Calculating Scope 3 Emissions: An Overlooked Aspect of Our Manufacturing Carbon Footprint
Hello, everyone!
I wanted to share an insightful research about Scope 3 emissions and their significant role in industrial decarbonization, specifically in the steel sector. Scope 3 emissions are the indirect emissions from a company’s supply chain. Companies
typically report Scope 1 (direct product production) and Scope 2 (purchased electricity)
emissions. Reducing the seldom-reported Scope 3 emissions, which can comprise around 60% of
the reported emissions, can help in industrial decarbonization. This work simplifies the complex
calculation of Scope 3 emissions with the development of 15 Microsoft Excel calculators (one
per Scope 3 category), and a case study of the steel sector’s Scope 3 emissions. For steel, Scope
1 emissions range from ~15-88%, whereas Scope 3 emissions range from ~9-66%. The U.S.
Environmentally-Extended Input-Output (EEIO) modeling results report primary metals’ Scope 1
emissions as ~45% and Scope 3 emissions as ~33%. This variability requires further
investigation and may stem from factors such as Scope 3 calculation complexities and
differences in sectors’ products. The next step will be publishing a journal article on these
findings.