We outsourced our delivery fleet to a transporter. Does the Greenhouse Gas Protocol say we must recalculate our base year?

It depends on what you report. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol says outsourcing does not trigger recalculation if you report the indirect emissions from that activity, but it does when significant emissions shift between Scope 1 and Scope 3 and you do not report Scope 3.

What the Corporate Standard says

• A structural change is a transfer of ownership or control of emissions-generating activities from one company to another. The standard lists mergers, acquisitions and divestments, and outsourcing and insourcing of emitting activities.
• Structural changes due to outsourcing or insourcing do not trigger recalculation if the company is reporting its indirect emissions from the relevant outsourced or insourced activities.
• Its example: outsourcing production of electricity, heat or steam does not trigger recalculation, because Scope 2 reporting is required.
• But outsourcing or insourcing that shifts significant emissions between Scope 1 and Scope 3, when Scope 3 is not reported, does trigger recalculation. Its example is outsourcing the transportation of products.
• If you track each scope separately with separate base years, recalculation for outsourcing or insourcing is made.

Why it matters

A fleet moved to a transporter makes Scope 1 fall although the diesel is still burned, now by someone else. If you do not count that transport anywhere, your Scope 1 shows a cut that did not happen in the atmosphere. The standard's logic for all structural changes is that they only transfer existing emissions from one company's inventory to another.

Two ways to handle the fleet

• You report Scope 3 category 4, upstream transportation and distribution, including the transporter's trucks: no recalculation for this reason.
• You do not report Scope 3: if the amount passes your significance threshold, recalculate. Chapter 5 (Timing of recalculations) says that for a significant structural change the base year and current year are recalculated for the entire year, even if the change was mid-year. My reading, following the divestment example in the standard, is to take the fleet's base year emissions out of the base year.

The threshold is yours

The standard leaves the significance threshold to the company and says the verifier confirms that you followed it. Write the threshold in your recalculation policy before the change, and apply it the same way to increases and decreases.

Example: a fleet of 100,000 litres of diesel moves out

• Fleet emissions: 100,000 litres x 2.645 kilograms (kg) per litre = 264,500 kg = 264.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).
• Base year Scope 1 and 2 total: 2,000 tonnes. Fleet share: 264.5 / 2,000 = 13.2%.
• Policy threshold 5%: 13.2% is above it. Without Scope 3 reporting, remove the fleet: 2,000 minus 264.5 = 1,735.5 tonnes recalculated base year.
• With category 4 reported, the transporter's diesel appears there, and the base year stays at 2,000 tonnes.

Fleet size, base year total and the 5% threshold are example numbers. The standard sets no percentage.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so the litres, kilowatt hours and months behind each year's figure stay on file. It does not set your recalculation policy or decide what counts as significant.

• Recalculate the base year after selling a unit
• CDP 7.1.3: recalculating a base year
• Fixed or rolling target base year
• Scope 3 base year significance threshold

Sources: GHG Protocol, A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Revised Edition), chapters 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Rules are from chapter 5 of the Corporate Standard, including the whole-year recalculation for a significant structural change. Only the step of removing the fleet from the base year is my reading from its divestment example. Your buyer or lender may apply its own rule.