case study: scope 3 emissions reporting review
Identification of material Scope 3 categories for an oil & gas company.
at a glance
challenges
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Clients had limited in-house understanding of Scope 3 emissions.
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Client found prospect of Scope 3 emissions accounting overwhelming – confusion on how to get started.
outcomes
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Increased client awareness of Scope 3.
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Selection of which of the 15 Scope 3 categories were material for reporting.
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Identification of key activities and required data per category.
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Clear advice on how to progress with Scope 3 reporting.
“the sustain:able team helped us build an understanding of Scope 3 emissions in addition to assessing the relevance of each emissions category so we can focus our data collection and reporting efforts on the key areas.”
client rep
objectives
Driven by evolving regulations and stakeholder expectations, an operator sought to identify which of the 15 Scope 3 categories were relevant and material to their operations to focus data collection and reporting efforts.
The client aimed to boost their corporate accountability, manage environmental risks, align with regulations, and meet stakeholder expectations. They needed to do this in a manageable way with limited resources.
steps taken
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Benchmarking of Scope 3 disclosures - Scope 3 categories included, quantity of emissions per category, calculation methods utilised.
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Evaluation of the company's value chain to identify sources of indirect emissions.
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Assessment of materiality of each Scope 3 Category utilising IPIECA and Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidance.
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Ranking of Scope 3 categories according to materiality and ease of calculation.
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Recommendation report outlining data requirements and calculation methodologies per category.
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Enabled collection of relevant data and additional data collection processes requirements.
results
selection of relevant Scope 3 Categories for reporting
Selection of top six Scope 3 categories - from total list of 15 - for reporting.
Identification of key activities linked to material Scope 3 emissions - and the corresponding data requirements - to work towards improving the accuracy of emissions calculations over time.
defendable workflow to support selection
By adopting this workflow, the company has gained an internal understanding of their Scope 3 emission sources while developing a defensible list of Scope 3 categories for reporting.