What are Scope 3 Emissions?

hat are the greenhouse gas emissions Scopes?

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are categorized into Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions. This helps an organization understand potential areas of focus to have the largest impact for emissions reduction. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are often calculated using energy bills (gas for Scope 1 and electricity for Scope 2) which is less difficult data to obtain when compared to Scope 3. Scope 3 emissions are where it gets complicated.

Scope 1 Emissions: Direct GHG emissions from sources controlled or owned by an organization.

Scope 2 Emissions: Indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, or cooling.

Scope 3 Emissions: Indirect GHG emissions from assets not owned or controlled by an organization but indirectly affects.

What are Scope 3 emissions?

Scope 3 emissions are essentially everything else that you didn’t include in Scopes 1 and 2 and are considered indirect emissions; meaning emissions created by vehicles, residents and supplies. This includes various sources, which can get complicated fast. Scope 3 includes purchasing items from pencils to generators and their packaging and manufacturing and transportation and resource extraction and disposal and… well you get the point. It’s complicated. It also includes employee transportation, resident in unit consumption and  transportation, waste disposal, construction, etc. 

What about emissions produced by Residents?

Resident in-unit energy consumption is considered Scope 3 emissions, both resident paid gas and electricity when the resident puts the meter in their name.  Resident paid electricity is fairly straightforward, but we understand that gas in the unit may have some confusion between Scope 3 and Scope 1. As an illustration of the difference: if your community is only master metered for natural gas only where one gas meter exists at each building and the units have gas ranges, and the owner pays the gas bill for the building, that gas is considered Scope 1 even if the owner charges their residents for gas through a bill back program. However, if the units are separately metered for gas, and the resident puts the meter into their name for service upon move-in, that is Scope 3. Additionally, waste falls under Scope 3 as the material consumption and its disposal (you can reduce your Scope 3 emissions attributed from trash by having recycling or composting.) 

Do I have to report Scope 3 emissions?

It depends on the type of reporting you are doing. Building Performance Standards (BPS) policies and (most) compliance benchmarking policies require property owners to report whole building energy data, including resident energy usage (and sometimes water usage). However, they do not require other Scope 3 sources such as employee commuting, waste, etc. The purpose of BPS regulation is to increase building operational efficiency to reduce energy consumption and emissions production for the building. Therefore, whole building energy is used to evaluate whole building performance (residents do not control the insulation, windows, materials, fixtures and other aspects of energy efficiency and sustainability of the building.  If you are reporting for investors and using a reporting format like the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (“GRESB”), you will have to produce as much quantifiable data as possible related to your Scope 3 emissions…

What can I do to reduce Scope 3 emissions?

There are many ways an owner can reduce Scope 3 emissions such as starting a recycling and composting programs, sourcing local or sustainably made materials for administrative work or common areas, and educating residents on how they can be more eco-conscious in their spaces. 

However, as stated before, many times it’s the building structure and the systems themselves that are responsible for high energy consumption and the related GHG emissions. This means that the building construction, the fixtures for lighting, heating, and cooling within the units as well as the appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and dryers are major contributors to your Scope 3 emissions. These upgrades can be costly, but there are incentives that can offset some of the capital costs for a better ROI. In the case of LED lighting within the units, this can be a reduction of maintenance requests for your property should your site team be responsible for lamp replacements in the unit. In the case of 1.5 gpm showerheads (which save water and energy to heat water) these may resolve water pressure issues within your building.  Thereby reducing Scope 3 emissions improves operational performance and resident satisfaction.