Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions

The scope classification, from the GHG Protocol, splits an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions into three categories. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from purchased energy. Scope 3 covers all other indirect value-chain emissions, upstream and downstream, and is generally the largest and hardest to measure. For an insurer, scope 3 includes emissions financed by its investments and, more controversially, emissions associated with underwritten risks. This perimeter is where most of a financial actor's real footprint lies, and it is also where data is most uncertain, leaving net zero commitments vulnerable to greenwashing criticism when they exclude scope 3.

For a bank or insurer, financed scope 3 emissions often exceed operational scope 1 and 2 emissions by several hundred times.

scope 3, émissions financées, scope 1 2 3, value chain emissions