Measuring and Mitigating Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting is now the law in 40 countries across the world, including the United Kingdom, many European Union member states, North America, Australia, Japan and soon South Africa. This course investigates best practices and approaches to measuring and mitigating indirect GHG emissions, also known as Scope 3 emissions. These emissions include all indirect GHG emissions that occur in a value chain and therefore outside the direct control of a typical organization. Supply chain emissions are frequently the largest overall source of an organization's GHG emissions and are becoming an increasingly relevant topic as more companies outsource manufacturing, logistics, and other key functions to third parties. Waste, water use, and GHG emissions are still incurred in bringing products and services to consumers, but they are often not fully accounted for. Proper accounting for these emissions that are known contributors to climate change is coming under increasing scrutiny through major disclosure initiatives including the passage of California Senate Bill 253, The Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act and the European Commission's European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which require businesses to publicly report their GHG emissions. Similar initiatives have also been proposed by the US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) and other regions around the world. Students in this course learn the foundational skills necessary for organizations to comply with these GHG emission disclosures, including how to gather data from disparate sources, how to calculate or estimate emissions, and how the procurement of supplies, services, and travel can be managed to mitigate or even reduce indirect emissions. The course also familiarizes students with leading measurement and goal setting standards (the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Climate Registry, Science Based Targets, and the Carbon Disclosure Project or CDP) and investigates indirect emissions reduction efforts that are underway at several leading Fortune 500 companies as well as universities, municipalities, and government agencies.