by the business themselves from sources that it owns or controls. One of the most common examples of this is from petrol-fuelled vehicles in a company’s fleet, but these emissions could also come from burning fossil fuels in boilers, generators or ovens. Scope 1 emissions are interesting as although they are directly controlled by the business and should theoretically be more straightforward to address, they are usually linked to equipment or machines with significant capital invested. Where this investment it not yet fully depreciated, replacing this equipment can be challenging in the short-term, making these emissions more difficult to abate than may initially be assumed.

Improving energy efficiency of existing equipment can go some way to helping reduce scope 1 emissions, but an alternative approach in the short to medium term can be to offset gas that is directly burned with Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGOs). These certificates demonstrate that an equivalent quantity of renewable gas has been generated – and by investing in these certificates, funds can flow into new renewable gas generation. Rather than replacing an organisation’s existing equipment, RGGOs are often a quick and efficient way of helping to bring renewable gas generation on stream. This also ensures that relatively new machinery and equipment, which may have been carbon-intensive to originally manufacture, isn’t scrapped prematurely before the end of its useful life – achieving a more positive environmental balance overall.

Scope 2 emissions encompass indirect emissions associated with the consumption of purchased energy, steam, heating and cooling. This is often a significant contributor to an organisation’s overall emissions profile, particularly for those that don’t involve heavy industry or manufacturing. As with Scope 1 emissions, improving efficiency is often a quick win, and these emissions are also under relatively close control making them more straightforward to address.

Organisations that are large enough can tackle Scope 2 emissions by entering into a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). This is a long-term contract where the business purchases electricity directly from a renewable energy generator. Smaller and medium-sized businesses usually not have the scale, resource or the required certainty around their future energy requirements, to be able to enter into such an agreement. For these entities, an alternative may be to take power from the grid and buy an equivalent number of Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) to ensure that it the quantity of energy consumed is green. To see how this can be beneficial to both the consumer and renewable energy generators, take a look at our previous blog: Renewable Energy Certificates – ‘greenwashing’ or a valuable contribution to carbon reduction?

Scope 3 emissions are a broad and varied category, incorporating emissions from an organisation’s entire supply chain, both upstream and downstream. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol divides this scope into 15 different categories which include emissions from employee commuting, the production and transportation of purchased goods and services, the processing of sold products and investments, plus many more. Modern supply chains are often global and can be incredibly complex, making these emissions particularly challenging to measure and difficult to abate. Their varied nature, coupled with the absence of direct control over them, means that offsetting these emissions using carbon credits is typically the preferred approach. There are many different types of credits, and it is critical that adequate due diligence is undertaken to ensure that any credits that are procured deliver the right benefits.

C-Zero can help you to navigate through the different scopes, identify your initial quick wins but also your longer-term goals, and help you access the correct solution for each. As always, having confidence that certificates and offsets are delivering genuine benefits is crucial, and with our strong link to the projects that produce them, we can offer this reassurance. Please get in touch to find out more.