<aside> 💡 An activity refers to any action taken by your organization at any point in the value chain, such as sourcing raw materials, employing workers, and burning fuels, among others, that contributes to the emission of carbon (GHG) either directly (scope 1) or indirectly (scope 2&3).

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In order to estimate the total emissions from each activity, there is a need to:

1. Allocate the appropriate emission factor, by the source type, and in some cases by country as well.
2. Get additional activity data, such as an amount.

The result of the estimate will be the multiplication of the activity data by the corresponding emission factors. The result presented in units of kg CO2e.

<aside> 💡 An emission factor is a value that estimates the quantity of a GHG released into the atmosphere, per unit related to a particular activity. More about emission factors.

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🗂️ Category

To ensure accurate carbon accounting and reporting, according to the GHG Protocol, every activity must be linked to an appropriate category. The GHG Protocol standard provides clear differentiation between the 15 categories of scope 3, whereas for scopes 1 and 2, a more detailed breakdown is unnecessary for annual report. Nevertheless, in accordance with common practices and the GHG Protocol tool, Vert categorizes scopes 1 and 2 into distinct categories as well. We also added clearer names:

To learn more about the different categories read here.

Scope 1 (direct & owned emissions)

• Stationary combustion (fuel consumption for boilers, generators, turbines, etc.)
• Mobile combustion (fuel consumption for cars)
• Refrigerants (top up HVAC systems)

Scope 2 (indirect & purchased emissions)

• Purchased electricity
• Purchased heat and steam

Scope 3 (indirect emissions, up/downstream in the value chain)

• Purchased goods (raw materials) and services
• Capital Goods (purchased equipment)