Should the Industry Care About Scope 3?

Civil engineering and construction companies are increasingly aware of the environmental impact and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to their daily operations and design decisions. Many have already taken significant steps to track and report emissions to better understand their impact on the global carbon footprint. Most generally align accounting practices with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol {GHG Protocol), which has become the most widely adopted international framework to measure and report GHG emissions. The GHG Protocol was developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and categorizes emissions into three scopes. Scope 1 constitutes direct emissions caused by operating equipment and resources it controls and owns (e.g., fossil fuels to run machinery, vehicles, etc.). Scope 2 incorporates indirect emissions linked to purchased electricity, heat, or energy owned or operated by a third party, but influenced by the individual entity's usage. Scope 3 encompasses all other indirect emis­sions associated with entity operations. In other words, Scope 3 attempts to put a spotlight on the indirect emissions within an entity's entire value chain that allow the entity to operate and provide a service.