Category 9: Downstream transportation and distribution
This category includes emissions from the transportation and distribution of products sold by the reporting company, between the reporting company’s operations and the end consumer (if not paid for by the reporting company) in vehicles and facilities not owned or controlled by the reporting company.
It includes emissions from retail and storage, and transportation and distribution related emissions that occur after the reporting company pays to produce and distribute its products. It also includes emissions from customers traveling to retail stores, which can be significant for companies that own or operate retail facilities.
Emissions from downstream transportation and distribution can arise from storage of sold products in warehouses and distribution centers, storage of sold products in retail facilities, air transport, rail transport, road transport and marine transport.
It excludes outbound transportation and distribution services that are purchased by the reporting company. These emissions are included in category 4 (Upstream transportation and distribution) because the reporting company purchases the service.
A reporting company’s scope 3 emissions includes scope 1 and scope 2 emissions of transport companies, distribution companies, retailers and customers (optionally).
Transportation
Emissions from downstream transportation should be calculated in a similar manner to emissions from upstream transportation. Companies may use either the fuel-based, distance-based or spend-based method. The issue comes in when data from downstream transmission is not readily available. In this case, the company should use the distance-based method to calculate these emissions.
If actual transportation distances are not available, the company may estimate them by using a combination of:
- Government, academic or industry publications
- Offline maps and calculators
- Published port-to-port travel distances
The emission factors required here are similar to the ones required when calculating upstream transportation emissions.
An example demonstrating how emissions from downstream transportation can be calculated is shown below.
Distribution
Emissions from downstream distribution should also be calculated in a similar manner to emissions from upstream distribution. The methods to be used to calculate these emissions are either the site-specific method or the average-data method. As mentioned earlier, data from downstream distribution may not be readily available. As a result, companies are more likely to apply the average-data method.