Free tool · on-device
Scope 3 screening calculator
An activity-based Scope 3 estimate across business travel, commuting, freight and waste, plus a place to record supplier-reported purchased goods. GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, DEFRA/DESNZ 2024 factors cited per line. Runs entirely in your browser.
- Categories 4, 5, 6, 7 & 9 from physical activity data
- Category 1 from real supplier-reported figures, no invented factor
- Every factor traced to a DEFRA 2024 line
Scope 3 Screening Calculator
Cat 6, Business travel
Cat 7, Employee commuting
Cat 4 / 9, Upstream & downstream transportation
Cat 5, Waste generated in operations
Purchased goods & services · Category 1
Enter Category 1 emissions as reported by your suppliers, already in tonnes CO₂e. This is added to the total unchanged, with no emission factor applied: there is no authoritative India spend-based factor set, so this records real supplier data rather than estimating it.
Results
Your BRSR figure will appear here as you fill in the values above.
Method: GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, activity/distance-based. Factors: DEFRA/DESNZ 2024 GHG Conversion Factors v1.1. Air includes radiative forcing; freight is direct + well-to-tank.
Covers: business travel (Cat 6), commuting (Cat 7), transport & distribution (Cat 4/9) and waste (Cat 5), computed from activity data, plus supplier-reported purchased goods (Cat 1) entered directly.
Scope 3 is a BRSR P6 Leadership indicator, voluntary and not under reasonable assurance. This is a screening estimate; a certified GHG auditor should sign off on final disclosures.
A screening estimate. Scope 3 is a voluntary BRSR Leadership indicator, not assurance-grade. For the assured Scope 1 & 2, see the GHG calculator, or run the full readiness report.
The 15 categories, and which this screens
The GHG Protocol splits Scope 3 into 15 categories. This tool covers the ones you can compute from physical activity data, the four most consultants can actually get numbers for.
Business travel
Flights, rail and road for work trips. Air factors include radiative forcing, the full climate impact of emissions at altitude.
Employee commuting
Staff travel to work by car, two-wheeler, bus or rail. Reuses DEFRA's land-travel factors, the standard practice.
Transport & distribution
Inbound and outbound freight by road, rail, sea or air, on a tonne-km basis (direct + well-to-tank).
Waste in operations
Waste sent to landfill, recycling, combustion or composting, on a per-tonne basis.
Category 1, purchased goods & services, is not estimated with a factor. No authoritative India spend-per-rupee factor set exists, so rather than guess, the calculator lets you enter your suppliers' own reported emissions directly, real primary data, added to the total unchanged.
Activity-based vs spend-based
There are two ways to screen a Scope 3 category. This tool uses the more accurate one and stays honest where the data isn't there.
Activity-based, what this tool does
Multiply a physical quantity, passenger-km flown, tonnes freighted, tonnes to landfill, by a published per-unit factor. More accurate, and every number traces back to a DEFRA line.
Supplier data, for Category 1
For purchased goods, no authoritative India spend-per-rupee factor exists, so instead of guessing we let you enter your suppliers' own reported emissions directly. Real primary data, added to the total unchanged.
The factors, and where they come from
Every factor is a published DEFRA/DESNZ 2024 line, not an estimate. Air travel and air freight include radiative forcing; freight is direct plus well-to-tank.
Cat 6, Business travel
- Air, domestic0.27257/pkm
- Air, short-haul (international)0.18592/pkm
- Air, long-haul0.26128/pkm
- Air, long-haul, business class0.58028/pkm
- Rail (national)0.03546/pkm
- Car (average, unknown fuel)0.16691/km
- Taxi (regular)0.14861/pkm
- Bus (local)0.10846/pkm
Cat 7, Employee commuting
- Car (average, unknown fuel)0.16691/km
- Two-wheeler (motorbike, avg)0.11367/km
- Bus (local)0.10846/pkm
- Rail / metro (national rail)0.03546/pkm
Cat 4 / 9, Upstream & downstream transportation
- Road, HGV (average)0.12111/t·km
- Road, van / LGV (≤3.5t)0.76738/t·km
- Rail freight0.03470/t·km
- Sea, container ship0.01977/t·km
- Air freight, short-haul1.87331/t·km
- Air freight, long-haul1.23420/t·km
Cat 5, Waste generated in operations
- To landfill (mixed C&I)520.334/t
- To recycling6.411/t
- To combustion / EfW6.411/t
- To composting / AD8.884/t
Source: UK Government (DEFRA/DESNZ) Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Conversion Factors 2024, condensed set v1.1 (30 Oct 2024). Refresh against the latest DEFRA/DESNZ set each filing year.
What BRSR expects of Scope 3
Voluntary, for now
Scope 3 sits in Principle 6 as a Leadership indicator. It is not mandatory, and not under reasonable assurance in 2026.
Scope 1 & 2 come first
Those are the assured, mandatory figures. Get them right with the GHG calculator before you screen Scope 3.
A screening is enough
A cited, activity-based estimate is a credible starting point. A certified GHG auditor should sign off final disclosures.
Frequently asked questions
Is Scope 3 mandatory under BRSR?
No. Scope 3 GHG emissions sit in Principle 6 as a Leadership indicator, which makes them voluntary, and they are not among the BRSR Core attributes under reasonable assurance. Many companies report them anyway because customers, investors and frameworks such as CDP ask for them.
Which Scope 3 categories does this cover?
The categories that are computable from physical activity data: Category 4 and 9 (upstream and downstream transportation), Category 5 (waste generated in operations), Category 6 (business travel) and Category 7 (employee commuting). Category 1, purchased goods and services, is recorded from supplier-reported figures rather than estimated, because a spend-based factor for Indian purchasing would be invented rather than cited.
Where do the Scope 3 factors come from?
The UK Government (DEFRA/DESNZ) Greenhouse Gas Reporting Conversion Factors 2024, applied under the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard. Air travel and air freight factors include radiative forcing, and freight factors are combined direct plus well-to-tank, which is the full value-chain basis Scope 3 expects. Every line names the DEFRA entry it came from.
Why use UK factors for an Indian company?
Because India publishes no equivalent national conversion-factor set for travel, freight and waste, and DEFRA's is the set most widely used and most clearly documented. That is a limitation to state in the disclosure rather than hide: the basis is named on every line so a reviewer can see exactly which factor was applied.
Is this a full Scope 3 inventory?
No — it is a screening estimate. It covers the categories derivable from activity data you are likely to have, which is the right first pass, and it deliberately does not model the categories that would need assumptions we cannot cite.