Prioritising Scope 3 emissions reduction

Carbon emissions from upstream activities will likely represent a significant portion of your carbon footprint, yet to date, they have not been the priority focus for most organisations.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is an internationally recognised methodology for emissions calculation. The protocol breaks down emissions into 3 different scopes. Each scope is defined by the source and correlates to who ‘owns’ those emissions. Calculating Scope 1 & 2 emissions are a mandatory part of reporting for many organisations already and relate to emissions from their own operations and electricity consumption. Increasingly, companies understand the need to account for GHG emissions outside of their own walls. Scope 3 accounts for indirect emissions that occur in the value chain, including both upstream and downstream emissions, and are the largest source of corporate carbon footprints in the majority of economic sectors.

Prioritising supply chain transparency

The UK Government’s 2050 net zero target requires organisations to ramp up their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and companies are increasingly under significant pressure from investors, legislation, and customers to audit and report their emissions. Mandatory schemes, such as ESOS and SECR, require qualifying organisations to carry out regular energy assessments and investor-driven initiatives, like the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), will see more and more businesses looking at the sustainability of their operations across the supply chain more imminently.

It is, therefore, no surprise that supply chain visibility is ranked second in a list of critical priorities for UK companies. Despite this, only 32% of companies reported having high visibility into their supply networks. Most large businesses have a number of SMEs associated with their supply chain but remain mostly in the ‘dark’ about the environmental impact of their operations.

Effectively tracking every product and service journey from end-to-end will provide visibility, traceability, and opportunity to collaborate on emissions reduction and target a net zero relationship in the future.

How Trident can help

Trident has found organisations across the UK face challenges to formulate and deliver a successful carbon reporting strategy and accurately calculating scope 3 emissions is a main area of difficulty. We understand that each business is at a different starting point on its net zero journey and therefore requires a bespoke level of support to achieve its objectives.

Finding a solution that doesn’t impose too great a burden on SME suppliers, provides a common and consistent measurement platform, and supports the achievement of real emissions reduction is critical.

Trident has developed a Scope 3 SME supply chain solution, powered by our carbon management and reporting platform. Entirely cloud-based, our platform pulls together your energy, transport, and financial data into one, easy-to-access place. The user-friendly dashboard ‘lights up’ the carbon emissions of SMEs in your supply chain and intuitive dashboards help you to visualise key metrics and monitor performance at a glance.

The built-in analytics suite enables you to create customisable reports that can be exported and shared with your organisation and the accreditation programme means you can certify your progress and share your sustainability credentials with customers and wider stakeholder groups.