GHG Inventory Boundary for Food & Beverage
A practical guide to help your company determine minimum inventory scope per GHG Protocol
Scope 1 (Direct Emissions)
- Steam/heat (natural gas)
- Mobile equipment (farm/factory)
- Refrigerant gas leaks
Scope 2 (Indirect Energy Emissions)
- Cold chain electricity
- Process electricity
- Lighting/office
Dual Reporting: Location-based uses regional grid emission factors; market-based uses contractual factors (I-RECs, PPAs). Both approaches must be reported.
Scope 3 (Value Chain Emissions)
- 1Missing agricultural chain emissions (land, fertilizer, livestock)
- 2Not including packaging in Cat1
- 3Only counting cold chain as logistics (missing warehouse)
- 4Not reflecting raw material origin in EF
- 5Ignoring food waste in waste category (Cat5)
- 6Not building proxy for Cat11 (product cooking/preparation)
- 7Not clearly separating Cat4/9
- 8Making Scope 2 market-based claim without documentation
- 9Ignoring travel/commuting
- 10Disconnecting water/waste intensity from financial/GHG integration
Priority Categories
10 categoriesDairy processor
Relevant: Cat1 (milk) + cold chain
Data: liters milk + kWh
Approach: average-data → supplier-specific
livestock chain is large
Packaged food producer
Relevant: Cat1 (raw material + packaging) + Cat5 waste
Data: tonnes raw material + tonnes packaging
Approach: average-data
packaging material variety
Beverage distributor
Relevant: Cat4/9 + cold warehouse
Data: tonne-km + warehouse kWh
Approach: hybrid
cold chain EF
Ready meals
Relevant: Cat1 + Cat11 (cooking)
Data: BOM + usage scenario
Approach: scenario
consumer cooking EF
Brand retail (outsourced production)
Relevant: Cat1 dominant
Data: supplier product quantities
Approach: supplier-specific → hybrid
tier 2–3 visibility
This content is for informational purposes. Your company's reporting scope may expand based on operational reality, reporting standards, assurance requirements, stakeholder expectations, and regulations.