Scope 3.4 - Upstream Transportation and Warehousing
Why Scope 3.4 “Upstream Transportation and Distribution” Matters
Scope 3.4 captures the emissions generated by moving your purchased goods from your suppliers to your door—including warehousing on the way—when those logistics are performed by third-party companies.
These “upstream” logistics can form a surprisingly large slice of your indirect emissions, especially in globally sourced supply chains.
Tracking Scope 3.4 helps you find hotspots in your supply chain, engage with transport providers, and explore alternative logistics options (like low-carbon fuels or optimized routes) for maximum climate impact.
What’s Included in Scope 3.4?
- All emissions from the third-party transportation and storage of products you buy (from your direct suppliers to your site), plus inter-company shipping between your own facilities if handled by external logistics providers.
- This covers road, rail, shipping, air freight, and warehousing (except those you own/operate directly).
Key Principle: If anyone else drives, flies, ships, or stores your goods before they get to you, Scope 3.4 applies to those emissions.
Typical data points:
- Amount and type of product moved (e.g., tons, pallets, containers)
- Distance and mode (air, truck, rail, ship)
- Storage time/type (for warehouse emissions)
- Amount spent for logistic activities
Understanding Data Quality in Scope 3.4 — and Why Continuous Improvement Matters
Your GHG calculation will be only as robust as the input logistics data. Data quality tiers include:
- Spend-based: You start by collecting your logistics spend (what you paid the provider). Quick, but broad and not transport-mode specific.
- Average-based: Here, you track actual quantities (“X tons shipped by truck for Y km”). This produces a much more accurate and nuanced emissions profile.
- Supplier- or Shipment-Specific: The optimal approach—your transport provider supplies you the exact GHG emissions for your shipments (increasingly common with leading logistics companies), or you use route- and fuel-specific calculators.
- Includes warehouse energy data, if available.
It’s normal to begin with spend or average-based calculations, especially if your company lacks detailed logistics data or your providers aren’t yet sharing their emissions. Each year, work with your logistics partners to get shipment-specific data—this way, your numbers get more credible, and you collectively drive low-carbon innovation in your supply chain.
Data Collection Steps: A Collaborative Approach
Map Your Supply Chain Movements
- List all incoming goods, noting which are transported or stored by outside (third-party) providers from the supplier to your delivery location.
Classify Your Transport & Storage
- Break out by:
- Mode: Truck, ship, rail, air
- Storage: Warehouse, cold chain, etc.
Prioritize What to Focus On
- Focus on large-volume, long-distance, or high-frequency shipments
- Pay special attention to air freight and cold storage — major emission sources
Collect Emission Data
- Get as much shipment detail as possible:
- Quantity (tons, pallets, packages)
- Distance traveled
- Mode of transport
- Time in storage, warehouse energy use if available
- For best quality, ask providers for their calculated emissions or emissions reports
- Otherwise, use published emission factors for your country/region and the transport mode