How to set Operational Boundaries

Summary: The below extract is from Chapter 4 of the GHG Protocol. This is the formal guidance provided for setting the operational boundary and determining the scope of what will be included in the accounting and reporting.

After a company has determined its organizational boundaries in terms of the operations that it owns or controls, it then sets its operational boundaries. This involves identifying emissions associated with its operations, categorizing them as direct and indirect emissions, and choosing the scope of accounting and reporting for indirect emissions.

For effective and innovative GHG management, setting operational boundaries that are comprehensive with respect to direct and indirect emissions will help a company better manage the full spectrum of GHG risks and opportunities that exist along its value chain.

Direct GHG emissions are emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the company.

Indirect GHG emissions are emissions that are a consequence of the activities of the company but occur at sources owned or controlled by another company.

What is classified as direct and indirect emissions is dependent on the consolidation approach (equity share or control) selected for setting the organizational boundary (see chapter 3). Figure 2 below shows the relationship between the organizational and operational boundaries of a company.

Introducing the concept of “ scope”

To help delineate direct and indirect emission sources, improve transparency, and provide utility for different types of organizations and different types of climate policies and business goals, three “scopes” (scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3) are defined for GHG accounting and reporting purposes. Scopes 1 and 2 are carefully defined in this standard to ensure that two or more companies will not account for emissions in the same scope. This makes the scopes amenable for use in GHG programs where double counting matters.

Companies shall separately account for and report on scopes 1 and 2 at a minimum.

Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions

Direct GHG emissions occur from sources that are owned or controlled by the company, for example, emissions from combustion in owned or controlled boilers, furnaces, vehicles, etc.; emissions from chemical production in owned or controlled process equipment.

Direct CO2 emissions from the combustion of biomass shall not be included in scope 1 but reported separately (see chapter 9).

GHG emissions not covered by the Kyoto Protocol, e.g. CFCs, NOx, etc. shall not be included in scope 1 but may be reported separately (see chapter 9).

Scope 2: Electricity indirect GHG emissions

Scope 2 accounts for GHG emissions from the generation of purchased electricity2 consumed by the company. Purchased electricity is defined as electricity that is purchased or otherwise brought into the organizational boundary of the company. Scope 2 emissions physically occur at the facility where electricity is generated.

Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions

Scope 3 is an optional reporting category that allows for the treatment of all other indirect emissions. Scope 3 emissions are a consequence of the activities of the company, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the company. Some examples of scope 3 activities are extraction and production of purchased materials; transportation of purchased fuels; and use of sold products and services.

An operational boundary defines the scope of direct and indirect emissions for operations that fall within a company’s established organizational boundary.

The operational boundary (scope 1, scope 2, scope 3) is decided at the corporate level after setting the organizational boundary. The selected operational boundary is then uniformly applied to identify and categorize direct and indirect emissions at each operational level (see Box 2). The established organizational and operational bound- aries together constitute a company’s inventory boundary.

Accounting and reporting on scopes

Companies account for and report emissions from scope 1 and 2 separately. Companies may further subdivide emissions data within scopes where this aids transparency or facilitates comparability over time.

For example, they may subdivide data by business unit/facility, country, source type (stationary combustion, process, fugitive, etc.), and activity type (production of electricity, consumption of electricity, generation or purchased electricity that is sold to end users, etc.).

In addition to the six Kyoto gases, companies may also provide emissions data for other GHGs (e.g., Montreal Protocol gases) to give context to changes in emission levels of Kyoto Protocol gases. Switching from a CFC to HFC, for example, will increase emissions of Kyoto Protocol gases. Information on emissions of GHGs other than the six Kyoto gases may be reported separately from the scopes in a GHG public report.

Together the three scopes provide a comprehensive accounting framework for managing and reducing direct and indirect emissions. Figure 3 provides an overview of the relationship between the scopes and the activities that generate direct and indirect emissions along a company’s value chain.

A company can benefit from efficiency gains throughout the value chain. Even without any policy drivers, accounting for GHG emissions along the value chain may reveal potential for greater efficiency and lower costs (e.g., the use of fly ash as a clinker substitute in the manufacture of cement that reduces downstream emissions from processing of waste fly ash, and upstream emissions from producing clinker). Even if such “win- win” options are not available, indirect emissions reductions may still be more cost effective to accomplish than scope 1 reductions. Thus accounting for indirect emissions can help identify where to allocate limited resources in a way that maximizes GHG reduction and return on investment.

Appendix D lists GHG sources and activities along the value chain by scopes for various industry sectors.

Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions

Companies report GHG emissions from sources they own or control as scope 1. Direct GHG emissions are principally the result of the following types of activities undertaken by the company:

Sale of own generated electricity

Emissions associated with the sale of own-generated electricity to another company are not deducted/netted from scope 1. This treatment of sold electricity is consistent with how other sold GHG intensive products are accounted, e.g., emissions from the production of sold clinker by a cement company or the production of scrap

Scope 2: Electricity indirect GHG emissions

Companies report the emissions from the generation of purchased electricity that is consumed in its owned or controlled equipment or operations as scope 2. Scope 2 emissions are a special category of indirect emissions. For many companies, purchased electricity represents one of the largest sources of GHG emissions and the most significant opportunity to reduce these emissions. Accounting for scope 2 emissions allows companies to assess the risks and opportunities associated with changing electricity and GHG emissions costs. Another important reason for companies to track these emissions is that the information may be needed for some GHG programs.

Companies can reduce their use of electricity by investing in energy efficient technologies and energy conservation. Additionally, emerging green power markets provide opportunities for some companies to switch to less GHG intensive sources of electricity. Companies can also install an efficient on site co-generation plant, particularly if it replaces the purchase of more GHG intensive electricity from the grid or electricity supplier. Reporting of scope 2 emissions allows transparent accounting of GHG emissions and reductions associated with such opportunities.

