My buyer asks for my own Scope 3, not just Scope 1 and 2. Do small suppliers really need it?

Usually not all of it. A buyer asks because your Scope 1 and 2 leave out the materials and freight behind what you sell them, often the biggest part. Give measured Scope 1 and 2 plus estimates for purchased materials, inbound freight and waste. Downstream categories, such as use of sold products, rarely matter to the buyer.

What the buyer does with your Scope 3

Your goods sit in the buyer's Scope 3 Category 1. The figure it wants there is the cradle-to-gate footprint of what you sold it, which includes your raw materials and their transport. Your Scope 1 and 2 only cover your own fuel and power. For a garment, forging or casting maker, purchased yarn, fabric or metal can outweigh the factory many times over.

Which categories a small supplier should cover

• Category 1, purchased goods: main materials by weight x a factor, from the material supplier or a named database; spend-based only where weights are missing, and labelled.
• Category 3, fuel and energy related: grid transmission losses and upstream fuel emissions, simple to add from your Scope 1 and 2 data.
• Category 4, inbound transport you pay for.
• Category 5, waste from your operations.
• Usually skip: use of sold products, end of life and other downstream categories. They do not feed a cradle-to-gate figure.

What the rules ask of a small supplier

• EFRAG's VSME Basic Module asks for Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 and does not require Scope 3.
• The EU value chain cap, added to the CSRD by the Omnibus I Directive: a company reporting under the CSRD may not require a value chain partner with 1,000 or fewer employees to give more, for that report, than the voluntary standard covers. The European Commission published explanatory material on it on 6 May 2026. Requests for other purposes, such as a buyer's own targets, sit outside the cap.
• BRSR treats Scope 3 as a voluntary leadership indicator.
• A buyer with an SBTi supplier engagement target wants you to set your own target; the SBTi SME route has its own scope rules.

A better offer than a full inventory

Often the buyer really needs a footprint per kg or per piece of what you sell, not your whole Scope 3. Offer measured Scope 1 and 2, labelled estimates for Categories 1, 3 and 4, or a product footprint. Say which categories you left out and why.

Worked example: why materials dominate for a forging unit

• Scope 1: 10,000 L diesel x 2.68 kg CO2 per litre = 26.8 t CO2
• Scope 2: 300,000 kWh x 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh = 213.0 t CO2
• Category 1: 1,200 t of steel bar x 2.0 t CO2e per t (illustrative; use your mill's figure) = 2,400 t CO2e
• Total: 26.8 + 213.0 + 2,400 = 2,639.8 t
• Scope 1 and 2 are 239.8 t, about 9% of the total

Fuel and grid factors are CO2 factors (IPCC 2006, CEA version 21.0); the steel figure is CO2e. Say so when you add them.

What Senseible does here

Senseible calculates Scope 1 and 2 from your invoices and bills and puts Scope 3 lines, such as purchased materials and freight, in a separate supplier evidence trail. Where only spend is available, it provides a spend-based estimate labelled with wider uncertainty.

• VSME standard for small suppliers
• Does BRSR require Scope 3
• What to send for a product footprint
• SBTi SME route eligibility

Sources: GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard (2011), Chapters 5 and 6, EFRAG Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME), December 2024, European Commission explanatory information on the value chain cap, 6 May 2026

Last reviewed 2026-10-18. The Commission's voluntary standard under the value chain cap was still being finalised in 2026; check on finance.ec.europa.eu and EUR-Lex whether it is in force and whether it asks for Scope 3.