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Untie the web of Scope emissions calculation with SimaPro

One of the biggest challenges faced by industries while reporting for sustainability is the calculations of Scope 1,2 and 3 emissions. Understanding and computing these emissions is crucial, especially in light of the growing awareness in recent years about producing more sustainable items. The availability of the most recent emissions factors for each raw material, different modes of transportation, energy consumed, etc. presents another difficulty in computing these emissions. Now let’s understand what it means by Scope 1,2 and 3 emissions.


This categorization was first introduced in the GHG Protocol (comprehensive global standardized frameworks) for reporting direct and indirect emissions within any organization.

What is Scope 1, 2 & 3?

Scope 1 emissions are the direct emissions which are in the range of company’s direct activity and its resources. For example, process emissions, emissions due to any particular machinery, direct fossil fuel usage, etc. 

Whereas Scope 2 and 3 include any indirect emissions; the basic difference between scope 2 and 3 emissions can be found below.

Scope 2:

Indirect emissions due to purchase of energy, it can be either electricity or heat.

For example, a production plant is procuring electricity from the grid or any 2nd party energy provider; that will be considered under Scope 2.

Scope 3:

Any indirect emissions coming from upstream and downstream value chain of the company. 

For example, Transportation of finished goods, Employee commute, business travel, materials, life-time emissions of product, waste-water and solid-waste processing, etc.

 

Out of the three types, calculating scope 3 emissions is highly difficult due to inaccurate data or lack of data.

SimaPro made it easy:

SimaPro helps you with calculation of scope emissions as it consists of environmental data of thousands of products and the latest emission factors or Global Warming Potentials (GWP) of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). The global warming potentials are provided by the latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC method in SimaPro is regularly updated and thus helps in more accurate calculations of the emissions.

The software integrates some of the most widely used environmental databases, like ecoinvent, Exiobase, WFLDB, ELCD, USLCI and many more. You can enter and structure your company’s activity data with ease, do the assessment and find the total emissions.  Additionally, the software also has various options that helps in interpretation of the results. 

To know more about SimaPro and its available versions:

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Reference:

  • GHG Protocol: https://ghgprotocol.org/about-us
  • ISO 14065, Greenhouse gases — Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition
  • ISO 14064-1: Greenhouse gases — Part 1
  • ISO 14064-2: Greenhouse gases — Part 2
  • SimaPro: https://www.sipl-sustainability.com/about-simapro-2/