Give your customers the emissions data they are asking for.
Suppliers in the field // Tom Poole Photography
Most organisations rely heavily on industry-average emissions factors to account for the emissions associated with the goods and services they buy. These factors are a useful starting point, but they cannot distinguish between suppliers who have genuinely reduced their emissions and those who have not.
A Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor enables a supplier to provide customers with a credible, calculated emissions intensity for the products and services they supply, grounded in real activity data rather than industry averages.
For customers, this means more accurate Scope 3 reporting, better supplier comparison, and stronger evidence to support low-carbon procurement decisions.
What is a Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor?
A Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor is an emissions intensity calculated for a supplier, product or service.
It may be expressed in units such as:
- kgCO₂e per product supplied
- kgCO₂e per tonne, litre, square metre or other physical unit
- kgCO₂e per hour of service
- kgCO₂e per transaction
- kgCO₂e per dollar of spend
or another unit that best reflects how the product or service is purchased and used.
The purpose is simple: to allow a purchasing organisation to account more accurately for the emissions associated with the goods or services it buys.
Why SSEFs matter
Most organisations still calculate much of their supply chain footprint using generic emissions factors. These factors are useful as a starting point, but they do not reliably distinguish between a high-emissions supplier and a lower-emissions supplier within the same category.
That creates a problem.
If two suppliers are accounted for using the same industry-average factor, the purchasing organisation cannot determine which supplier has genuinely reduced emissions. It also risks favouring suppliers whose reported footprint appears lower because of inventory exclusions, weak boundaries or inconsistent methods, rather than because their operations are genuinely lower carbon.
A robust Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor helps solve this problem.
It gives customers a clearer basis for Scope 3 reporting, supplier comparison and low-carbon procurement decisions. It also gives suppliers a credible way to demonstrate the emissions benefit of operational improvements, renewable energy procurement, process changes, fleet transition, material substitution and other decarbonisation actions.
Built for better
Scope 3 data
Under the NoCO2 Net Zero approach, supplier-specific emissions factors are developed within the same quality framework that underpins energy-based and product-based carbon inventories.
This means the boundary is defined, the activity data is structured, the emissions factors are clearly documented, and the rules for allocation and disclosure are consistent with the rest of the NoCO2 Net Zero Standard.
As a result, the resulting SSEF gives customers something they can rely on — not just a single number, but a transparent emissions intensity grounded in method, evidence and disclosure.
Two pathways to a
Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor
CRI provides two pathways for developing Supplier-Specific Emissions Factors.
1. Product or service-specific LCA, PCF or EPD pathway
This pathway is suitable where an organisation needs an emissions factor for a specific product, product range or defined service.
It involves assessing the materials, energy, processes and other inputs associated with the life cycle of the product or service. Depending on the intended use, this may be prepared as a Product Carbon Footprint, Life Cycle Assessment or Environmental Product Declaration.
For product-level factors, the boundary should at minimum cover cradle-to-factory-gate emissions, with land use and land use change included where relevant. Broader life cycle stages may be assessed where appropriate but must be handled carefully to avoid double counting by downstream customers.
This pathway is generally the best option where:
- the organisation wants an emissions factor for a specific product;
- the product has a defined bill of materials or production process;
- the organisation supplies multiple product lines with materially different emissions profiles;
- customers need product-level data rather than a whole-of-organisation factor; or
- the factor will be used in product comparisons, procurement submissions or environmental product disclosures.
2. Organisational allocation pathway using the NoCO2 Net Zero Inventory
This pathway is suitable where an organisation wants to create a supplier-specific factor from its organisational carbon inventory.
CRI prepares a carbon inventory using the NoCO2 Net Zero inventory approach and then allocates the relevant emissions across the organisation's revenue, products, services or other appropriate units of output.
This approach can be particularly useful for service-based organisations, organisations with relatively consistent outputs, or suppliers that want to provide customers with a factor that reflects the emissions intensity of the entire organisation.
Depending on the organisation's activities, the inventory may need to include additional relevant Net Zero Inventory elements beyond upstream Scope 3 categories. CRI confirms the appropriate boundary as part of the assessment.
The process typically includes:
- calculating the organisation's Scope 1 emissions;
- calculating Scope 2 emissions using the appropriate market-based method;
- assessing relevant upstream Scope 3 emissions, including purchased goods and services, capital goods, upstream energy, transport and distribution, waste, business travel, employee commuting and leased assets where applicable;
- reconciling operating expenditure, cost of sales and capital expenditure to the emissions inventory;
- reconciling revenue to products, services or other units of output;
- selecting an appropriate allocation method;
- calculating one or more supplier-specific emissions factors; and
- documenting the methodology, system boundary, inclusions, exclusions, data sources and allocation basis.
What customers receive
A Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor delivers customers a clear, transparent supplier-aligned input.
This typically includes:
- the emissions factor in defined units of output;
- the boundary and method on which it is based;
- an inventory or assessment summary;
- data quality and source documentation;
- treatment of renewable energy and any offsetting; and
- supporting narrative to allow the customer to use the factor in their own Scope 3 reporting with confidence.
What suppliers gain
A robust Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor gives suppliers a credible way to meet customer requirements and to differentiate in the market.
It enables suppliers to:
- respond to customer questionnaires with credible data;
- meet tender and procurement requirements;
- support disclosure to investors and regulators;
- demonstrate the emissions benefit of decarbonisation actions; and
- show customers their own role in supporting wider value chain decarbonisation.
Why use CRI?
CRI has been helping organisations measure, reduce and report emissions since 2006. We bring the same methodological rigour and transparency to Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor work as we do to full organisational and product inventories.
Our approach combines:
- clear, defined boundaries;
- complete and structured inventories;
- appropriate allocation methods;
- transparent treatment of renewable energy and offsetting;
- clear data quality documentation;
- customer-ready outputs; and
- documentation suitable for use in customer Scope 3 disclosures and procurement responses.
Make your emissions data useful to your customers
Supply chain decarbonisation depends on better data.
A Supplier-Specific Emissions Factor turns generic estimates into credible, calculated emissions intensities — giving customers the visibility they need to make low-carbon procurement decisions, and giving suppliers a way to demonstrate the real emissions benefit of the work they are already doing.
Measure with method. Allocate with rigour. Disclose with transparency.
Ready to take real action on climate?
CRI has been helping organisations reduce their emissions since 2006. Let's talk about what a practical pathway looks like for your organisation.
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