Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 are the three emissions categories used by the GHG Protocol to organize a company’s greenhouse-gas inventory. The easiest way to understand them is to ask where the emissions occur and who controls the source.
Scope 1 vs Scope 2 vs Scope 3 — in one minute
- Scope 1: direct emissions from sources your company owns or controls.
- Scope 2: indirect emissions from purchased energy such as electricity, steam, heat or cooling.
- Scope 3: other indirect emissions across your upstream and downstream value chain.
Scope 1 emissions: direct sources you own or control
Scope 1 covers direct greenhouse-gas emissions from sources owned or controlled by the reporting company. Typical examples include fuel burned in company boilers, furnaces and vehicles, industrial process emissions and relevant refrigerant leaks.
- Natural gas burned in an owned boiler.
- Diesel used by company-owned vehicles.
- Refrigerant leakage from equipment controlled by the company.
- Process emissions from owned manufacturing equipment.
Scope 2 emissions: purchased energy
Scope 2 covers indirect emissions associated with generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heat and cooling consumed by the company. The emissions physically occur at the energy producer, but they are attributed to the reporting company’s purchased-energy use.
- Electricity purchased for offices or factories.
- Purchased district heating.
- Purchased steam used in an industrial process.
- Purchased cooling from a district energy system.
Scope 3 emissions: the value chain
Scope 3 covers indirect emissions not included in Scope 2 that occur in the reporting company’s value chain. They can occur before your own operations (upstream) or after your products and services leave them (downstream).
The GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain Standard organizes Scope 3 into 15 categories, including purchased goods and services, capital goods, transport, waste, business travel, employee commuting, use of sold products and end-of-life treatment.
For a closer look at estimating these emissions, see our comparison of spend-based, activity-based and supplier-specific Scope 3 methods. If your inventory relies on supplier information, use the Carbon Data Readiness Assessment to identify data gaps before calculation.
| Activity | Likely scope | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel burned in an owned company van | Scope 1 | Direct emissions from a controlled source |
| Electricity purchased for an office | Scope 2 | Indirect emissions from purchased energy |
| Supplier manufacturing your purchased materials | Scope 3 | Upstream value-chain emissions |
| Employee business flight | Scope 3 | Travel occurs at another entity’s source |
| Customer use of a sold energy-consuming product | Scope 3 | Downstream value-chain emissions |
Why the distinction matters
The three scopes are not simply different calculation methods. They define the operational boundary of a corporate emissions inventory and help avoid mixing direct operations, purchased energy and broader value-chain impacts.
- Ownership: Scope 1 often maps directly to assets or activities under company control.
- Energy accounting: Scope 2 isolates purchased-energy emissions.
- Supplier and customer data: Scope 3 often depends on external data, estimates and value-chain engagement.
- Reporting: customers may ask for all three scopes, or only selected Scope 3 categories.
What data do you need for each scope?
| Scope | Typical source data |
|---|---|
| Scope 1 | Fuel volumes, fleet records, refrigerants, process activity |
| Scope 2 | Electricity/energy bills, meter data, supplier energy information |
| Scope 3 | Procurement, logistics, travel, waste, supplier data, product-use assumptions and other category-specific activity data |
Have a customer request mentioning Scope 1, 2 or 3?
Paste the request into the Carbon Request Decoder to turn the wording into scopes, likely data needs, clarification questions and next steps.
How this fits with current GHG Protocol updates
GHG Protocol and ISO are currently working toward a consolidated corporate standard, but companies still need a clear version-controlled methodology for today’s inventories. Do not treat an announced standards update as a reason to abandon the current scope structure before final requirements are published.
Primary sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Corporate Suite update process.
Bottom line
Scope 1 = direct operations. Scope 2 = purchased energy. Scope 3 = the rest of the value chain. The difficult part usually begins after classification: deciding which data is required, which Scope 3 categories matter and how to document the calculation.
Next: Scope 3 Emissions Reporting — Practical 2026 Guide →
Last reviewed: October 7, 2026.