Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A university reporting purchased electricity under both a location-based and a market-based scope-2 figure because it holds renewable energy certificates for part of its supply.
- Is an instance
A lab tallying reagent and consumable spend as scope 3 (purchased goods and services) rather than scope 1, because the emissions occurred at the supplier, not on campus.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Counting a contracted supplier's own on-site fuel combustion as the buying institution's scope 1 — that belongs in the buyer's scope 3, not scope 1.
Editorial commentary
For research-intensive universities and institutes, scope 3 typically dominates total emissions (often more than 75 percent), with procurement of laboratory consumables and equipment, and business travel, being the leading sub-categories. Robust scope-3 accounting requires supplier engagement and spend-based emission factors, with progression to product-level emission factors as data improves. Mandatory disclosure regimes (UK SECR, EU CSRD, US SEC climate rules) are tightening expectations. Many research funders now expect institutions to report scope-3 reduction trajectories.
The three scopes, precisely
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (WRI/WBCSD) defines the boundaries an organisation must not blur. Scope 1 is direct GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organisation — on-site gas boilers, fume-hood exhaust incineration, owned fleet vehicles, fugitive refrigerant leaks from -80°C freezers and cold rooms. Scope 2 is indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, or cooling — reported under both a location-based method (grid-average intensity) and a market-based method (accounting for green-tariff or renewable-certificate purchases), which can diverge sharply for an institution buying renewable electricity. Scope 3 is every other indirect emission across the value chain, organised by the WRI/WBCSD Scope 3 Standard into 15 categories spanning both upstream activity (purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel-and-energy-related activities, transportation, waste, business travel, employee commuting) and downstream activity (use and end-of-life of anything the organisation distributes, investments). A research organisation rarely reports meaningfully against every downstream category, but the upstream ones — especially purchased goods/services and business travel — are where the real total sits.
Illustrative composite: where the emissions actually sit
Illustrative composite, not a specific institution: a mid-sized research institute with its own boilers and a modest vehicle fleet might report scope 1 in the low single digits of its total footprint, scope 2 somewhat higher depending on grid carbon intensity and any renewable-electricity contracts, and scope 3 comprising the large majority — driven by laboratory consumables and instrument procurement, air travel to conferences and fieldwork, and commuting. This pattern, not the exact split, is what recurs across published higher-education carbon reports and is why funders increasingly ask for a scope-3 reduction trajectory rather than a scope-1/2-only figure.
Counter-example: a scoping error
A research organisation that reports a contract manufacturer’s on-site combustion emissions as part of its own scope 1 has miscategorised the boundary — those are the supplier’s scope 1, and belong in the buying institution’s scope 3 (purchased goods and services) instead. Getting the boundary right matters for comparability across institutions and audit trails under disclosure regimes.
Related pages
See also sustainable procurement, academic travel emissions, conference travel emissions, research carbon footprint, carbon accounting for research, and compute carbon footprint.
References
- GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard, WRI/WBCSD (ghgprotocol.org).
- US EPA, Scope 1 and Scope 2 Inventory Guidance (epa.gov/climateleadership).
- CDP Climate Disclosure framework.
Also known as
GHG scopes · Scope 1 2 3 · Three-scope GHG accounting
Machine-readable encodings
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