GHG Protocol
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) consists of a series of standards for businesses’ and governments’ accounting and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG Protocol for businesses includes a main standard (Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard) and three other standards covering the accounting of climate change mitigation (Project Protocol), the value chain (Corporate Value Chain - Scope 3 - Standard) and the emissions of a product's full life cycle (Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard).
The elements of the main standard include the GHG Accounting and Reporting Principles (relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency and accuracy), setting organisational and operational boundaries, identifying, calculating, reporting and verifying GHG emissions.
The classification and calculation of GHG emissions are based on three scopes of application:
- Scope 1: Direct emissions that originated from sources owned or controlled by the organisation
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions resulting from the consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam
- Scope 3: Indirect emissions resulting from upstream and downstream activities of the organisation
See www.ghgprotocol.org for more details.
How the GHG Protocol is used in our services
We rely on the GHG Protocol for our reporting and performance measurement services. In our assurance and validation procedures, we also use the principles and definitions found in the GHG Protocol to validate the calculation and reporting procedures used by our clients. The standard is particularly crucial when assessing a sustainability reporting framework under the ISAE 3410 guidelines.