Scopes and emissions

Scope 1, 2 and 3, the 15 Scope 3 categories, location- and market-based electricity, data quality, approvals and locked years.

ESG follows the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. Every data line belongs to one scope.

The three scopes

Scope 1 - direct: fuels you burn (generators, boilers, vehicles you own), refrigerant leaks from air conditioning and cold rooms, and process emissions.
Scope 2 - energy bought: electricity, heat and steam.
Scope 3 - value chain: everything else, in 15 categories - purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel- and energy-related activities, freight, waste, business travel, employee commuting, leased assets, and downstream categories such as the use of sold products.

How a line is worked out

Quantity x emission factor = kg CO₂e. A line keeps the factor value it used, so changing a factor later never rewrites a locked year. Units convert by themselves (litres and m³, kWh, MWh and GJ, kg and tonnes, km and miles).

Spend lines are money x a spend factor. The library's spend factors are per US dollar; ESG converts your currency at the rate in Settings > Preferences ("Your currency per 1 US dollar").

Electricity: two figures

Location-based uses your grid's average factor (the CEA factor for India).
Market-based uses your contract: tick Renewable for solar, a green tariff or certificates (zero), or type your supplier's factor under More.

Reports show both.

Data quality

Each line is measured (bills, meters, litres), calculated (from other records) or estimated (spend-based, averages). The GHG inventory shows the share of each, so you can see where better data helps most.

Approvals and locked years (Business)

Turn on Settings > Preferences > Lines added by Data contributors wait for approval: their lines show as Waiting and count only once a manager approves them (Emissions data > Waiting for approval).

Send a year for review (only managers can change it) and lock it when its report is done (Settings > Reporting years & sites). Nothing in a locked year can change until it's opened again.