The Australian Government S Carbon Neutral Program
The Australian Government’s Carbon Neutral Program
Guidance for Scope 3 Calculations
This document is a guide to calculating some common Scope 3 emission sources.
It is aimed to assist participants of the Carbon Neutral Program in developing their carbon inventory.
The calculation approaches referenced below are not intended to be exhaustive. Someof the approaches use emissions factors for broad categories of goods and services and are based on averages. If users have data or methods of calculating emissions that are more representative of their particular purchases, that data should be used instead.
Program participants may also consider using other calculation methodologies more generally, including ones which they have developed themselves, provided they can satisfy the requirements for their independent audit. However, any alternative methodologies used should provide a comparable level of accuracy (or higher) to the ones referenced in this document.
The Department has used its best endeavours to provide hyperlinks to references.
These were current at October 2016. Any feedback on changes to the location of the references in the hyperlinks is welcomed.
Electricity (upstream emissions) /
- NGA Factors (2016)
- Kilowatt hours (kWh) or gigajoules (GJ) of electricity consumed
- Transmission and distribution losses
- Extraction, production and transport of fuels
Gas and liquid fuels (upstream emissions) /
- NGA Factors (2016)
- Gigajoules (GJ) of gas or liquid fuels consumed
- Transmission and distribution losses
- Exploration, production and processing
Base building energy (electricity and gas) /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- NGA Factors (2016)
- Property Council of Australia (2015)
- Kilowatt hours (kWh) or gigajoules (GJ) of electricity consumed
- Gigajoules (GJ) of gas consumed
- Occupied floor space as a proportion of total building floor space (%)
- Vacancy rate (optional)
This is calculated by multiplying the base building energy usage by the proportion of overall floor space that is occupied by the user. For the full equation, please refer to the EPA Victoria (2012–13) reference document.
Users may additionally want to consider factoring in vacancy rates, using either building specific data or location based averages. Office vacancy data can be obtained through the Property Council of Australia (2015) reference document.
Flights /
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2013)
- Kilometres travelled per person (km/p)
- Flight class (first, business, economy)
- Flight category (short haul, medium haul, long haul)
The reference document (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2013) is available for download in a spreadsheet format. The methodology description and the relevant emissions factors can be found under the 'Business travel - air' tab in thespreadsheet.
Taxis /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- Australian Taxi Industry Association (2015)
- Expenditure on taxi travel
When calculating taxi travel that has taken place outside of Victoria, other state specific assumptions in the equation for calculating the emissions factor will also need to be updated. This information, such as average fare per taxi kilometre and the taxi fleet vehicle mix, is available on the Australian Taxi Industry Association website (ATIA, 2015).
For organisations with taxi travel in multiple states and territories, an Australian based national average may be used instead.
Assumptions based on the ATIA statistics may also be used to form the basis of estimates for international taxi travel.
Private vehicles/Rental
(method 1) /
- NGA Factors (2016)
- Litres consumed
The activity data in litres will need to be multiplied by the relevant ‘energy content factor’ before being multiplied by the emission factor. Note that the emission factor is given in three separate components for CO2, CH4 and N20. These components will need to be added together to get the total CO2-e for the type of fuel combusted. For example:
The activity data states that 1000L of gasoline was used by a rental vehicle. The energy content factor of gasoline is given as 34.2 GJ/kL. Hence the 1000L of gasoline equates to 34.2 GJ of energy.
The emission factors for the relative components of CO2, CH4 and N20 produced by combustion of one GJ of gasoline are 66.7, 0.6 and 2.3 kg CO2-e/GJ respectively. The total emission factor will be the aggregate of all three components, which gives 69.6 kg CO2-e/GJ.
34.2 GJ of energy hence equates to 34.2 x 69.6 kg CO2-e, giving a total of 2,380.32 kg CO2-e.
Once the emissions from the combustion of the fuel has been calculated, the extraction, production and transportation of the transport fuel will also need to be taken into account and added to the total emissions from the combustion. Refer to the table in the NGA factors (2016) for ‘Scope 3 emission factors – liquid fuels and certain petroleum based products’.
Private vehicles/Rental
(method 2) /
- Australian Green Vehicle Guide (2015)
- Km travelled
- Vehicle make and model
This calculator requires the user to manually enter the CO2 emissions rate per kilometre, fuelconsumption rate and kilometres travelled.
The first two of these inputs (CO2 g/km; Fuel L/100km) can be searched on the Green Vehicle Guide’s database (Australian Green Vehicle Guide, 2015) by entering the vehicle’s year, make and model.
The database is accessible from the Green Vehicle Guide home page under the ‘Quickly compare up to 3 vehicles’ or the ‘Advanced vehicle search’ sections.
The activity data required is the kilometres travelled. Once all three inputs have been entered, thecalculator will calculate the emissions amount.
Private vehicles/Rental
(method 3) /
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2013)
- Km travelled
- Vehicle class (by size or market segment)
The reference document (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2013) is available for download in a spreadsheet format. The methodology description and the relevant emissions factors can be found under the 'Passenger vehicles' tab in thespreadsheet.
Travel accommodation (domestic) /
- Department of Climate Change
and Energy
Efficiency (2012) - Australian Bureau of Statistics
(2013-14) - NGA Factors (2016)
- Number of nights stayed
- Hotel star rating
- Location of stays
(by State or Territory)
There are three main steps in this methodology. Theseare calculating the energy intensity per square metre, the energy intensity per hotel room, and the final conversion from energy consumed to emissions.
Continued...
(travel accommodation, domestic) / This methodology for calculating emissions for hotel stay accommodation has three steps. The steps are described under each of the subheadings below.