Indirect emissions associated with transmission and distribution

Electric utility companies often purchase electricity from independent power generators or the grid and resell it to end-consumers through a transmission and distribution (T&D) system. A portion of the electricity purchased by a utility company is consumed (T&D loss) during its transmission and distribution to end-consumers (see Box 3).

Consistent with the scope 2 definition, emissions from the generation of purchased electricity that is consumed during transmission and distribution are reported in scope 2 by the company that owns or controls the T&D operation. End consumers of the purchased electricity do not report indirect emissions associated with T&D losses in scope 2 because they do not own or control the T&D operation where the electricity is consumed (T&D loss).

This approach ensures that there is no double counting within scope 2 since only the T&D utility company will account for indirect emissions associated with T&D losses in scope 2. Another advantage of this approach is that it adds simplicity to the reporting of scope 2 emissions by allowing the use of commonly available emission factors that in most cases do not include T&D losses.

End consumers may, however, report their indirect emissions associated with T&D losses in scope 3 under the category “generation of electricity consumed in a T&D system.” Appendix A provides more guidance on accounting for emissions associated with T&D losses.

Other Electricity Related Indirect Emissions

Indirect emissions from activities upstream of a company’s electricity provider (e.g., exploration, drilling, flaring, transportation) are reported under scope 3.

Emissions from the generation of electricity that has been purchased for resale to end-users are reported in scope 3 under the category “generation of electricity that is purchased and then resold to end users.” Emissions from the generation of purchased electricity for resale to non- end-users (e.g., electricity traders) may be reported separately from scope 3 in “optional information.”

The following two examples illustrate how GHG emissions are accounted for from the generation, sale, and purchase of electricity.

Scope 3

Describe the value chain:

Because the assessment of scope 3 emissions does not require a full life cycle assessment, it is important, for the sake of transparency, to provide a general description of the value chain and the associated GHG sources. For this step, the scope 3 categories listed can be used as a checklist. Companies usually face choices on how many levels up- and down- stream to include in scope 3. Consideration of the company’s inventory or business goals and relevance of the various scope 3 categories will guide these choices.

Determine which scope 3 categories are relevant. Only some types of upstream or downstream emissions categories might be relevant to the company. They may be relevant for several reasons:

The following examples may help decide which scope 3 categories are relevant to the company:

Identify partners along the value chain

Identify any partners that contribute potentially significant amounts of GHGs along the value chain (e.g., customers /users, product designers /manufacturers, energy providers, etc.). This is important when trying to identify sources, obtain relevant data, and calculate emissions.

Quantify scope 3 emissions.

While data availability and reliability may influence which scope 3 activities are included in the inventory, it is accepted that data accuracy may be lower. It may be more important to understand the relative magnitude of and possible changes to scope 3 activities. Emission estimates are acceptable as long as there is transparency with regard to the estimation approach, and the data used for the analysis are adequate to support the objectives of the inventory. Verification of scope 3 emissions will often be difficult and may only be considered if data is of reliable quality.

Leased assets, outsourcing, and franchises

The selected consolidation approach (equity share or one of the control approaches) is also applied to account for and categorize direct and indirect GHG emissions from contractual arrangements such as leased assets, outsourcing, and franchises. If the selected equity or control approach does not apply, then the company may account for emissions from the leased assets, outsourcing, and franchises under scope 3. Specific guidance on leased assets is provided below:

Using Equity Share or Financial Control

The lessee only accounts for emissions from leased assets that are treated as wholly owned assets in financial accounting and are recorded as such on the balance sheet (i.e., finance or capital leases).

Using Operational Control

The lessee only accounts for emissions from leased assets that it operates (i.e., if the operational control criterion applies).

Guidance on which leased assets are operating and which are finance leases should be obtained from the company accountant. In general, in a finance lease, an organization assumes all rewards and risks from the leased asset, and the asset is treated as wholly owned and is recorded as such on the balance sheet. All leased assets that do not meet those criteria are operating leases. Figure 5 illustrates the application of consolidation criteria to account for emissions from leased assets.

Double counting

Concern is often expressed that accounting for indirect emissions will lead to double counting when two different companies include the same emissions in their respective inventories. Whether or not double counting occurs depends on how consistently companies with shared ownership or trading program administrators choose the same approach (equity or control) to set the organizational boundaries. Whether or not double counting matters, depends on how the reported information is used.

Double counting needs to be avoided when compiling national (country) inventories under the Kyoto Protocol, but these are usually compiled via a top-down exercise using national economic data, rather than aggregation of bottom-up company data. Compliance regimes are more likely to focus on the “point of release” of emissions (i.e., direct emissions) and/or indirect emissions from use of electricity. For GHG risk management and voluntary reporting, double counting is less important.

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard is designed to prevent double counting of emissions between different companies within scope 1 and 2. For example, the scope 1 emissions of company A (generator of electricity) can be counted as the scope 2 emissions of company B (end-user of electricity) but company A’s scope 1 emissions cannot be counted as scope 1 emissions by company C (a partner organization of company A) as long as company A and company C consistently apply the same control or equity share approach when consolidating emissions.

Similarly, the definition of scope 2 does not allow double counting of emissions within scope 2, i.e., two different companies cannot both count scope 2 emissions from the purchase of the same electricity. Avoiding this type of double counting within scope 2 emissions makes it a useful accounting category for GHG trading programs that regulate end users of electricity.

When used in external initiatives such as GHG trading, the robustness of the scope 1 and 2 definitions combined with the consistent application of either the control or equity share approach for defining organizational boundaries allows only one company to exercise ownership of scope 1 or scope 2 emissions.