Government opens call for evidence on Scope 3 emissions

News

The government has announced that it is seeking evidence on Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions reporting across the country, focussing on the costs, benefits and practicalities. Prospective participants have until 11:59pm on 14 December 2023 to submit their evidence and the government has called for a variety of input, including from UK businesses of all sizes (particularly existing SECR participants), trade associations and academics.

As part of the national policy to pursue net zero and sustainability, the government defines business greenhouse gas emissions under the GHG Protocol, which contains three parts. Scope 1 is direct emissions from resources a company owns and operates, Scope 2 is indirect emissions from supplier-provided energy, while Scope 3 is all other indirect emissions created by a business’ supply chain. As has been previously reported, Scope 3 emissions account for 70% of organisations’ CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Current rules say that some firms must report scope 1+2 as part of SECR obligations, and some questions in this call for evidence will act as the post-implementation review for these rules. The consultation makes several references to the ISSB standards, which adds more weight to the thinking that the UK will make these mandatory in future with further consultations to follow next year.

IWFM has been collaborating on a Scope 3 framework for managing Scope 3 carbon emissions, thus moving the workplace and facilities management profession another step closer to being at the heart of the built environment’s decarbonisation pathway. The SFMI project is being collaborated on by IEMA and RICS and several service providers. The tool and its guidance is due out later this year.

IWFM and the Sustainability SIG will engage with the consultation. any member interested in feeding back to the government is welcome to share their response with [email protected].

On the government’s call for evidence regarding Scope 3, Sofie Hooper, Head of Policy and Research at IWFM stated, “This is a really important consultation as it provides us with an opportunity to help shape what is likely to become a mandatory requirement to report on Scope 3 in the future. Not only is it an opportunity to influence policy, but we can help outline the pivotal impact the FM sector and profession makes towards realising net zero.”

IWFM is proud to offer a number of resources, such as courses and the Inenco toolkit, which enable FMs to get up to speed with the latest sustainability challenges.

To learn more about the questions the government is asking, how to take part and what the evidence will be used for, click here.

To discover the key issues related to Scope 3 emissions, access webinars on-demand by the IWFM Sustainability SIG:

'Scope 3: building a greenhouse gas inventory'

‘Scope 3: developing a greenhouse gas roadmap and target’