Glossary›Emissions accounting and measurement›Scope 3 category (the 15 categories)
Glossary term
Cluster D · D5
Tier 1
Scope 3 category (the 15 categories)
Definition
The GHG Protocol divides Scope 3 into fifteen categories, eight upstream and seven downstream, so that value chain emissions are classified consistently and no activity is counted twice. Each category has a defined minimum boundary. An organisation must consider all fifteen and disclose which of them its reported Scope 3 figure includes.
· paragraph 29(a)(vi), Appendix B paragraph B32, Appendix D category list · first disclosed in the second annual reporting period
On this page
In practice
The category structure is often treated as a taxonomy for tidiness. It is not. It does three specific jobs, and understanding them is what turns a Scope 3 exercise from an open-ended research project into a bounded one.
It bounds the population. Without categories, “value chain emissions” has no edges and no entity could ever demonstrate completeness. Fifteen named categories turn an infinite question into fifteen finite ones, each answerable yes, no or immaterial.
It prevents internal double counting. Each category carries a minimum boundary in the Scope 3 Standard specifying what must be inside it. That table is the mechanism that stops the same purchased good being counted in both Category 1 and Category 4, or the same building appearing in both Category 2 and Category 8. Where two categories could plausibly hold the same activity, the boundaries decide, not the preparer.
It makes the disclosure legible. A total tonnage tells a reader nothing about a business. The same number distributed across categories tells them immediately whether they are looking at a procurement-heavy service business, a capital-intensive one or a manufacturer whose product does the emitting.
Two structural facts follow from where the categories come from. They do not appear in the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard at all: they were introduced by the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard in 2011. And AASB S2 adopts them by reference: Appendix D lists the fifteen categories as described in that 2011 standard, and Appendix B paragraph B32 requires an entity to consider all fifteen.
The upstream and downstream split runs eight to seven, divided by the direction of the commercial relationship rather than by physical position.
Half
Categories
What they cover
Upstream
1 to 8
Purchased goods and services; capital goods; fuel and energy related activities not already in Scope 1 or 2; upstream transportation and distribution; waste generated in operations; business travel; employee commuting; upstream leased assets
Downstream
9 to 15
Downstream transportation and distribution; processing of sold products; use of sold products; end-of-life treatment of sold products; downstream leased assets; franchises; investments
Transport and leasing each appear on both sides, which is where misallocation usually happens.
The consideration-versus-inclusion distinction is the one to hold onto. Considering all fifteen is mandatory. Measuring all fifteen is not. Paragraph 29(a)(vi) requires disclosure of the categories included, which means an entity’s category list is itself a disclosure a reader can interrogate, and a manufacturer of energy-consuming products whose list omits Category 11 is making a statement whether it intends to or not.
What the assurer does with it
The assurer treats the category list as a completeness assertion, not a formatting choice. They ask for the screening document covering all fifteen and check that each has a recorded position with a basis.
They then apply a sector-plausibility test, which is cheap and effective. A manufacturer with no Category 11. A distributor with no Category 4. A business with a capital programme and no Category 2. An entity with joint ventures or a treasury portfolio and no Category 15. Each of those is a question they will ask directly, and the answer needs to be in the file rather than assembled in the meeting.
For each included category they test the boundary applied against the minimum boundary in the Scope 3 Standard. A Category 1 figure covering only direct materials, when the minimum boundary covers all purchased goods and services, is incomplete no matter how well the materials are measured.
Then they test the seams between categories, because that is where activities get lost or duplicated. Freight the entity paid for sitting in both Category 1 and Category 4. Leased assets sitting in both Scope 1 and Category 8. The same joint venture in both Scope 1 and 2 and Category 15.
They accept a documented position on all fifteen with the included list matching what the calculation actually contains. They reject a category list that does not reconcile to the inventory, a category reported on a narrower boundary than the minimum with no disclosure, and an omission recorded as “not applicable” where the activity plainly exists.
Commonly confused with
The three scopes. Categories subdivide Scope 3 only; Scope 1 and Scope 2 have no categories. Also confused with the ISO 14064-1 category numbering, which runs one to six and covers direct and indirect emissions together: an ISO “category 3” and a GHG Protocol “Category 3” are unrelated things and a basis of preparation that mixes the two numbering systems is genuinely ambiguous.
Timing and relief
The Appendix C paragraph C4(b) first-year Scope 3 relief applies to the whole of Scope 3 and therefore to all fifteen categories together. There is no relief that applies to some categories and not others, and no mechanism for phasing categories in across years other than materiality. An entity that excludes a category on materiality in one year and includes it later has a restatement event, not a phased implementation.
Sources
1
2
Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard, full text
GHG Protocol
3
Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard (2011)
GHG Protocol
Review status
Review required
Last reviewed
15 September 2026
Editorial pass, unsigned
Reviewer required
Carbon accounting specialist
Next scheduled review
1 July 2027
Part of
Cluster D, Emissions accounting and measurement
49 terms from the head term carbon accounting down to individual Scope 3 categories and the mechanics of factors, boundaries and data quality. The largest cluster in the glossary.
Related terms
The parent term the fifteen categories subdivide
How an entity moves a category from considered to measured
The eight to seven split and the transport and leasing traps
Related questions
How do we work out which Scope 3 categories are material for us?
−
You screen all fifteen GHG Protocol categories, estimate each roughly off accounts payable spend, and document why you included or excluded each one. The screen is the deliverable as much as the answer, because the practitioner will test the reasoning behind an exclusion at least as hard as the numbers behind an inclusion. Expect the answer to be concentrated in a handful of categories.
Do we have to report Scope 3 in year one?
+
No. AASB S2 gives first-time reporters relief from disclosing Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions in their first annual reporting period, and Scope 3 is required from the second year. Taking the relief in year one is normal, but the supplier data work needs to start in year one anyway.
Other terms in this cluster
Scope 3 category (the 15 categories)