Why a scope 3 screen is a critical first step to reducing your value chain emissions

At the end of this month, organizations beginning their value chain measurement will lose access to the most commonly used platform for scope 3 screens, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) Scope 3 Evaluator tool. However, there’s no need for concern. 3Degrees consultants can help clients complete a scope 3 screen with our own in-house screening tool, enabling them to take that first step and gain an understanding of their value chain emissions.??

According to the CDP, 75% of all emissions reported in greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories across all sectors are scope 3, or indirect emissions from upstream and downstream sources. It’s often hard for companies to know where to start addressing scope 3 emissions as they are broad and outside of your organization’s direct control. So completing a scope 3 screen with a screening tool such as the one that 3Degrees uses with our clients is a highly valuable exercise.

A scope 3 screen is imperative to any organization’s climate journey. It establishes a foundation for assessing the emissions footprint across your value chain, identifies reduction levers, and ultimately paves a path to your climate goal. The GHGP classifies these emissions into 15 categories, and the specific categories valuable to each organization can vary in importance based on industry. A completed scope 3 screen should not only show alignment with the pertinent categories within your sector, but also reveal the specific areas within those categories responsible for the bulk of your emissions footprint. With that information in hand, you can focus your efforts on those high impact areas, optimize your data collection, and make significant progress to reducing emissions.

This initial screen doesn’t require in depth, laborious data collection, and you don’t have to commit to a platform with recurring fees. 3Degrees helps our clients achieve their value chain decarbonization goals with a highly adaptable scope 3 screen tool, which spans nearly one thousand sectors, making it more granular and specific to your individual operations and activities. The tool simplifies that process by taking the high level data you have available, be it spend data, miles traveled, tons of waste, and more, and supplying you with a screen of your scope 3 emissions. Our team helps with the initial data gathering, works with existing information, and then formulates ways to enhance your screen by building out your scope 3 reporting to increase data quality in key areas for the future. From this, we can identify hotspots within your scope 3, which will lead to more granular insight and facilitate impactful, targeted solutions.

Once you’ve taken that first step with our scope 3 screen tool, we can use your scope 3 screen as a baseline in target setting, with the ability to model what it would look like to reach each climate target for your organization. As the final step, we work with clients to craft a decarbonization pathway and can even help with implementation by deploying supplier engagement strategies.??

3Degrees is ready and well equipped to help organizations looking to conduct a scope 3 screen, and to provide support at every stage along the decarbonization journey. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.