Carbon accounting sounds complicated. Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3, GHG Protocol, DEFRA factors — the jargon alone is enough to make most business owners close the tab.
But the core concept is simple: your business burns fuel, uses electricity, and generates waste. All of these produce CO₂. We just need to measure how much.
This guide explains each scope in plain English, tells you exactly what data you need to collect, and shows you how to calculate it for free.
What Are the Three Scopes?
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard — the globally accepted framework for measuring business emissions — divides emissions into three categories:
Scope 1 — Direct Emissions (What You Burn)
These are emissions from sources your business owns or controls directly. If you burn it, it's Scope 1.
- Natural gas for heating (boilers, furnaces)
- Heating oil / diesel for heating
- Petrol or diesel in company-owned vehicles
- LPG used on-site
Data you need: gas bills (m³ per year), fuel receipts (litres), vehicle logbooks (km or litres consumed).
Scope 2 — Indirect Emissions (Electricity You Buy)
When you use electricity from the grid, a power station somewhere burned fuel to generate it. Those emissions are “indirect” but still attributed to your business.
- Electricity from your electricity bill (kWh)
- District heating or cooling purchased from a provider
Data you need:electricity bills (kWh per year). The emission factor varies significantly by country — France's nuclear grid is much cleaner than Poland's coal-heavy grid.
Scope 3 — Value Chain Emissions (Everything Else)
Scope 3 covers indirect emissions from activities not owned or controlled by your business but connected to it. This is usually the largest category.
- Business travel — flights, trains, rental cars
- Employee commuting — how your staff travel to work
- Waste — landfill waste and recycling
- Purchased goods & services (advanced — not required for ESRS VSME basic level)
Data you need: flight km (check travel expense reports), employee survey on commute distance and mode, waste disposal invoices (kg).
How Emission Factors Work
An emission factor converts a physical unit (like m³ of gas or kWh of electricity) into kgCO₂e. The most widely used source for EU businesses is DEFRA 2024(the UK Government's conversion factors, widely accepted across Europe for GHG Protocol reporting).
Example conversion factors:
- Natural gas: 2.04 kgCO₂e per m³
- Electricity (Germany): 0.364 kgCO₂e per kWh
- Electricity (France): 0.052 kgCO₂e per kWh
- Diesel vehicle: 0.163 kgCO₂e per km
- Short-haul flight: 0.255 kgCO₂e per km
So if your office in Germany uses 10,000 kWh of electricity per year, that's 10,000 × 0.364 = 3,640 kgCO₂e (3.64 tonnes).
Step-by-Step: How to Calculate Your Footprint
Step 1 — Collect Your Data
Before you open any calculator, gather:
- Last 12 months of energy bills (gas in m³, electricity in kWh)
- Company vehicle fuel receipts or km logs
- Business travel reports (flight distances or destinations)
- Approximate employee count and average commute distance by transport mode
- Waste disposal weight from your waste contractor
Don't have exact numbers? Estimates are fine for your first calculation. Accuracy improves over time as you build better data collection habits.
Step 2 — Choose a Reporting Period
Most businesses report annually (calendar year or financial year). You can also report monthly or quarterly if you want more granular tracking.
Step 3 — Enter Your Data into a Calculator
You can use our free Scope 1, 2 & 3 calculator — no sign-up required. It takes about 5 minutes. The calculator applies DEFRA 2024 emission factors automatically based on your country and gives you a breakdown by scope.
If you prefer a spreadsheet, the GHG Protocol website provides free Excel templates, though they require more manual factor lookup.
Step 4 — Review Your Results
Your output should be:
- Scope 1 total in tCO₂e
- Scope 2 total in tCO₂e
- Scope 3 total in tCO₂e
- Grand total in tCO₂e
A typical European SMB with 20 employees produces 30–150 tCO₂e per year. Manufacturing businesses are higher; professional services firms are lower.
Step 5 — Generate a Report
For CSRD compliance or supplier ESG questionnaires, you'll need a formal PDF report showing your methodology, emission factors used, and totals. EmissionPlan generates this automatically from your calculator inputs — create a free account to save your data and download your report.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using the wrong electricity factor — France and Poland have dramatically different grid intensities. Always use your country's specific factor.
- Ignoring Scope 3 — For many service businesses, employee commuting and business travel are 60–80% of total emissions. Leaving these out gives a misleading picture.
- Reporting only one year — Year-over-year comparison is what stakeholders actually want to see. Start tracking now even if the numbers aren't perfect.
- Mixing units — Make sure all inputs are in consistent units (litres, not gallons; km, not miles).
What's the Difference Between kgCO₂e and tCO₂e?
CO₂e stands for “CO₂ equivalent” — a standard unit that combines all greenhouse gases (CO₂, methane, nitrous oxide) into a single comparable number.
1 tCO₂e = 1,000 kgCO₂e. Most CSRD reports express totals in tonnes (tCO₂e).
Free Tools to Calculate Your Emissions
- EmissionPlan Free Calculator — Scope 1, 2 & 3, 15 EU countries, DEFRA 2024 factors, instant results
- GHG Protocol free Excel tools — more complex, good for large organisations
- UK Government DEFRA conversion factors spreadsheet — raw factor data