A customer wants your Scope 3 data? We'll give them a number you can defend.

Why is your customer asking?

Because your emissions are part of theirs. Everything a large company buys counts towards its Scope 3, and for most companies that is where nearly all the carbon sits. Companies reporting to CDP put their supply chain emissions at 26 times their own operational emissions on average (CDP, 2024).

So a customer with a target can't hit it without its suppliers. Until you send a figure, it uses an industry average applied to what it spends with you. That average can't tell you apart from your least efficient competitor. Your own number replaces it, and your improvements start showing up in your customer's results. Our guide to Scope 3 for suppliers explains what each kind of request asks for.

What does the request actually want?

Strip away the spreadsheet and the question is always the same: what share of your emissions belongs to us? Answering it takes two steps.

First, your footprint. Scope 1 (fuel you burn), Scope 2 (electricity you buy) and the parts of your own Scope 3 that matter, measured to the GHG Protocol from your bills, fuel cards and supplier data.

Then the split. We allocate that footprint to each customer or product, by units, weight or revenue, whichever reflects how your business really runs. It's the bit most suppliers get wrong, and the bit customers check.

Think of a restaurant bill shared between friends. Splitting it evenly is quick, but the one who only had soup will object. Customers are the same: a defensible method matters as much as the total.

How it works

1. A 30-minute call. Send us the request. We'll tell you what it needs and by when.
2. Data gathering. A list of exactly what we need: 12 months of energy, fuel, travel, waste and purchasing data.
3. Footprint and allocation. We calculate, document every assumption and agree the allocation method with you.
4. Your answer. The customer response, a one-page summary you can reuse, and a method you can repeat next year.

Fees

Multi-site businesses and product carbon footprints are quoted after a call. If you also need a Carbon Reduction Plan or a science-based target, they build on the same footprint, so you only pay for the data once.

What else is in the numbers?

The energy, fuel and materials data behind your footprint is the same data that shows where your costs sit. If you want to know what it could save you, that's where Sustainability Opportunity Discovery comes in. If you want to cut the footprint as well as report it, see our guide to building a Scope 3 reduction strategy. If you don't, you get your footprint, at a fixed fee, and nothing else.

Questions suppliers ask