top of page

Scope 4: what is it and how to measure

When talking about emissions your probably heard about scopes 1, 2 and 3. But have you heard about Scope 4 ?


Scope 4 emissions is an emerging term for categorizing emission reduction enabled by the company.

Scope 4 emissions are the avoided emissions happening outside of a product's life cycle or value chain.

Scope 4 emissions are driven by efficiency improvements or reductions in carbon-emitting activities.


Challenge is the ability to measure them. They emerge as the new disclosure frontier for investors to ponder.


What about related quality of bank credit given ? Or for real estate organizations, their efforts towards efficiency improvements within buildings ? Measures taken to work from home, and avoid commuting ? Efforts undertaken to develop beneficial climate-related new technologies and products ? A fast track for related patents ?


Decisions and attitudes ? Attention with the greenwashing ?


As indicated in an article by ESG Clarity, "Scope 4 is not an official category of the GHG protocol and does not count towards a company’s overall Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions reductions. Rather, Scope 4 is a theoretical calculation that is measured through a reference scenario, usually comparing products to the average market solution, a solution previously in place, and/or a previous generation of a product." And they conclude "For investors, taking into account Scope 4 disclosures therefore not only makes sense from a sustainability point of view, but can also make financial sense as it shows the true added value a company is making to the ESG agenda".


All in all, mind also Scope 4 emissions ... sometimes referred to as Scope X.


Click on the image below (Reuters Events) to read the full article (in English) at ESGClarity.



 CARBON CREDIT MARKETS

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

“I am among those who think that science has great beauty”

Madame Marie Curie (1867 - 1934) Chemist & physicist. French, born Polish.

 • Weekly newsletters •

bottom of page