Is bio-based plastic lower carbon than fossil plastic?
Not automatically. Bio-based plastic takes its carbon from plants, but farming, fertiliser and processing add emissions, and the end of life matters. Burned, it releases biogenic CO2; sent to landfill, some types can make methane. Ask the supplier for a cradle-to-gate footprint per kg and compare like for like.
Questions to ask
- Cradle-to-gate kg CO2e per kg, with the method.
- Feedstock and where it is grown.
- How the product is disposed of in your market.
How to report it
Count purchased bio-based plastic in Scope 3 Category 1 using the supplier figure, and do not claim stored biogenic carbon as a removal.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads bills, fuel invoices and production records into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its documents.
Sources: GHG Protocol standards, including the Product Standard, GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Last reviewed 2026-10-23.