For most manufacturers, Scope 3 is most of the number.
Scope 1 and 2 are usually a fraction of a manufacturer's total footprint. The bulk sits upstream in purchased materials and downstream in logistics and product use — categories most companies have never measured.
In short
Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions in a company's value chain — purchased goods, transport, waste, travel, and use of sold products — as defined by the GHG Protocol's 15 categories. For manufacturers, Scope 3 frequently exceeds Scope 1 and 2 combined. Prakrti maps and quantifies Scope 3 for Indian manufacturers facing buyer, BRSR, or CBAM-linked data requests.
Why Scope 3 is different from Scope 1 and 2
Scope 1 and 2 emissions come from data you control directly — your fuel use, your electricity bills. Scope 3 depends on data from suppliers, logistics providers, and, in some categories, customers. For a manufacturer, purchased raw materials — steel, chemicals, packaging — are frequently the single largest emissions category, larger than the company's own operations.
This is also the category buyers most often ask about directly. A multinational customer building its own Scope 3 inventory needs your Scope 1 and 2 data as an input, which means your internal reporting gap becomes their compliance gap, and their procurement team notices.
How we approach Scope 3 measurement
We start by screening all 15 GHG Protocol Scope 3 categories for materiality to your business — most manufacturers find that three or four categories account for the bulk of the footprint, commonly purchased goods and services, upstream transport, and, for certain sectors, use of sold products. We prioritise data collection on those categories rather than treating all 15 with equal effort.
Where supplier-specific data is not available, we build a defensible interim estimate using spend-based or activity-based methods, and set out a plan to replace those estimates with primary supplier data over time — because spend-based estimates, while acceptable as a starting point, do not hold up under increasing buyer and regulatory scrutiny indefinitely.
Where this connects to other requirements
Scope 3 data feeds directly into BRSR environmental disclosures, SBTi target-setting (which requires Scope 3 coverage for most companies), and CBAM where your own suppliers' embedded emissions affect your product's declared footprint. Building it once, well, avoids rebuilding it separately for each requirement.
Common questions
What are the 15 categories of Scope 3 emissions?
The GHG Protocol defines 15 Scope 3 categories, including purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel- and energy-related activities, upstream transportation, waste, business travel, employee commuting, upstream leased assets, downstream transportation, processing of sold products, use of sold products, end-of-life treatment, downstream leased assets, franchises, and investments.
Why is Scope 3 harder to measure than Scope 1 and 2?
Scope 3 depends on data from parties outside the company's direct control — suppliers, logistics providers, customers — rather than internal records. Primary data is often unavailable, requiring estimation methods until supplier-level data collection improves.
Do we need Scope 3 data for BRSR reporting?
BRSR's environmental disclosures increasingly expect Scope 3 data, and SEBI's direction has been toward more comprehensive value chain reporting over time, particularly for larger listed companies with material supply chain exposure.
Can Scope 3 emissions be estimated without supplier data?
Yes, using spend-based or industry-average methods as an interim approach, though these produce a rougher figure than supplier-specific data. Most companies start with estimation and progressively replace it with primary data for their highest-emitting suppliers.
Which Scope 3 category is usually the largest for manufacturers?
Purchased goods and services — the embedded emissions in raw materials and components — is the largest category for most manufacturers, though this varies by sector; for companies making energy-intensive durable goods, use of sold products can also be significant.
Find out which Scope 3 categories actually matter for you
Send us your purchasing categories and supply chain structure. We will screen for materiality before proposing a full data collection effort.
Start Scope 3 mapping →