Requirements and guidelines according to the GHG Protocol
Category 3.1 of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol covers all indirect GHG emissions from purchased goods and services - from production to delivery to the company.
Important requirements
Source identification: Companies should identify all purchased goods and services that cause relevant emissions.
Recording methods: The calculation can be carried out using supplier-specific data, average values or environmental product declarations (EPDs).
Emission factors: Companies should use standardized emission factors from recognized databases such as Exiobase, Ecoinvent or national environmental authorities. NetCero offers both volume-based and expenditure-based factors.
Data granularity: Recording as much detail as possible by product category or supplier improves accuracy.
Reporting period: The recorded purchase should be assigned to a consistent reporting period (e.g. calendar year).
Units: Purchased goods should be documented in the units relevant to them (e.g. kg, liters, pieces, euros).
Recording in NetCero
Follow these steps to record emissions from purchased goods and services in NetCero:
Create activity: record all relevant purchases as separate activities in the system.
Assign responsibility: Designate a person responsible for data entry and maintenance.
Assign data entry object: Assign the purchasing activity to the correct company unit to ensure clear allocation and evaluation.
Select emission factors: Users standardized emission factors from the NetCero database.
Define your own emission factors: Add company-specific factors if more accurate data is available from Suppliers.
Document purchasing data: Record the quantity purchased directly in the table within the activity - based on invoices or purchasing reports.
(optional) Upload purchasing data: Users can upload purchasing data directly via our template using the Excel upload.
Automatic Emission Calculation: NetCero calculates the emissions per activity and integrates them into the overall balance.
Examples of emissions from purchased goods and services
Example 1: Furniture for an office building
A company buys 1,000 kg of wooden office furniture per year. If the emission factor for wooden furniture is 1.8 kg CO2e/kg, the emissions amount to
1,000 kg x 1.8 kgCO2e/kg = 1,800 kgCO2e (1.8 tCO2e)
Example 2: Paper consumption of a company
An office consumes 5,000 kg of paper per year. If the emission factor for paper is 1.2 kg CO2e/kg, the emissions amount to
5,000 kg x 1.2 kgCO2e/kg = 6,000 kgCO2e (6 tCO2e)
Example 3: IT hardware
A company buys 500 laptops a year. If the emission factor for a laptop is 200 kgCO2e, the emissions are
500 units x 200 kgCO2e/unit = 100,000 kgCO2e (100 tCO2e)
This article has been machine translated. In case of errors, please contact [email protected].