A logistics company's biggest slice of Scope 3 is upstream transport

The transportation services — that is, logistics — section of CDP's technical note sets out data from **117 companies** that responded to the 2021 CDP climate change questionnaire for investors. ## Three slices **Category 4, "upstream transportation and distribution"** — stated as one that should be measured and reported, and **the largest share of the sector's Scope 3 at 32%**, or **10%** of total Scope 1+2+3. **Category 3, "fuel- and energy-related activities"** — the extraction, production and transport emissions of the fuel burned in Scope 1. **24%** of Scope 3, **8%** of total Scope 1+2+3. **Category 1, "purchased goods and services"** — vehicle production emissions. **18%** of Scope 3, **6%** of total Scope 1+2+3. ## There is a gap beside the size Something has to be read alongside those figures. Only **a little over half** of responding companies reported category 3 as "relevant, calculated", and **fewer than half** did so for category 1. Which means even the second largest category was being calculated by barely more than half of them. ## Why it does not get calculated Not because the method is unknown. Category 4 can only be calculated if you know how the freight coming to you from a supplier travelled and over which legs. It happened in someone else's vehicle, and without a record of that leg only estimates remain. What separates "relevant, calculated" from "relevant, not calculated" is not willingness but data. ※ This article cites pages 62–63 of CDP's technical note v3.0 (2024-06-28). --- This article expands one section of LCS international standards analysis 2, *Where CDP Puts Transport*. The full report works from the CDP technical note itself (v3.0, 2024-06-28) as its primary source with page numbers given, and does not fill in figures the document does not contain.