š Scope 3.1 - Purchased goods and services
Why Scope 3.1 āPurchased goods and services" matters
When calculating your organizationās greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, one of the most impactful categories is Scope 3.1: āPurchased goods and services.ā
This category captures all the emissions from the extraction, production, and transportation of goods and services you buyā their entire upstream journey, including raw material extraction, manufacturing, and packaging.
Understanding Scope 3.1 helps you identify where your greatest indirect emissions occur. By working together with your suppliers, you can find meaningful opportunities to reduce your overall footprint and drive change throughout your value chain.
Whatās Included in Scope 3.1?
- All goods and services your business purchases (not just raw materials for manufacturing, but also office supplies, janitorial services, packaging materials, etc.)
- The entire ācradle-to-gateā lifecycle of each product/service up to the point it reaches you, excluding anything you manufacture yourself.
Key Principle: If you buy it, and someone else makes it, Scope 3.1 likely applies.
Typical data points:
How much of each good/service did you buy (e.g., kg, tons, number of units) .
Minimum data requirements:
- Commodity Name (mandatory)
- Spend in EUR or Weight in kg (mandatory)
- Supplier Name (optional)
Understanding Data Quality in Scope 3.1 ā and Why Continuous Improvement Matters
When collecting data for Scope 3.1 (Purchased Goods & Services), the data input crucially influences the overall result. Data typically falls into three quality levels:
- Spend-based: The most basic approach, this uses how much money you spent on a category and multiplies it by a generic emission factor (e.g., āoffice paperāglobal averageā). It's fast and helps you get started, but provides only a rough estimate.
- Average-based: Here, you collect quantity data specific to what you bought (e.g., kilograms or pieces of a material) and multiply it by industry- or region-specific āaverageā emission factors. This step up in quality allows for more accurate tracking and comparison across years or locations.
- Supplier- or Product-Specific: The gold standardāthis is where your supplier provides you with an emissions factor or even a lifecycle analysis for the exact product or service you purchased. This enables the most precise and actionable results, and is especially impactful for your largest or highest-emitting purchases.
At Global Changer, we see data quality as a journey, not a box to tick. Itās completely normal to start with higher-level, spend-based data, particularly if this is your organizationās first inventory. Over time, the goal is to collaborate closely with suppliers and internal teamsāimproving every year by collecting more specific quantities, using better emission factors, and securing supplier-confirmed data. Not only does this enhance the accuracy of your reporting, but it also empowers you to track meaningful reductions, engage your value chain, and drive real climate action.
Remember: done is better than perfect, but ābetterā is always the goal for next year. Weāre here to support your progress, every step of the way.
Checklist for Scope 3.1
- Map Your Spend
- Extract a list of everything your business purchased within the year āfrom raw materials to IT consulting.
- Donāt stress if the list is long! Most emissions will likely come from a small number of high-impact items (think: major raw materials or bulk services).
- Classify Your Purchases
- Differentiate between:
- Production-related (e.g., materials for your product)
- Non-production-related (e.g., office paper, cleaning services)
- This helps prioritize where to invest your data collection efforts.
- Differentiate between:
- Prioritize What to Focus On
- Review which purchase categories make up most of your spend or are likely to be GHG-intensive. Start with these.
- If unsure, use an 80/20 rule: often, ~80% of emissions come from 20% of your spend categories.
- Collect Emission Data
- The best data is primary data from your suppliers. Contact your biggest or most important suppliers and ask if they have product-specific carbon footprints or life-cycle analyses.
- Not all suppliers will have this yetā and thatās ok!
- When suppliers canāt provide this, we use secondary data (industry-average emission factors from databases or published LCA studies).
- The best data is primary data from your suppliers. Contact your biggest or most important suppliers and ask if they have product-specific carbon footprints or life-cycle analyses.