What are the warning signs in a carbon footprint report from a consultant?

The main warning signs are totals with no activity data behind them, factors with no source or version, a missing boundary, carbon credits subtracted from emissions, spend-based Scope 3 presented as precise, and suspiciously round numbers. Any one of these means you cannot check the figure yourself.

Signs the figures cannot be traced

• Scope totals with no litres, kWh, tonnes or kilometres beside them.
• Factors given as numbers only, with no publisher, edition or year.
• No list of the documents used, such as which months of electricity bills.
• Totals rounded to the nearest 100 or 1,000 tonnes with no stated uncertainty.

Signs the boundary is unclear

• No statement of which entity and sites are covered, or which consolidation approach was used.
• No reporting period, or a period that does not match your financial year.
• No mention of exclusions at all. Every real inventory leaves something out, and the GHG Protocol asks for exclusions to be disclosed.

Signs the result is presented better than it is

• Carbon credits or RECs subtracted inside the Scope 1 or Scope 2 total instead of shown separately.
• Scope 3 built entirely from spend, with no note that spend-based figures carry wide uncertainty.
• A claim of reduction with no base year, or a base year that changed without explanation.
• Words like certified, audited or verified with no named verification body, standard or statement.

How to raise it with the preparer

Ask for the working file: one row per source, with quantity, unit, factor, factor source and result. A sound report can produce this in a day. If the preparer cannot, treat the total as an estimate and say so wherever you use it.

What Senseible does here

Senseible's reports keep the source document, its SHA-256 fingerprint, the quantity and the factor for each line, the kind of trail this checklist asks for. Its figures are self-declared estimates, and a Verified status means its rule checks passed.

• How to read a GHG inventory report
• What auditors check in GHG assurance
• Greenwashing self-audit checklist

Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Chapter 1 (accounting principles) and Chapter 9 (reporting), ISO 14064-1:2018, clause 9 (GHG report content)

Last reviewed 2026-10-18.