Energy intensity
The reference document (Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2012) provides the average intensity (megajoules per square metre, perannum) of accommodation in Table 6.4, brokendown by State and Territory.
In order to convert the intensity from per annum to per night’s stay, the ABS national room occupancy rate can be used (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013–14).
For example:
The occupancy rate for the June Quarter of 2014 is 64.2%.
The energy intensity of 1m2 of hotel accommodation in NSW (Capital City) is 1478MJ per annum.
The energy intensity of the same accommodation per night stay is therefore calculated by dividing 1,478MJ/m2 by the number of days in the year and then multiplied by the occupancy rate (i.e. 64.2% of365).
Hotel rooms
The reference document (Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2012) estimates the floorspace of a typical hotel room to be the following, based on hotel star ratings:
- 1-2 star hotel/motel rooms, 35m2 per room
- 3 star hotel/motel rooms, 40m2 per room
- 4 star hotel/motel rooms, 70m2 per room
- 5 star hotel/motel rooms, 85m2 per room
Emissions Calculation
To calculate the emissions associated with the energy used by a room per night, the amount of MJ will need to be converted to emissions based on the relevant NGA emissions factor for gas and grid electricity.
The reference document (Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, 2012) indicates that electricity and natural gas accounts for 65%and 35% of total hotel energy use, respectively. Therefore,65%of the MJ amount should be converted to emissions using the electricity factor and 35%using the natural gas factor (NGA Factors, 2016).
Travel accommodation (international) /
- Intercontinental Hotels Group (2014)
- Hilton (2014)
- Swissôtel (2012–14)
- Hotel brand
- Number of nights stayed
Hotel brands and groups who are signatories to the Clean Development Mechanism are more likely to have calculated the carbon emissions associated with their occupied rooms.
Where appropriate emissions intensity data is not available for the specific brand of hotel or hotels visited, or the user’s data does not currently record the brand of hotels in a manageable way, the emissions intensity of another hotel brand may be used (provided this is disclosed in the "Assumptions and Limitations" section of the user's Public Disclosure Summary). Users seeking to do this should consider applying an uplift factor to ensure the estimate is conservative, and to take into account the possibility those organisations who report their emissions are likely to be more energy efficient than their peers in the same sector.
Waste /
- NGA Factors (2016)
- Waste stream
- Waste type
Waste types included are:
- Food
- Paper and cardboard
- Garden and green
- Wood
- Textiles
- Sludge
- Nappies
- Rubber and leather
- Inert waste (including concrete /metal/
plastics/glass) - Alternative waste treatment residues
- Municipal solid waste
- Commercial and industrial waste
- Construction and demolition waste
Water including wastewater
(water users in Victoria) /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- Water consumed
This emissions factor takes into account both upstream supply and downstream treatment of wastewater.
Water including wastewater
(water users in other major urban areas) /
- National Water Commission
(2012–13)
- Water consumed
- Location (by major
urban area)
The key data it provides for calculating the relevant emissions factor for your major urban area are:
- Average annual residential water supplied (kL/property) by major urban area; and
- Total net annual greenhouse gas emissions (per 1000 properties)
For example:
In 2012–13, the total net emissions for the Sydney major urban area was 85 tonnes CO2-e per 1000properties. This equates to 0.085 tonnes (or 85 kilograms) per property.
The average annual amount of water supplied to a property in Sydney, during the same period, was198kilolitres.
Therefore the emissions associated with 198 kilolitres of water supplied in Sydney was 85 kilograms. One kilolitre of water is then 85 kilograms divided by 198, giving an emissions factor of 0.429kg CO2-e/kL.
This emissions factor takes into account both upstream supply and downstream treatment of wastewater.
Office paper /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- Weight of paper consumed
- Origin of paper (domestic vs. international)
- Recycled content
If the origin of the paper is unknown, the domestic emissions factors should be used as they are higher and would represent a conservative assumption.
Paper products are usually purchased in reams, theweight of which varies between the different size and thickness of the paper inside the reams. Users will need to look up the weight of the different types of reams that they purchase.
Catering /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- Catering expenditure ($)
- Percentage of expenditure spent on catering categories (optional)
Courier
(incl. postage) /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- Courier expenditure ($)
Users may consider using this emissions factor for postage as well if they are unable to locate a relevant emissions factor for postage separately.
Freight /
- Australian Greenhouse Office (2007)
- Weight and distance
of goods freighted - Freight transport
vehicle type
If activity data is not available to this level of detail, conservative assumptions may be made about the split of freighted kilometre-tonnes between the different freight types. For example:
X% rail
Y% light commercial vehicle
Z% articulated trucks
W% air
V% ship
Other supply chain
(incl.
IT equipment, stationery, telecommunications, printing and publishing) /
- Department for Environment
Food & Rural
Affairs (2013)
- Supply chain expenditure($)
The emissions factors convert pounds sterling (£) of expenditure on different categories of goods and services to CO2-e.
The factors relate to 2009 pricing for goods and services in the UK. Users will need to adapt the factors for use with Australian dollars and should consider adjusting for inflation.
Staff commuting /
- EPA Victoria (2012–13)
- Staff travel mode
- Staff travel distance
Activity data will need to be collected (e.g. workplace surveys) to determine the mode of transport used by staff and the average distance travelled for each of those modes.
Note the emissions factors for public transport are based on data for Victorian public transport. Users from other States should consider sourcing relevant local public transport emissions data. If local emissions data is unavailable, the Victorian factors can be used instead.
References:
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013–14)
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013–14. Tourist Accommodation –