Scope 3 Emissions of 2,000 Companies and 19,000 Subsegments

Abstract Scope 3 emissions have emerged as a standard metric for evaluating corporate responsibility toward climate change. These emissions are associated with activities not directly controlled by a company but that occur within its value chain. However, reporting Scope 3 emissions faces significant challenges due to varying system boundaries and the divergence in emission factors used for estimation. This leads to difficulties in comparing and standardizing these reports across different companies. Here, we estimate Scope 3 emissions for approximately 2,000 global companies in a comparable format, using an enterprise-level global supply chain database. Our comparison of these estimates with the companies' own reports revealed a significant disparity in the accuracy of Scope 3 emissions reporting. Additionally, the analysis shows that companies reporting Scope 3 emissions had lower emission factors on average compared to those not reporting. This study marks the first comprehensive effort to enable the comparison of Scope 3 emissions across companies. These comparisons facilitate investment decisions and consumption behaviors that consider corporate responsibility toward climate change. Additionally, the extension of this analysis could simplify the process for companies to report their Scope 3 emissions.