How do I estimate emissions from moving coal by rail from the mine to my plant?
Multiply tonnes moved by the rail distance and a rail freight factor, or better, use the railway's own energy data if you can get it. Electric traction uses grid power, so its factor follows the grid. Report it as Scope 3 if the railway or the coal company runs the trains.
The calculation
- Tonnes received from rake records.
- Distance from the railway receipt or route.
- Tonne kilometres x a rail factor from a recognised source, labelled with its year.
Electric or diesel
Most Indian main lines are electrified, so the energy is grid power. Diesel locomotives on branch lines use fuel. A factor that ignores the traction type can be badly off.
Which scope
Rail freight paid by you is Scope 3 Category 4. Merry go round systems owned and run by a power plant are its own Scope 1 and 2.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel, electricity and freight invoices into a dated, fingerprinted record per site, so each figure you send a buyer can be traced back to the documents behind it.
Sources: GLEC Framework, logistics emissions accounting method, GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-21.