Who reports freight emissions under FOB, CIF or ex-works: Category 4 or Category 9?
For the seller, each leg it pays for is Category 4 and each later leg paid by the buyer is Category 9. Ex-works puts all outbound legs in Category 9, FOB splits at the loading port, and CIF or DDP keeps main carriage in Category 4. For the buyer, inbound transport is Category 4.
Seller's split by Incoterm
- EXW: buyer collects from your gate. All outbound legs are Category 9 for you.
- FCA: you pay to the named handover point, Category 4 up to there, Category 9 after.
- FAS and FOB: you pay inland haulage to the port (and loading under FOB), Category 4; ocean freight and onward legs are Category 9.
- CFR and CIF: you pay inland haulage and the ocean freight to the destination port, Category 4; delivery from that port to the buyer is Category 9.
- CPT and CIP: you pay carriage to the named destination, Category 4 up to that point.
- DAP, DPU and DDP: you pay all the way to the buyer's place, so every leg is Category 4.
The buyer sees it differently
The Scope 3 Standard puts transport of purchased goods from tier 1 suppliers to the buyer's own sites in Category 4 for the buyer, whether the buyer pays separately or the freight is included in the price. So an EU customer buying FOB Nhava Sheva reports the ocean leg it pays and, if it is complete, the inland leg your price covered, all in Category 4. Expect the buyer to ask you for the legs you paid.
Incoterms decide cost, not ownership
Incoterms set who pays and who bears risk at each point. They do not decide who owns the goods. The Scope 3 split follows who buys the transport service, which is why the Incoterm is the quickest guide. Insurance under CIF or CIP has no emissions of its own to report here.
Keep the records that prove the split
- Note the Incoterm and named place on each sales invoice.
- Keep transporter and freight forwarder invoices for the legs you pay; these give weight, route and mode for Category 4.
- For buyer-paid legs, estimate Category 9 from typical routes and modes and label it as estimated.
- Do not count the same leg in both categories when a freight charge is recharged to the customer at cost; you bought the service, so it stays Category 4.
Worked example: 20 tonnes shipped FOB Nhava Sheva
- Road from factory to port: 20 t x 400 km = 8,000 tonne-km, paid by you, Category 4
- Ocean to Rotterdam, assumed 11,500 km: 20 t x 11,500 km = 230,000 tonne-km, paid by buyer, Category 9 for you
- Rotterdam to buyer's warehouse, assumed 250 km by road: 20 x 250 = 5,000 tonne-km, Category 9 for you
- Under CIF the ocean leg would move to your Category 4, leaving only the last 5,000 tonne-km in Category 9
Distances are assumptions for illustration. Multiply tonne-km by a mode-specific factor to get emissions.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads transporter and freight invoices and keeps those lines in the Scope 3 supplier evidence trail, each linked to its source document. It does not estimate buyer-paid legs for which you hold no invoice.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011), Table 5.4, GHG Protocol Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions (2013), Categories 4 and 9
Last reviewed 2026-10-15.