What are scopes 1, 2 and 3?

There is a lot of talk about Scope 1, 2 and 3 in the media and in communications from different companies. In the context of sustainability, it is about how a company reports its greenhouse gas emissions. One standard for reporting emissions is the GHG Protocol. It divides the company's emissions into three different dimensions (scopes).

Scope 1
Scope 1 includes the emissions that occur directly in the company's own operations. For example, from production in own factories.

Scope 2
Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from the production of purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling consumed by the reporting company.

Scope 3
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company's value chain but that the company does not own or control. Scope 3 is voluntary to report and it is in scope 3 that it becomes very difficult for many companies to get a comprehensive picture. For most companies, this is also where the majority of all emissions come from.