Scope 3 category 10: processing of sold products

Category 10 "includes emissions from processing of sold intermediate products by third parties (e.g., manufacturers)". It only applies to companies that sell intermediate products, meaning goods that a customer processes further before they reach an end user: steel coil, chemicals, components, flour. It is part of the 15 Scope 3 categories.

What it covers

Your category 10 emissions are your customers' processing emissions: "A reporting company's scope 3 emissions from processing of sold intermediate products include the scope 1 and scope 2 emissions of downstream value chain partners". The emissions "should be allocated to the intermediate product", so you report the share caused by your product, not your customer's whole factory.

Methods

• Site-specific: "determining the amount of fuel and electricity used" (and refrigerant and waste) in processing your product, from your customers, then applying emission factors.
• Average-data: "estimating emissions for processing of sold intermediate products" from average data, such as typical energy per tonne processed, when customer data cannot be collected.

When the end use is unknown

The guidance recognises that "the eventual end use of sold intermediate products may be unknown": a chemical sold through distributors can end up in hundreds of applications. It refers to section 6.4 of the Scope 3 Standard for such cases. If you cannot reasonably estimate category 10, say so and explain why in your report, rather than leaving it silently blank.

Where to start

Begin with your largest product lines and largest customers, ask them for energy use per tonne of your product processed, and fill the rest with average data per process.